Original subtitles

Hello and welcome to Global Eye, the programme that brings you

in-depth investigations and reporting from teams

across the BBC World Service.

I'm Mariko Oi, host of the World Service's Asia Specific podcast,

and I'm based in Singapore.

This city state has long been regarded as a gateway

between east and west, thanks to its strategic position

at Asia's crossroads.

In this week's programme, we'll be bringing you an investigation

from the region's dominant superpower, China.

The Eye team has exposed a network of disciplinary schools

inside China, revealing how they colluded with parents

to abduct troubled teens, forcing them into military style regimes

to fix them, at a devastating cost.

And we'll take you to India, where a growing number of girls

are challenging the practice of child marriage,

using sport to forge their own futures.

China's footprint in Southeast Asia is vast -

the country has been Singapore's largest trading partner

for more than a decade,

and roughly three quarters of Singapore's population

is ethnically Chinese, making it distinct in Southeast Asia.

But in a region determined to balance the influence

of the world's two superpowers - China and the United States -

Singapore walks a diplomatic tightrope,

maintaining a strong economic and cultural relationship with China,

while seeking to preserve its neutrality.

And this is a part of the world that faces an urgent challenge.

The UN predicts that by 2050, one in four people in Asia

and the Pacific will be over 60 years old.

Arguably, nowhere is that demographic crisis as stark

as China - whose birth rate sunk to a record low last year -

amid shrinking government benefits for its rapidly ageing population

and a slowing economy.

China scrapped its one-child policy ten years ago,

and in 2021, announced couples were allowed to have three children -

but that hasn't boosted its fertility rates.

Singapore is also dealing with a creeping demographic crisis.

Its fertility rates remain low,

and this year, it's set to become a super-aged society,

with more than one fifth of its population aged 65 or over.

China has the world's largest state-run education system -

but according to the country's Ministry of Education, in 2023,

there were over 167,000 private education institutions,

with almost 50 million students enrolled.

Every year across the country, thousands of troubled teens attend

disciplinary schools - part of a lucrative industry

promising anxious parents that military style discipline

will resolve everything, from concerns over disobedience

and depression to gender and sexual identity.

But undercover filming and eyewitness testimony

has revealed the devastating cost.

Thousands of teenagers in China

attend disciplinary schools like these.

They promise to correct problem behaviour.

But behind the high fences and locked gates,

violence and abuse is common.

Undercover footage exposes the people making a fortune

from the schools.

Baobao was 14 when the relationship with her mother

started to break down.

Enxu was 19 when she started to have problems with her parents.

Baobao and Enxu were sent to disciplinary schools

by their parents.

Over the past 20 years, there has been a boom

in these military style schools across China.

The private schools offer a quick fix to parents struggling

with their teenagers' behaviour.

The schools Baobao and Enxu attended were run by a military veteran,

called Li Zheng.

Since founding his first disciplinary school, in Hunan,

in 2006, Li Zheng's group has expanded to at least ten schools

across four provinces.

Staff often conspire with parents to trick their children

into the schools.

Undercover footage, filmed by a woman posing as a concerned mother,

reveals the tactics Li Zheng's network uses.

The abductions are not only used on children.

In July 2024, Zhang Enxu was 19

when she was abducted into a Li Zheng school.

We have found over a dozen survivors who claim they were abducted

and sent to a Li Zheng school.

Students are constantly monitored.

They say parents can view the CCTV footage from home.

Despite this claim, BBC Eye has evidence of over 20 former students,

including Baobao, who claimed there was physical abuse.

BBC Eye also heard claims of a sexual abuse.

When Enxu first disappeared, her friend, Wang, put out a series of

alerts on social media and also reported her missing to the police.

Enxu's letters were smuggled out and sent to Wang.

He posted them online, and they soon went viral.

As public pressure grew, after a month inside,

Enxu was finally allowed to leave, and the school was shut down.

The local education board published their reasons -

violating education regulations,

excessive tuition fees,

providing boarding facilities.

There was no mention of the physical and sexual abuse allegations.

Thousands of miles away, in Australia,

Mu Zhou is bringing a case against Li Zheng.

The network operates the disciplinary schools

through a complex set of companies,

all registered to Li Zheng or his associates.

Mu Zhou works closely with Wang to help free victims

from other disciplinary schools across China.

So far, they have rescued 13 students.

Wang believes he's found another disciplinary school,

unconnected to Li Zheng's network,

but he needs more evidence.

He installs a camera in his apartment.

Pretending to be a parent, he contacts the school to arrange

for his problem son - a 20-year-old volunteer - to be collected.

The next day, three men arrive at the apartment.

As soon as they get outside, the volunteer makes a run for it.

Wang not only got proof that the school abducts adults -

he has caught them impersonating the police.

