The Road Back from Purgatory: My Five-Year Nightmare in Northern Myanmar

As one Burmese northern scam syndicate after another is dismantled and criminal after criminal is sent back to China, I can't help remembering the years I was tricked into going to northern Myanmar. I was born in the nineties in a remote mountain village. I was desperate to make something of myself, but had no interest in studying. I dropped out, got into a fight with my family, secretly took 300 yuan from my mother's pocket, and left home. After more than ten hours on the road, I arrived in the brightly lit city of Guangcheng, the place I'd dreamed of. When I had spent the last 100 yuan I had, I was at a dead end. Then I saw an agency hiring temporary workers, with wages paid daily. I thought it would be a stopgap job, since I was too young to work for a legitimate company. I never imagined it would be the beginning of a five-year nightmare...

After I was tricked into going to northern Myanmar, I was abused in all sorts of ways by a scam syndicate. I tried to escape several times and was caught each time, beaten savagely, and nearly killed more than once. I regretted everything.

I saw one group after another of people tricked into coming here by friends and relatives, or by shady employment agencies. As I endured one situation after another, I grew stronger and began to fight back against the criminal forces.