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Marriage by Force in China: Burma's Trafficking Victims

A Burmese woman, a victim of trafficking to China, who was freed in Jie Gao, China. She is shown with her Burmese husband who told her that if she would get pregnant, she could forget the tragedy.

Last year Chinese police freed 268 Burmese women who had been trafficked and forced into marriages with Chinese men. Human rights activists believe this represents only a small fraction of the growing number of Burmese women forced to marry Chinese husbands. Seeking to escape Burma's military regime, young women are often lured by recruiters who speak of well-paid employment in the world's fastest-growing economy. Beijing's "one child policy," combined with the long-held national preference for male heirs, has resulted in China having a lopsided male to female ratio of 120:100 in recent years. The shortage of potential brides is drives many lonely Chinese men to resort to buying a foreign spouse.

Those women who are lucky enough to escape often tell a remarkably similar story. Usually they are recruited in their rural village and brought to the bustling towns on the Chinese side of the Sino/Burmese border. They are handed over to another trafficker who will take them as far away as Beijing for their "job interview." The price of a bride depends on her age and beauty, but for a Burmese woman a Chinese buyer will typically pay between 40,000 to 50,000 yuan (USD$6,000-$7,500). The new bride is forced to do house work or farming for long hours and is watched by her husband or his family members at all times. Those who have escaped, tell of rape, physical abuse and loneliness.

The judges commend the photographer's ability to build trust with the victims to document their private struggles.