Sixteen-year-old Phyu* grew up in a tiny ramshackle village in the nation of Myanmar, where her prospects were few. But in the summer of 2018 came an offer of a waitressing job, if she was willing to travel for it. Eager for a better life, she got into a van that made its way across the border to China.
After 10 days of traveling, however, Phyu realized she wasn’t going to a job in a restaurant. She tried to run away but didn’t know where to go. The traffickers caught her and locked her in a room. Her phone had no signal. Men who spoke Chinese were brought to see her.
“I had a sense I was being sold, but I could not escape,” says Phyu, now 17. She started to cry, but the trafficker told her to stop because she needed to look pretty for her potential husband.
Phyu was one of many thousands of women and girls from Myanmar who’ve been forced into marriages with Chinese men in recent years. And it’s not just Myanmar: Young women and girls from impoverished parts of Laos, North Korea, Vietnam, Pakistan, and Cambodia have also been effectively sold to men in China who are desperate for wives.
Sixteen-year-old Phyu grew up in a tiny ramshackle village in the nation of Myanmar. Her prospects there were few. But in the summer of 2018 she got an offer of a waitressing job, if she was willing to travel for it. Eager for a better life, she got into a van that made its way across the border to China.
After 10 days of traveling, Phyu realized she wasn’t going to a job in a restaurant. She tried to run away but didn’t know where to go. The traffickers caught her and locked her in a room. Her phone had no signal. Men who spoke Chinese were brought to see her.
“I had a sense I was being sold, but I could not escape,” says Phyu, now 17. She started to cry. The trafficker told her to stop, because she needed to look pretty for her potential husband.
Phyu was one of many thousands of women and girls from Myanmar who’ve been forced into marriages with Chinese men in recent years. And it’s not just Myanmar. Young women and girls from impoverished parts of Laos, North Korea, Vietnam, Pakistan, and Cambodia have also been effectively sold to men in China who are desperate for wives.