A story of a trafficked bride shocks China
A supposedly all-knowing state either failed to see horrors, or looked away
IF ALL GOES to plan for Communist Party leaders, the year 2022 should show the world that China represents the future. State television kicked off the lunar new year with greetings from the crew of the country’s first space station, the Tiangong, beamed to over a billion viewers. February saw the capital, Beijing, safely host a Winter Olympics during a global pandemic. Athletes were secluded in high-technology quarantine bubbles, before competing on slopes of artificial snow. In a sign of the country’s allure as a sporting power, a freestyle-ski champion born and raised in America, 18-year-old Eileen Gu, chose to compete for China, her mother’s homeland, earning two gold medals and one silver.
This article appeared in the China section of the print edition under the headline “A horror from another age”
From the February 26th 2022 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionMore from China
A pay rise for government workers sparks anger and envy in China
The effort to improve morale has not had the intended effect
A big earthquake causes destruction in Tibet
Dozens are dead, thousands of buildings have been destroyed
Militant Uyghurs in Syria threaten the Chinese government
How much does China have to fear?
Does China have the fiscal firepower to rescue its economy?
There is a fierce debate over whether it can afford to keep spending
China approves the world’s most expensive infrastructure project
It has China’s neighbours on edge
Xi Jinping has much to worry about in 2025
A struggling economy, rising social tensions and Donald Trump will test China’s leader