31 chinese workers rescued from slavary, Shanxi, China

source: BBC

BBC recently reported a ground breaking news that happened in China. 31 workers were forced into slavery to work in a brickwork factory. They were duped into working in this brickwork factory which was located in Shanxi province.

They were recently rescued by local police in Shanxi. As they were treated badly throughout their time spent in the factory, they were very disoriented when they were rescued. It was so traumatising to them that 8 of the workers were only able to remember their names. The labourers had to work unpaid for 20 hours at a time(5am-1am daily), and were only given bread and water in return. Sources sited that most of the workers were pulled over from workers looking for at Zhengzhou and Xian train station.

The brickworks, in the poor inland province of Shanxi, is owned by the son of the local Communist Party secretary. Local police told the BBC that the owner, Wang Binbin, had been arrested, and that his father, Wang Dongji, was under investigation. Several other people have also been arrested, although the foreman is still on the run.


above: workers rescued shows signs of trauma and injuries from burns substained from the hot bricks. photograph taken by Li Ting Zhen

Harsh regime
According to a report in the Beijing News, citing the Shanxi Evening News, the rescued workers had been duped into working at the factory.

Once there, they faced a harsh regime. One man was even reported to have been beaten to death with a hammer, because he did not work fast enough.

The workers were only given bread and water
When police raided the brickworks they discovered foul-smelling workers who had been wearing the same clothes for a year. Most of them had no shoes to wear, and beards grew wildly and look unkempt. They had no facilities to wash, and they had not had their hair cut or brushed their teeth.

"The grime on their bodies was so thick it could be scraped off with a knife," the Beijing News said.

They had burns over their bodies after being made to carry bricks that had not cooled down properly.

Police are now arranging for the workers to get the wages they should have been paid, and then they will send them home, although the eight disorientated workers cannot remember where that is.

Local people said the brickworks, near Linfen, would have been closed down a long time ago had it not been for the protection of the party secretary.

China has tens of millions of migrant workers.

They leave their rural homes in search of work, but often have to endure harsh conditions, bad treatment and low pay.

There is little they can do about their lot, particularly when, as in this case, factory owners are protected by powerful local officials.