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"I could not cry. I used the edge of a toothbrush box to cut my left wrist. Xxx came in, grabbed me with one hand, and stripped me with the other hand■ After xxx left, I continued to cut my wrist. Finally, I cut an opening about 1.3 cun long [translator's note: approximately 4.3 cms]. I put my hand under the tap so the water would accelerate the blood flow. The thought of seeing my parents made me ashamed. Tears ran down my face as I continued sawing at my wrist."
...Excerpt from page 20 of a testimony statement by Xiao Cui (pseudonym)
A village transformed by organized prostitution
By Cao Yong and Liu Xianghui
For nearly a decade, well organized groups have been gather young women and forcing them into prostitution. A large number of rural women have become victims of these groups.
The former simple yet respectable way of life has gradually given way as prostitution has become a job, just another way to make a living. "Preferring to girls to boys" has become a new saying in these towns..
In mid-November 2002, a Southern Weekend reader sent in a shocking report regarding a group that abducts girls, rapes them and forces them into prostitution.
According to the report, an elderly man, Zhang Xisheng, had been looking into several such cases and has organized the parents of some of the victims to try to stop these groups. Their work has had little effect.
A few days after receiving this report, reporters from Southern Weekend traveled to Dizhuang town in Xupu county, Zhang Xisheng's home town, to look further into the events in the report.
Zhang Xisheng's home
On the evening of November 16, 2002, our reporters reached Jinghu village in Dizhuang, where Zhang Xisheng's home is located.
The walls of this ordinary house were covered with poetic couplets, quite unusual for a farmer's home. One couplet was written in a very free cursive style of Chinese calligraphy that drew the attention of our reporters. "Protecting the peace and stability of my hometown, mobs and hoodlums feared me. The sword's edge is sharp and strong, it cuts grass and wood easily. In unselfishness, I am safe and confident." Zhang Xisheng's wife explained Zhang Xisheng wrote this couplet wrote this when his spirits were high to strengthen his will.
Zhang Xisheng is known in his hometown as a farmer who hates social evil, is warmhearted, seeks justice for others, and is familiar with laws and policies. All villagers tend to go to him for help with their troubles. In addition, he has helped the local police solve more than 300 cases, according to his wife.
"You have arrived too late. He is in jail now," she said. Mid-year, Zhang Xisheng led a group of elderly people to report abductions and forced prostitution to the authorities. Some of the elderly people became violent and were detained. In Sept., Zhang Xisheng was sentenced to seven years in jail.
After persuading a group of neighborhood children to go and play, Zhang Xisheng's son Zhang Miaolin presented an envelope, saying in a low voice, "this is the testimony the villagers have written out." It took Zhang Xisheng several months to complete it. This testimony reveals the shocking events that some girls have had to deal with.
A report in blood: swindled, raped and forced into prostitution
Dec. 2, 1998 was a day Xiao Lian (pseudonym), a farmer's daughter, will never forget. She, together with Xiao Cui (pseudonym), a girl from the same village, Xiao Ju (pseudonym) a girl from the nearby Jinghu village, and Xiao Mei, (pseudonym), a girl from Yuetang village, left home, and followed Deng Juan, a local girl who had come to "take them for an outing" to a place far from their homes.
What happened to these girls showed that this Deng Juan was a part of this organized group. She led these girls away from home on the instructions of her boss, Gong Haijian, the head of an organized group.
The following day, the girls arrived at a small inn in Guigang city, Guangxi Zhuang Nationality Autonomous Region. In the evening, a scene of evil began. Xiao Lian and Xiao Cui recalled the events of that evening:
"Hearing slapping and crying from Xiao Cui's room, I went to have a look. Zhang Yisheng (an accomplice of Gong Haijian) had slipped into Xiao Cui's room, covered her mouth, and was about to rape her. She struggled to get out the window and escape saying, "if anyone touches me, I'll jump." Zhang Yisheng came over, slapped her across the face, and kicked her in the stomach, saying, "If you don't like me, you can sleep with Zhang Ming (another accomplice of Gong Haijian)!" Xiao Cui refused. Zhang took Xiao Cui's shoes and slapped her across the face with her shoes. Her face swelled and blood ran from her mouth."---- from the page 12 of Xiao Lian's testimony statement dated March 28, 1999
Xiao Lian, Xiao Ju and Xiao Mei were raped by Gong Haijian's accomplices. Xiao Cui got off lucky that night.
