Human trafficking and smuggling in China

This article studies human trafficking and smuggling in China. For more than a decade, Sinologists and observers have already recognized the ever-growing phenomena of human trafficking and smuggling in China. Firstly, this article examines the causes, nature, and impact of human trafficking and smuggling. Secondly, this article pays special attention to the human trade in the two most seriously affected Chinese provinces, namely Fujian and Yunnan. Thirdly, this article discusses the efforts by both the Chinese authorities and NGOs to tackle human trafficking and smuggling. Nevertheless, it concludes that there is still a very long way to go before China can manage these issues. This article is significant because human trafficking involves prolonged exploitation of men, women, and children, which is going to haunt the Chinese for a very long time. While Chinese societies have appeared to become modernized, human trafficking has constituted a 'contemporary form of slavery'.