CCP Princeling Speaks Up for Chained Woman

Mother of eight (the chained woman) shackled in small hut in Fengxian County, Xuzhou City, after being given a coat and some food. Screenshot via Dou Yin

A third-generation descendent of a powerful Chinese Communist Party official has spoken up for the chained woman in Xuzhou, saying that the incident was “definitely just the tip of the iceberg.” This is the first comment on the chained woman from the Party’s powerful cadre offspring, known as “princelings.”

Ye Jingzi, also known as Maggie Ip, is the granddaughter of Ye Jianying, a founding marshal of the Chinese Communist Party. Her post on Feb. 21 exposed the current situation in the township where the chained woman was found.

“All roads in Feng County were closed on Feb. 15. The locals seem to feel the pressure from the public. But, we want to see a solution, not a fake peace under suppression,” it read.

She described the incident as only a tip of the iceberg, adding ,“Such primitive behavior in the 21st century, where’s the humanity?”

Ip’s father, Ye Xuanning, was known as the spiritual leader of the red princelings, and an influential politician and businessman. Ip is the managing director of Hong Kong’s Brilliant Culture Group.

Responding to her post, Chinese netizens voiced their concerns about the incident and the possible closing of Ip’s Weibo account due to the regime’s censorship around the topic.

Ip also shared an official announcement dated on Feb. 15 from Feng County traffic police under China’s Public Security Bureau, stating that the entire Huanshou Line (county road X301) that leads to Dongjicun, the village where the chained woman was found, has been closed for construction.

“The traffic closure is extended to June 30, 2022,” the notice read.

On Feb. 17, Jiangsu Province announced an investigation team for the chained woman incident, which the authorities finally recognized as a case of human trafficking since the incident was exposed on Jan. 28. After persistent public outcry for the truth, local officials released a total of four notifications, although each time, the update was a revised version of the previous one.

Amid outcries over the woman’s poor treatment, local authorities put the village and township under strict surveillance.

A police officer gestures to a journalist not to photograph in Beijing, China, on March 5, 2021. NICOLAS ASFOURI/AFP via Getty Images

According to a Hunan Broadcasting post on Twitter, one reporter tried various routes to drive into Dongjicun on Feb. 20, only to be stopped at police checkpoints. The authorities had a total blockade of the village in the name of epidemic prevention.

Zhao Hantang, a Chinese film director and actor, also wrote on his Weibo on Feb. 19 that he received information from people who made it to the county where the chained woman was found. Since the news broke, authorities have erected dozens of miles of iron walls to encircle Dongjicun and its surrounding villages.

According to a Chinese blogger @wanjunxie, a Jiangsu police officer risked his life to send a message on Feb. 20: “The leaders have demanded that there be no more news about chained women from Feng County. Neighboring provinces have dispatched a large number of police officers to assist Xuzhou. Feng County was also locked down. The police are secretly capturing and detaining all chained women in the villages.”

Fearing that the lives of hundreds or thousands of chained women in the area could be collectively extinguished, the blogger urged for public attention to prevent it from happening.

He insisted that these chained women have done nothing wrong; but unfortunately, they were born in the country of hell.

Mary Hong contributed to this report.