The following day, Xiao Cui thought of slitting her wrists. She had no money to a buy a knife. She was not lucky that evening.
"Zhang Yisheng restrained me and slapped me each time I moved. He used one hand to bind my hands and one foot to kick my feet■"
"I hate them. I was determined to get anyway, even on foot. But they did not allow me to. Zhang Yong said, 'You have to serve our customers. You will not get home until you make some money serving customers.' "---- from page 8 and page 20 of Xiao Cui's testimony statement
After being raped, Xiao Cui was sold to an old man in his 50s for about RMB50.
These four girls began a life as prostitutes. In brothels, they ran into many girls from their hometown. They had not been together long when three of them of the four girls were taken to Nanning, Shenzhen, and Beihai where they met many other girls from their hometown.
The testimony given involves three other girls. One of them is the daughter of Zhang Xisheng's niece. She was forced to be a prostitute from the age of 13. The day after Xiao Lian, Xiao Cui and Xiao Ju were taken away from the city Xiao Mei had taken them to, another 13-year-old girl Xiao Hua (pseudonym) was taken by a Mr. Zhang from the Shuangjing township. Within just over 40 days, this girl was forced to service over 70 clients and contracted an STD.
To end her statement, Xiao Lian wrote:
"I have heard our elders say a song compares life to a dark well of bitterness. Women, who stand at the lowest level, cannot see the sun, cannot see the sky, and stay there for countless months and years. Generation after generation anticipate freedom. They have waited so long that even sago cycas are in bloom. I wonder whether or not sago sycas are in bloom now."
Parents: from struggling to being desperate
To find Xiao Lian, members of her family and relatives first reported the case to the local police. They heard nothing.
Feeling helpless, Xiao Lian's father, Gu Yuerui (pseudonym), and Xiao Cui's father, Zhang Gang (pseudonym), decided to hunt for their daughters themselves. They learned that their girls had been taken away by a group of criminals headed by Gong Haijian. They went to talk to Gong's father. Gong's father laughed and said, "What, do you want to call the police? My son has done it many times. Who has come and arrested him? Which pimp in this village has been arrested?"
Gong Haijian's finally took the parents and relatives of the girls to Guigang. At that time, Xiao Lian had been taken to Guilin. Gu Yuerui did not see his daughter until 6pm that day. She looked ill-fed, was shivering and did not dare to speak. Gu did not want to say anything that would jeopardize her safety either. When he took his daughter home, he saw a crowd of thugs watching him and his daughter "with evil eyes" and looks "to kill."
Xiao Ju's mother, who was part of the group with Xiao Lian's father, was not as lucky as Gu Yuerui. The group leaders did not bring Xiao Ju back as promised. Disappointed and desperate, she ran to the entrance of an inn in which her daughter "worked" and began to wail. But her cries got no response.
After returning to her hometown, Xiao Lian shut herself in her room and refused to talk. She said that she was called on to service a member of the local police. The policeman found out she was only 14 years old and cursed the group leader, "Why did you bring me such a young whore?"
Enraged, Gu Yuerui and the other families involved decided to make a report with the police. Their efforts were fruitless. They turned to Zhang Xisheng for help. It was at this point that Zhang Xisheng entered the story.
At the beginning of 1999, the families were happy to learn that one of the group leaders had been arrested by the Dizhuang Police Office. They thought finally they would see some justice. However, they were disappointed. Soon afterwards this leader was released.
Zhang Xisheng led several other older men to talk with the director the county public security bureau, a Mr. Shen. The group wanted to know, "why?" Embarrassed, Shen asked Zhang Xisheng to "sit and talk in a calm manner." Zhang threw the testimonies on the desk, banged the desk, rose to his feet and stared into Shen's eyes. "These girls are so young, why don't you resolve this problem?" he asked.
The only "victory" for this effort was the return of Xiao Ju and Xiao Mei. However, the parents of each these two girls had to pay RMB1,500 as "travel expenses" for the government workers who went to pick up the girls. Here is a sample of a conversation between Zhang Xisheng and one of the government workers handling the case:
Zhang: Why do you ask the families of the victims to pay money?
