Kidnapping in China

Kidnapping in China has its history since the ancient times. Such issues have been heavily studied and discussed by investigators and researchers.

Since at least the 1980s, kidnapping has become a bigger issue than ever in the country. Since the 1990s, tougher laws against the kidnapping have been established. Chinese authorities have also investigated in this regard.

Ancient Chinese text indicates the ransoming of hostages during the reign of Xia Dynasty (2070 BCE - 1600 BCE), they refer to the taking of princes and family members as hostages across the multiple dynastic periods as warrantor of negotiated treaties.

There have been number of historical incidents of kidnapping in China, In 1523, when two Japanese rival delegations had arrived in Ningbo, they had looted and kidnapped Chinese civil servants. Due to such incident, the official relations with Japan were not restored until 1539.

During the Second Opium War, when an estimated of 18,000 British and French Soldiers had returned to the coastal forts, Chinese' response included the kidnapping of 38 Anglo-French negotiating party members, 26 of them died in captivity.

In 2015, the Chinese government launched QGDGXQ, a system for identifying and reuniting freed children.

During the 19th century, Johannes Von Gumpach had described the issue of kidnapping as "One of the most common crimes in China." According to Francis Dunlap Gamewell, kidnapping was a common crime in Shanghai; he noted that kidnappers were mostly female.

Carl Crow, who traveled to China during the wars, he had described the prevalence of kidnapping in China as "well organized business in China carried out with a large degree of success".

Kidnapping has become a growing business in China. Steve Vickers of Kroll Associates has reportedly noted that some common scenarios of kidnapping in China includes the kidnapping for ransom, kidnapping of a foreigner(commonly in Hong Kong or Macau).

An estimated 70,000 children are kidnapped in China every year, although the Chinese government reported fewer than 10,000 kidnappings. According to the United States Department of State, estimates are closer to 20,000.

Some children are reported to have been sold into adoption overseas. The adoption agencies of China receive considerable donations from foreign parents when they adopt, sometimes as much as $5,000; such agencies have been known to purchase children from human traffickers, although such cases are usually rare.

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Wikipedia