Why so many residents of one Chinese province put their lives in the hands of ‘snakehead’ smugglers

Mr Wang was a newlywed with a baby when he decided to shell out £22,000, to "snakehead" smugglers who promised him safe passage to the UK from China. 

Going abroad seemed a better bet than farming at home in Changle county, among many poor communities on a circle of islands in south-eastern Fujian province.

“Life was terrible here; there was no way to make a living,” he told The Telegraph. “Everybody wanted to go abroad and start their own business.”

As a Christian, he also risked falling foul of the atheist Communist Party, which was demolishing churches as part of a wider crackdown on religion that continues today. So he borrowed funds from friends and family, and in 2000, set off in a small…