Child Labor Scandal in Shanxi

In an article posted June 18, 2007 entitled "China: Child Labour Scandal Exposes Gross Corruption," Antoaneta Bezlova detailed the ordeal endured by 32 migrant workers who had been forced to work as slave laborers in a brick kiln for over a year. The workers were routinely beaten and starved, and were forced to handle hot bricks bare-handed, and were so filthy that the grime could be scraped off their bodied with a knife.

What's even more shocking is the revelation that, over the last few years, at least 1,000 children between the ages of eight and 16 have been enslaved in the brickworks in the Shanxi province. It is no coincidence that the brickworks is owned by by the son of the Communist Party chief. Local police ignored illegal labor practices due to an agreement between the police and local officials.

Fathers of the kidnapped children claim that their children were kidnapped and sold to the factory bosses for 500 yuan each. The laborers were forced to work and live in unbelievable squalor. "The places those children lived in were worse than dog kennels," said Chai Wei, a father of a missing child, upon searching several brickworks searching for his son. He described children sleeping on wooden planks, and walls covered with excrement. He and other fathers were horrified at what they saw on their rescue efforts, and get no help whatsoever from the local police.

The discovery of webs of provincial slave labor coincides with the development of new labor laws designed to protect workers from local labor abuses. Unfortunately, many local officials chose to ignore directives from the central government. Workers' advocates argue that directives will only be enforced if independent labor unions are allowed to form.

Based on what I have learned in this class, I am not surprised that child labor or slave labor exists in China. China is a country with little respect for human life or human rights, so why should we expect them to treat migrant worker or their children well? They also have no respect for the law, and corruption is just as rampant as ever. As long as there is profit to be made from slave and child labor, they Chinese will find ways to circumvent any "laws" they can put on the books.

Susan