Timeline

May 1977: Xiaohuamei born in Puluo village, Fugong county, Yunnan province.

1980: Goes to live with her mother in Yagu village, Fugong.

1995: Marries and lives in Baoshan city, Yunnan.

1997: Returns to Yagu village, Yunnan, after her divorce.

Early 1998: Xiaohuamei taken to Donghai county, Jiangsu province, from Yagu by a female suspect surnamed Sang, who sells her to a man surnamed Xu for 5,000 yuan.

May 1998: Xiaohuamei escapes from Xu's family and travels to Luoji township, Xiayi county, Henan province, about 300 kilometers west of Donghai. A couple running a restaurant in Luoji take her in for about one month, before selling her to two migrant workers.

June 1998: The migrant workers take Xiaohuamei to Fengxian county, Jiangsu, and sell her to the father of her current husband surnamed Dong, in Dongji village, Huankou township, Fengxian.

July 1999: Xiaohuamei gives birth to her first son at home.

June 2000: Dong changes Xiaohuamei's name, using the surname Yang to apply for proof of marital status. Staff members at Huankou township civil affairs division register the marriage date as Aug 2, 1998, and the woman's birth date as June 6, 1969, based on information provided by Dong.

March 2011: The woman gives birth to her second son at a health care center in Huankou. When the center asks her to provide her ID card, Dong forges such a document for her.

April 2012 to January 2020: Xiaohuamei gives birth to five sons and a daughter.

November 2020: Dong applies for household registration for her. Although local police collect her DNA information for comparison as required, no matching results are found.

April 2021: Police in Huankou township put Xiaohuamei in the collective household registration system and issue her an ID card with the surname Yang and a birth date of June 6, 1969.