Yes — human trafficking is one of the most serious crimes in China. Under Article 240 of the Criminal Law, trafficking in women and children carries a base sentence of five to ten years in prison, rising to life imprisonment or the death penalty in the worst cases.
What does Article 240 of the Criminal Law actually prohibit?
Article 240 punishes “abducting and trafficking in women and children.” The offence turns on purpose: any act of kidnapping, buying, selling, transporting, or transferring a woman or child for the purpose of sale is covered. The baseline penalty is 5–10 years plus a fine. Eight aggravating circumstances push the sentence to ten years, life, or death — including trafficking three or more people, leading a trafficking group, raping the trafficked woman, forcing her into prostitution, kidnapping by force or drugs, stealing an infant, causing serious injury or death, and selling the victim abroad (Article 240, item 8).
Does Chinese law reach trafficking across the border?
Yes. Selling a victim abroad is a built-in aggravating factor under Article 240 itself. On top of that, Articles 7 and 8 of the Criminal Law extend China’s jurisdiction beyond its territory: a Chinese citizen who traffics people abroad can still be prosecuted in China, and a foreigner who traffics against a Chinese national can also be caught by Chinese law where the conduct is punishable in the place it happened. China is also a party to the UN Protocol against trafficking in persons.
What does this mean in practice?
Two points matter for anyone facing such a charge. First, buying is also a crime — Article 241 makes “buying a trafficked woman or child” punishable by up to three years. Second, the trigger is intent to sell, not every dispute over a child. A custody fight or an irregular adoption is not automatically “trafficking.”
In a hypothetical scenario, a recruiter lured a young woman in a border province with a fake job offer and handed her to a buyer overseas. Prosecutors charged him under Article 240 and relied on the cross-border aggravating factor to seek a sentence well above the ten-year base.
The bottom line: trafficking sits at the top of China’s sentencing scale, and the “sold abroad” factor can decide whether a defendant faces a decade — or worse.
Wang Guan | Co-founder, Beijing Haolue Law Firm | +86 17813108512