Why women in China are still at risk of abduction and forced marriage

One stormy night last month, a driver surnamed He saw two tall men get out of a car in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen and pull a young woman off the street and into the vehicle. During the struggle, her umbrella fell to the ground.

She did not appear willing. Suspicious, He followed the vehicle and later reported the incident to local police, supplying them with footage he had recorded. Thanks to him and the police, the abducted 18-year-old was rescued from a forced marriage.

According to media reports, the teenager, originally from Lanzhou, Gansu province, had been promised to a man by her parents without her knowledge or consent. After receiving the agreed price from the prospective groom’s family, her parents forced her to drop out of school.

The teenager sought help via online posts and eventually a non-profit organisation found her a job in a Shenzhen coffee shop. But her parents, intent on marrying her off, tracked her down and sent a team to stake out her workplace and ambush her, driving her over 20 hours back towards home before they were stopped by the police.