Teenager kidnapped and forced to marry man twice her age is finally rescued 17 years on after smuggling letter to her family
The woman, now 32, was abducted by a family who lived next door and taken hundreds of miles to the other side of China
A TEENAGER kidnapped and forced to marry a man twice her age was rescued 17 years later when an SOS letter she tried to smuggle to her family was finally delivered five years after she wrote it.
The woman, now aged 32 and identified by the nickname A Hua, lived in the city of Jinjiang in eastern China until she suddenly disappeared one day in 1999.
She was just 15 years old when she vanished. Her dad Ke said the family did not know who to turn to.
They believed she may have run away and did not have any evidence of an abduction.
This week she was finally reunited with her family after persuading a neighbour to send a letter revealing where she was being held.
A Hua explained she had befriended a boy who lived next door with his relatives - a group of construction workers from the south-western Guizhou province who had arrived for a job.
On the day of her kidnapping, A Hua was invited by the group to travel with them back to Guizhou - hundreds of miles away - and the innocent girl said yes, believing that the seemingly trustworthy uncles would do her no harm.
She was taken to a village where she was forced to marry the man in his 30s named Huang, whose wife had recently died.
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Held against her will, A Hua had two sons with Huang and was unable to leave or even contact her family.
She said she tried to run away once but was quickly brought home and beaten.
Five years ago A Hua secretly wrote a letter addressed to her parents and begged one of her village neighbours to deliver it.
But the neighbour reportedly believed she was meddling in another family’s affairs and never posted it, despite witnessing firsthand the poor conditions in which A Hua lived and the treatment she received from her husband and in-laws.
The woman kept the note for five years until she recently felt she would never be able to forgive herself if she did not speak up.
She attached the SOS letter to a note of her own, delivering it to the address told to her five years ago and apologising for taking so long to send it out.
A Hua’s letter, dated 27 June, 2011, read: "Respected dad and mum, hello.
"This is the first time I am writing to you. I am very lonely and can only miss you in secret.
"I’m being forced to work every day and I’m dying of exhaustion. Please come take me home!"
A Hua went on to list her exact address in Huangkai village, ending the note by saying: "I won’t say any more, dad and mum - I’m afraid I’ll get caught."
A Hua’s family contacted police right after receiving the letter and the woman was finally freed and reunited with her relatives.
Authorities are now looking into the human trafficking case, but have yet to announce any formal arrests.
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