Functionary: They are just asked to pay expenses temporarily in advance. They will get this money back as soon as the suspects are caught.
Zhang: According to national government regulations, government work at the expense of the public, don't you?
Functionary: This doesn't count. Only town government regulations count!
After realizing that reports to local authorities were ineffective, In mid-June Zhang Xisheng led a group of older men to report the case to provincial authorities. He sold grains from his farm to raise money for travel expenses. As a result, after returning home, he had nothing to eat.
They got nowhere after four years of reports to authorities at a variety of levels. Gu Yuerui said, "its like throwing a small stone in a big pond -- even bubbles don't come up." These men became desperate after Zhang Xisheng was arrested.
How many group leaders in Dizhuang village?
On November 19, 2002, our reporters interviewed Zhang Xisheng in a jail located in Henan province.
"All these evil-minded bastards deserve the death penalty." Despite the fact that we were talking in the jail, Zhang Xisheng was full of fighting spirit and spoke soundly. His eyes sparkled with sharpness.
How many of these group leaders are there in Dizhuang village?
According to his survey, there are at least 10 in every village nearby. There are 25 villages under the Dizhuang town jurisdiction. That brings the total to an estimated 500 to 800.
On November 23, our reporters got an unofficial count from local police, saying this number was close to 1,000.
These groups began to appear at the beginning of the 1990s when a tidal wave of migration to South China swept China, including Hunan province. Some people who did not have a sufficient education, working capital or technological skills, and did not want to work hard but dreamed of overnight success, got the idea of abducting women. They found that organizing prostitutes brought in better profits than pure abduction. This discovery created the current situation.
These prostitution gangs peaked in the mid-1990s when a large number of group leaders became rich overnight. When interviewees talked about these group leaders, you could see the envy on their faces.
The internal operation of prostitution organizations
According to a retired group leader, these groups are usually well organized and many are underworld organizations.
Large organizations are well organized based on specific responsibilities. Members responsible for "creating influence" should "develop the market in a given area," develop relationships with local officials, seek backup from powerful local people, coordinate with other organizations or underworld gangs, and work to intimidate people when necessary. Members responsible for " cargo shipment" should seek "raw material" in their hometowns or elsewhere and bring them in as arranged. Members known as "match-makers" are responsible for seducing, persuading and training abducted girls to make these girls professional prostitutes.
In general, "match-makers" are selected from among "secondary tier leaders " -- women who have been abducted, trained, forced to work as prostitutes and finally became accomplices of organization leaders because. Women who abduct other women does not arouse as much suspicion. When abducted girls refuse to become prostitutes, organization leaders will frighten and force them to do so while "matchmakers" persuade them by telling them "staying at home is not as good as staying with us and making some money." "Training courses" include forcing the girls to watch others having sex to make them feel less ashamed and to make them less likely to try to defend themselves. They are taught "professional skills" and how to get as much money as possible from their clients.
According to Xiao Lian and Xiao Ju's statements and from Zhang Xisheng's survey, the gang headed by Gong Haijian is a typical organization. This gang, however, is not the largest in Dizhuang town. A gang headed by a Mr. Chen is the largest organization in this region. Chen is a village committee director. When he worked as an organization leader he had more than 100 women under his control. This is not supported by information from the local police. But the police say, "it seems he is no longer an organization leader."
Individual organization leaders are much weaker than groups. Individuals can only manage abductions of individual girls while organizations usually abduct a large number of girls. Girls are normally cheated with excuses such as being taken on "a trip," going to "work in another province" or getting an "introduction to a boy friend." However, once these girls leave their homes they are treated with violence.
Stories behind the organized prostitution industry
Zhang Xisheng attributes the rampancy of organized prostitution in Dizhuang to encouragement and a "turn the other cheek" attitude by local police, in addition to the desire for money. He believes the police refuse to handle such cases because of under-the-table exchanges between some police and the group leaders.
On November 24, an official from the investigation team under Xupu County Public Security Bureau said Zhang Xisheng misunderstood them. In fact, the county public security bureau had investigated this case, detained Gong Haijian in Aug. 2000, and passed his case onto the county procuratorate. The county court had sentenced Gong to a jail term. But the county public security bureau was unable to arrest Gong's accomplices together with Gong, due to limited conditions.
What are "limited conditions"?
