[2] In January 2022, a Chinese blogger published video footage of a mother-of-eight, chained by the neck in a freezing shed in Feng County.

According to a government statement released on 23 February, she originated from Yunnan, had been brought by a trafficker to Jiangsu in 1998, where she was sold twice as a bride, and had given birth to eight children between 1999 and 2020.

Initial attempts by local Xuzhou and Feng County authorities to quell the anger through statements proved to backfire for their clumsiness, for being contradictory,[3] and for not addressing a number of questions arising from the footage.

County-level militia was deployed to seal off the home village of Xiaohuamei, and more than 100 people were questioned by police over the public leaking of information related to her case.

[4] Xiaohuamei's husband, surnamed Dong, was officially arrested on 22 February, on charges of abuse and suspicion of purchasing an abducted woman.