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Xiaoxiang

2013 (Narrative date)

Minority children and those from very poor families are extremely vulnerable to trafficking in China. A highly organised practice exists where couples have children for the very purpose of selling them. Children from minorities are also deceived into trafficking under the false promise of work in hospitality, construction and manufacturing but are instead forced to engage in criminal activity or prostitution. There are also an estimated 1.5 million children currently enslaved as forced beggars in China.

Xiaoxiang, a young Chinese boy was playing with his brother in his front garden when he was abducted for illegal adoption domestically. Xiaoxiang was rescued by police working on another child abduction and reunited with his family.

He asked me if I like turtles or not. I said yes and he told me that he could take me to buy a big one. He took the small turtle and lured me behind the central square.

He also bought me some medicine to eat. I didn’t want to do anything after taking the medicine. He managed to get rid of my brother and took me on a bus. We changed buses later.

We took the bus again and when we got off, it was already dark. We took the double-decker bus and slept at night. In the morning we got off the bus and went to someone’s home.

We went to someone’s home, and the person hit me every day. They hit me a lot. I remember him beating me when I was taking a shower. He hung me upside down and hit me. He grabbed my feet, hung me and hit me like this.

As told to documentary makers at MTV Exit