According to this official, this refers to the bureau's lack of working capital. The bureau has hundreds of employees and is allocated only a little over RMB2m per year. This should be enough to cover salaries, administrative costs and expenses for processing cases. Many policemen receive less than half their salary due at the end of every month, including the official interviewed. His monthly salary ranges between RMB400 and RMB600. He also has some of his salary held back as donations to infrastructure projects or public interest projects that come up from time to time.
A lack of police officers is another problem hindering the police. At some township police stations, there is only one policeman. This policeman does not have an office to work in. "This policeman has to maintain the peace as part of his/her regular job, travel long distances to rescue abducted girls, and catch leaders of groups. Can this officer complete so much work as just one person?"
In addition, this official says policemen are also hindered by problems caused by the laws themselves. For instance, before charging this suspect, the police must provide full evidence proving a suspect is involved in organizing prostitution, including statements and evidence collected from prostitutes, other organizers and those who buy the services of the prostitutes. The problem is "people who buy the services of prostitutes are on the move all the time. Where can you find them?"
"In many cases, we arrest a group leader but can do nothing but fined the group leader in accordance with administrative rules because we our evidence is not sufficient, even though we know for sure that this person has abducted girls and has organized prostitution, in addition to being short of funds."
A key question is how many girls have been taken abducted by such groups over the past years?
Zhang Xisheng does not have an answer to this question.
According to Gu Yuerui, more than half of the girls in his home village -- Yangxing -- have been taken.
"A war" between schools and group leaders
Group leaders have a special eye for local schoolgirls.
On the morning of Nov. 2002, our reporters visited a middle school in Dizhuang. One point distinguishing this school from others is that the school's entrance is securely fastened and this school's wall is much higher than other schools.
Our reporters interviewed a teacher, Zhong Jianyun (pseudonym), whose daughter Xiao Hui (pseudonym) was abducted and taken out of the province four years ago during her second year at this school.
At that time, the school did not have such a secure gate. Xiao Hui liked to go off campus. On one of her trips around the neighborhood, she met a young man named Li Ming. Li Ming was 18, a villager from Dizhuang. He did not have a job, and often hung around. He had been sent to a juvenile labor camp for theft, frequenting prostitutes, fights and robbery. Li Ming courted Xiao Hui.
In Oct. 1993, Li Ming took Xiao Hui to Zhejiang province. Zhong Jianyun and his wife asked for leave to go and get their daughter. After failing in repeated efforts to get her, they were so disappointed and desperate that they tried to commit suicide. They were found and rescued.
Xiao Hui called home after staying away over a week, saying through her tears that Li Ming beat her with clothes hangers leaving her eyes bloodied because she "did not listen to his orders and do as he arranged." The Zhongs, fueled by their anger, went to Li Ming's parents' house and forced Li Ming's father to go together with them to look for their daughter. Two months later, they found their daughter and brought her back.
Initially, Xiao Hui was silent about her troubles in Zhejiang. The Zhongs transferred her to a school hundreds of kilometers away. After her transfer, she discovered she was pregnant and the pregnancy was eptopic. She did not tell her story until after this dangerous operation. Li Ming was a group leader. He took her to Nantong, Jiangsu province, raped her, fed her ecstasy, and forced her to "make money."
The Zhongs, though shocked to hear this, did not dare report this to the police because they were concerned more about possible revenge by the gangs than about damage to their reputation. "What else can you do?"
Following this incident, the middle school at which Mr. Zhong worked secured its gate and heightened the surrounding wall to heighten security. "This is like a war. The surrounding wall acts as a city wall. Group leaders have made every effort to get in while teachers have spared no efforts to defend their "city," one teacher explained.
In fact, this "war" started in 1997. Xiao Hui's story is the most tragic of all these battles. Mr. Zhong, as a teacher in this school, was unable to protect his daughter from being abducted. Schools are vulnerable to such attacks!
According to one teacher, you hear from time to time news saying a girl from such and such school was taken by a group. Our reporter learned from the county public security bureau that a couple of cases happen every month in this county. Teachers initially were enraged, then felt helpless, and finally felt numb.
Between 1997 and 1998 these groups were stronger than during any other period. "Many motorcycles would cluster at the entrance of the middle schools at the end of school hours every day. As soon as a pretty schoolgirl showed up at the entrance, young men on motorcycles would rush towards her altogether and strike up a conversation ," a neighbor living near the school where Mr. Zhong worked said.
