Enter the Dragon: Inside Chinese Human Smuggling Organizations*

Abstract

This paper examines the inner workings of Chinese human smuggling organizations. Contrary to widely held conceptions about Chinese organized crime, most alien smugglers are otherwise ordinary citizens whose familial networks and fortuitous social contacts have enabled them to pool resources to transport human cargoes around the world. They come from diverse backgrounds and form temporary alliances to carry out smuggling operations. With the exception of a shared commitment to making money, little holds them together. The smuggling organizations mostly resemble ad hoc task forces and are assembled for specific operations. These organizations have clear divisions of labor with limited hierarchical structures. We discuss the theoretical implications of their unique organizational characteristics.

International News Coverage of Human Trafficking Arrests and Prosecutions: A Content Analysis

“…The demand of the market supports the notion of purchasing individuals for forced prostitution, but the demand does not provide a complete description of the causes for an individual to sell a human for profit. Also like drug trafficking, there are certain individuals who sell a commodity in order to survive, while other individuals involve themselves in the market in order to enjoy a substantial profit (Shannon, 1999;Williams, 1999;Zhang & Chin, 2002). Human trafficking literature deals extensively with the latter, and minimally with the former.…”

“…The involvement of criminal organizations in the global sex trade is not lost in the human trafficking literature (AIC 2000(AIC , 2001(AIC , 2002a(AIC , 2002bBruisma & Meershoek, 1999;GAATW, 2000;GSN, 1999;Human Rights Watch, 2001Kelly, 2002;Salt, 2000;Schloenhardt, 1999;Shannon, 1999;Stoecker, 2000;Stone, 1999;Taibly, 2001;Taylor & Jamieson, 1999;Zhang & Chin, 2002).…”

“…While there are some instances of criminal organizations involved from beginning to end (Shannon, 1999;Stone, 1999;Williams, 1999), criminal organizations are not always involved at the beginning stages. A study by Zhang & Chin (2002) …”

Beneath the master narrative: human trafficking, myths of sexual slavery and ethnographic realities

“…Similarly, Belgium's figures were estimated at 1,000-3,000 with only 270 documented cases (Makkai 2003). 41 Zhang and Chin (2002) note that organized networks are not the mechanism of human smuggling in China. See also Schloenhardt (1999). under-aged women out of the country.…”

Chinese organized crime and situational context: comparing human smuggling and synthetic drugs trafficking

“…We compare research findings on two different transnational criminal activities that are carried out by Chinese offenders in the Netherlands. One of these criminal activities, human smuggling, is well researched (for an overview, see [49]). Conversely, research on trafficking in precursors, the basic ingredients for the production of synthetic drugs, is largely lacking.…”