NO GOING BACK

More than 30,000 trafficked women were rescued in China in 2014, but police told Xinhua that the number of settled cases involving mentally impaired women was just "the tip of the iceberg".

"Most were from rural areas, where villagers lack legal awareness," said Wu Yongming, vice chairman of the Social Sciences Association of Jiangxi Province. "Some villagers even don't know that human trafficking is illegal, therefore they wouldn't report it at all."

An amendment to the Criminal Law passed in August has brought harsher punishments and now not just the traffickers, but also the buyers, previously immune to punishment, will face criminal penalties.

While calling for better enforcement of the law, Li Lanying, vice president of the law school at Xiamen University, believes that clauses should be included especially for mentally impaired women.

Wu Yongming sees other problems in rural areas. When police send victims back home, families sometimes refuse to accept them, pleading poverty.

"We need to ensure the welfare of this group, so that they will no longer be viewed as burden of the family and sold," he said.