These young men came to "hook" schoolgirls based on their orders from their group leaders. First group leaders went to get the girls in person, but schoolgirls, scared, ran away. As an alternative, they began to use young "ponies" to hook the girls.
When speaking of why group leaders began taking schoolgirls, a policemen in Dizhuang said, based on testimony from other group leaders who had been arrested, there was a decline in the number of girls they could abduct from villages so they had to create a "raw materials" base. Most girls from nearby villages had already been abducted. In addition, many clients preferred schoolgirls, who look innocent.
According to one female teacher, the owner of a hotel accompanied an official from the township government on a visit to her school. The hotel owner had been a group leader before starting the hotel. His hotel still provided pornographic services. Looking at the backs of some schoolgirls, the hotel owner chuckled to the official, "look, our hotel has many future staff members!" Hearing this, the official laughed.
This was an unbearable insult to teachers at this school. Some teachers felt so ashamed that they privately wept. However, tears did not work.
"Who will solve this problem?" this teacher asks.
Local social practices have changed
How do people in Dizhuang feel about these group leaders?" Angry? Defiant? Contemptuous?
"No, you have not made an accurate guess," according to Wang Fucheng (pseudonym). Sitting calmly, he lights a cigarette, and goes on, "People now will do anything to make money. Who cares about face?"
According to Wang, working as a group leader is as ordinary a career as being a cook or a businessman. People now are more concerned about making money than any question of legality or morality.
A neighbor of Wang's is a widow with two daughters. Years ago, she went to Fujian with her daughters at the suggestion of some group leaders. After returning home years later, she built a new court yard and her daughters had fancy clothes, making neighbors envious. Just after she returned, some villagers pointed at her and her daughters. Later, however, villagers seemed to be more interested in the beautiful furniture in her house.
On some occasions when this widow brings up her experience in Fujian together with her daughters, some villagers say enviously, "you are so lucky to have two daughters."
According to Wang Fucheng, significant changes have taken place in people's views, changes that make Dizhuang different from other villages. In other places, people prefer boys to girls. In Dizhuang, people prefer girls to boys. For some people, giving birth to 10 boys is not as profitable as giving birth to one girl.
Men in Dizhuang, particularly young men, facing hard times, will encourage their wives or girl friends to become prostitutes even though these men are not group leaders. They do care about morality as long as these women can bring back money.
This change has influenced the standard according to which young men look for girl friends or wives. They attach greater importance to a "lucrative face" instead of moral integrity. "This is 100% true," affirmed Wang Fucheng when noticing our reporters skepticism.
People hold a subtle attitude towards group leaders. "According to common sense, we should hate them. But we are grateful to them at the same time," said a villager in Hucun village, Dizhuang.
Two years ago, two girls from this village were abducted. Not long after this abduction, money began to flow in from these girls. Parents of these girls stopped complaining and would "step forward to speak up for the group organizers instead of criticizing them."
On Nov. 24, when our reporters were about to leave Gu Yuerui's home, he said hesitantly, years before when trying to bring the group leaders to court he wanted justice and wanted the police to punish the group leaders, for the sake of his daughter. But he is now more confused. "Why do some girls go out voluntarily? Why do some people criticize us as being nosy?"
He asked in carefully, "Do you think we were wrong?"
Update on the seven girls
Our reporters did not see the seven girls whose lives had been changed by these group leaders.
According to Gu Yuerui and other villagers, these girls left the village in 2000. Following the failure of repeated efforts by Zhang Xisheng and other old people to petition for the girls, the girls lost confidence.
According to a survey by our reporters, Xiao Lian and Xiao Cui are working in a factory in Shenzhen. They work until midnight everyday, but are paid only RMB400 to RMB500 a month.
Xiao Mei and Xiao Hua have contracted STDs. Because they could not afford medical treatment, they have returned to Guigang and gone back to work as prostitutes.
There is no news about Xiao Ju and the two other girls. One rumor says they are working elsewhere. Another rumor says they "have started their own business in another place."
None of these girls are 20. Their youth has withered before it blossomed ... |
Southern Weekend , [2002.12.19] , p.a05 |
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