Conflicting government rhetoric failed to abate a snowballing outcry on the Chinese internet about a mentally-ill mother of eight shackled in a hut for twenty-some years. Days before the start of the Beijing Winter Olympics, a video of a woman living in spine-chilling conditions appeared almost ubiquitously on the newsfeed of Chinese internet users. The video shows the woman, whose husband named her Yang, wearing light layers of clothing in near-freezing temperatures and chained to the wall in a small rural hut in Fengxian county, Xuzhou city. From Hero to Criminal The original viral video on Dou Yin, China’s TikTok, belonged to the account of Yang’s husband and portrayed his life with eight kids. The instant video platform promoted the video as one that brings about “positive energy,” and comments lauded the father’s alignment with the government’s latest policies incentivizing birth. However, the family’s notoriety quickly became scathing accusations when …