Chinese man accused of keeping his wife chained in a shack arrested

Eight officials have been sacked from their jobs, according to local media

Police have arrested the husband of the woman who was found chained in a shack in Jiangsu province, China (Manya Koetse/Twitter)

Chinese authorities on Wednesday announced that they had arrested a man accused of keeping a woman chained by her neck in a shack.

A video of the woman appeared online last month, showing her chained up and living in appalling conditions in a shed in freezing temperatures on the outskirts of Xuzhou city in Jiangsu province. The video shocked Chinese internet users, sparking widespread anger and prompting calls for an investigation.

The video also showed her husband, Dong Zhimin – whom authorities said she had married in 1998 – and their eight children in the family home, right next to the ramshackle hut. The person who shot the video also spoke to the children.

Mr Dong and two others have been arrested on suspicion of human trafficking – a charge that authorities initially denied. Further investigations are also under way against six people allegedly involved in trafficking the woman.

Authorities said the woman was suffering from schizophrenia, and that she had been sold several times – including once in 1998 for $1,100 (£820) – after she was taken from her village in China’s southwestern province of Yunnan.

She was initially identified in the local media only as Xiaohuamei, which means “little plum blossom”. Authorities later identified her by the last name of Yang, and said that she was receiving treatment at a hospital.

Local news reports claimed that the family had thought it best to keep her away from the children in a different building, because she often had random outbursts of violence.

On Wednesday, many users on the Chinese social media platform Weibo were angry and decried the treatment of the woman. Hashtags relating to the case had been viewed more than 580 million times shortly after reports about the punishments broke.

One user said: “The credibility of our government has long been lost. You haven’t shown us the evidence.”

After the news of the woman went viral and sparked outrage, authorities confirmed that eight local officials had been dismissed from their posts and nine others had been given various punishments.