Antislavery Usable Past

Noi

2018 (Narrative date)

The internal migration of Chinese people seeking work has created an opportunity for human traffickers in China. Moreover, the gender imbalance caused by the One Child Policy and the cultural preference for male children, has caused a shortage of women which has led to the trafficking of women to be sold as brides. As a result, many women find themselves either deceived by promises of employment, sold or abducted and forced into marrying Chinese men who have paid for them. The prevalence of poverty in China makes the poor more vulnerable to enslavement. With the National Bureau of Statistics estimating that 70,170,000 are still living in poverty, people are more desperate and thus more likely to be receptive to fraudulent job offers.

Noi was just 17 years old when she was forced to drop out of high school in northern Laos’ Luang Namtha province to earn money for her family. When a middleman approached her in early 2015 about marrying a man across the border in China in exchange for around 40 million kip (U.S. $4,830)—despite the legal age for marriage in China being 20—she jumped at the chance. After holding a small party with her relatives, according to the traditions of her Leu ethnic group, Noi travelled to China to live with the man. During the first three months, he treated her kindly and sent small payments to her parents in Laos, but soon his demeanour changed and he began to beat her.

https://www.rfa.org/english/news/laos/bride-04172018135431.html?searchterm:utf8:ustring=Human+Trafficking

If I did anything that did not satisfy him, he would slap me on the face and head, causing my eyes to bruise and swell … Often he yelled at me, throwing forks, spoons, or plates at me, and leaving me with scars on my forehead, arms, and legs … Even though we are poor at home, my parents never yelled, hit me, or slapped me in that way.

I lived with my Chinese husband for [nearly] three years, but I didn’t know where I was—I didn’t know the name of the village or town. No neighbors talked to me. They only said they didn’t understand me. They talked only in Chinese, which I do not speak … [My husband’s parents] didn’t communicate with me like in Lao families, where we have fun and laugh while answering each other’s questions or talking about what we are doing.

Very often, I had to wake up early to follow him to his rubber plantation and tap the rubber trees. It was very hard work … I started to ask him to allow me to escort him to the market, so that I could make friends with some Lao truck drivers who transported goods or merchandise in China.

[One morning in late 2017] I dressed as usual, so that my Chinese husband wouldn’t suspect anything. As soon as he was busy [at the market] getting money for his rubber, I quickly ran to a Lao merchant driver and slipped into the back of his truck, which was full of merchandise and was covered with a dark, thick tarp … The dread of remaining with my Chinese husband was stronger than that of being caught at the border, and I knew that the truck wouldn’t be searched too thoroughly.

[When I arrived back in Luang Namtha] I lived with my [extended] relatives for two months and only recently moved back in with my parents because I feared that he would come look for me again.

If I could fix the past, I would never have married the Chinese man. I wouldn’t have cared about the financial promises and I will never marry a Chinese man again for money. To Lao girls like myself, I say “do not marry for money” … Also, girls at school are not likely to be their target—they are looking for the girls that drop out of school, like I did.

Copyright © 1998-2016, RFA. Used with the permission of Radio Free Asia, 2025 M St. NW, Suite 300, Washington DC 20036.

Country

Theme

Forced labour

Type

Narrative

Tags

2015-2017 (Enslavement period)

VOICES: Narratives by Survivors of Modern Slavery

This is the world's largest archive of modern slavery survivor narratives. Across more than a million words spoken or written by survivors of modern slavery, we can see why slavery persists in particular hotspots, analyse patterns in trafficking routes, identify vulnerabilities, understand more about the challenges survivors face in liberation, and discover new antislavery solutions. These narratives offer the chance to systematically design new antislavery strategies based on the experiences, ideas and solutions of enslaved people themselves.

The database is searchable by country, name, theme, and narrative date. Narratives can be viewed in list or map form. A short introduction provides context to each narrative. Narrative provenance appears after the main narrative text.

For ideas on how to use this database, please see our accompanying guide.

Project Lead: Zoe Trodd. Team Members: Andrea Nicholson, Lauren Eglen, Rosemary Pearce, Olivia Wright.

Project Funders: AHRC Antislavery Usable Past grant (2014-19), ESRC/AHRC PaCCS Modern Slavery: Meaning and Measurement grant (2016-19), and AHRC-GCRF Antislavery Knowledge Network grant (2017-2021).

For any queries about the collection please contact: rightslab@nottingham.ac.uk. If you wish to cite a particular narrative, please acknowledge the survivor’s name, the provenance of the narrative and cite: Voices Database, the Rights Lab, University of Nottingham.

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