Wang was able to get the volunteer out of the school the same day.

As for Li Zheng, the military veteran who ran the schools

both Enxu and Baobao were held in,

the police told Enxu that he was arrested on charges

of involvement in organised crime.

But despite multiple attempts,

we were unable to confirm this with police.

However, BBC Eye has discovered that his network

still appears to be operating.

Researchers went undercover.

They meet Tang Chao, Li Zheng's right hand man.

He is helping a colleague set up a new school.

Li Yunfeng is Tang's colleague.

They refused to name him - but the profile fits Li Zheng,

a military man and the former boss of both men.

They go on to give more clues.

They reveal the sort of money they could all make.

There are still hundreds of young people trapped inside

disciplinary schools across China.

For Baobao, she's determined to move forward.

Enxu and Wang continue their campaign to close

all disciplinary schools.

The BBC has been told Li Zheng was sentenced -

but despite multiple attempts,

we were unable to confirm this with police.

Adverts produced by his schools continue to target parents.

Here's some more thought provoking content

from the World Service this week.

The Climate Question podcast has taken a look at a drastic new

anti-carbon measure being adopted by a growing number of countries -

banning fossil fuel adverts.

Should petrol cars and airline tickets be put in the same category

as tobacco or sugary drinks?

And can a ban actually do anything to reduce emissions?

You can catch the Climate Question podcast in vision

on the BBC World Service YouTube channel,

or on BBC Sounds, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Now to India, where, despite laws prohibiting the practice,

millions of girls are still married off in childhood,

limiting their futures to a life of domestic chores

and few opportunities.

But a growing number of girls are now pushing back

in an unexpected way - through sport -

becoming financially independent

and carving out their own identities.

Sport is also transforming the lives of members of the marginalised

Siddi community, descendants of Africans brought to India,

largely as enslaved people,

helping them challenge discrimination

and claim new opportunities.

Divya Arya reports from India.

In India, millions of girls are unable to chase their dreams,

as they are married in childhood

or because their community lives on the margins.

But what if these girls played and used sport

to reimagine their invisible lives,

to finally be seen?

Munna was only 14 when she was told she would be a bride.

Child marriage is illegal in India -

but the United Nations estimates that 216 million girls and women

have been married before they turned 18.

Munna's mother was a child bride herself,

and arranged for Munna's older sister to have a child marriage.

Authorities try to stop child marriages,

but they say they often get little cooperation from local communities.

Munna, too, may have become a child bride -

but she was introduced to football by a women's rights organisation.

The Football for Freedom project has trained over 800 girls,

across 13 villages in Rajasthan, over the past decade -

and it's taught them much more than just sport.

The exposure while playing football, travelling for tournaments,

and the knowledge of their rights can empower girls.

But the pressure to marry is constant.

It's like life finds a new path, rebellion via sport,

but the threat of brakes being applied is constant.

Who decides who gets to play?

Where can champions come from?

As Munna battles this widespread

but illegal practice of child marriage,

hidden in a remote part of western India,

girls from a minority community have their own challenges,

and they are trying to find their way out via sport.

Meet the Siddis -

an African origin community living in isolation in India...

..till sports brought some of them into global spotlight.

Shahin Darjada is a judo champion from the western state of Gujarat.

In September 2025, she created history for her community

and for her country.

Competing in the 57kg category, she became the first Indian to win

a gold medal at the Asian Junior Judo Championship, in Indonesia.

Judo has brought Shahin to the state-of-the-art facility

in Ahmedabad, a city of over 5 million people.

Back in her village, girls lead a very simple life.

The Siddis were brought to India, mostly as slave labour,

centuries earlier.

Slavery had been abolished about 150 years ago -

but their distinct features marked them out,

and they still faced stigma and discrimination.

Even as social attitudes changed, the around 20,000 members

of the Siddi community in India remained reclusive.

It's a community that is invisible to most in the country.

Seeing it in ghettos, in villages and small towns,

living in poverty, with lack of education

and minimal exposure to the opportunities and world outside,

for children here, sports is not just about trophies and medals -

it's playing to be seen.

Most Siddi girls only have access to basic resources,

like this abandoned mill compound.

Now, with guidance from community leaders

and sports schemes aimed at developing their potential,

some girls, like Shahin, are able to step out.

Back home, Shahin is a hero.

She is proud of her medal win, but wants to drive bigger change.

Football helped Munna to escape child marriage,

and she is now qualified as coach.

She now hopes to help other girls find freedom through sport.

The girls who are playing to be seen...

..dreaming, winning,

and becoming champions of their own lives.

Thanks for joining me in Singapore.

We would love your feedback on Global Eye, so let us know

what you think on social media using the hashtag...

We'll be back next week. Goodbye.