Chinese Families Pay Up to 36,800 Yuan to Confine Adult Children in Disciplinary Centers
Updated
Updated · The Diplomat · Aug 5
Chinese Families Pay Up to 36,800 Yuan to Confine Adult Children in Disciplinary Centers
1 articles · Updated · The Diplomat · Aug 5
Summary
A 21-year-old Beijing music student was seized in March by relatives and institution staff, taken to Henan and held 11 days after her parents objected to her relationship.
Southern People Weekly and other Chinese outlets found similar cases involving adults aged 21 to 33, with families paying 26,800 yuan for six months or 36,800 yuan for a year.
These centers, once tied to “internet addiction” crackdowns, now market isolation, surveillance and “behavioral correction” for dating, gaming, unemployment, unconventional work and sleeping habits.
China’s law bars unlawful deprivation of liberty and adulthood begins at 18, but enforcement is uneven; police in one case let escorts continue transporting an adult man after seeing a letter signed by his mother.
The gap between legal rights and deference to parental authority has created a growing market for private institutions that enforce family demands on adult children.