From Open Democracy:
Another shocking news story broke in China in June 2007. It was discovered that in Hongtong county, Shanxi province, people kidnapped from rural areas were being forced to work as slaves in a brick kiln. Horrifying television footage showed them after their chance rescue – they were filthy and emaciated, with their clothes in tatters and blank expressions on their faces. It was impossible not to think of the images of holocaust survivors rescued from concentration camps at the end of the Second World War.
Similar scenes occurred over the following days. After an instruction from “senior leaders in the central government” an inspection team was sent to the area. It was only at this point that local officials seemed to wake up and stir into action, beginning with a large scale investigation and rescue operation. By 22 June, several hundred “slave workers” had been rescued. Of the 3,347 Shanxi brick kilns investigated, 2,036 were operating without the proper licenses or tax registration. A total of 53,036 people were being illegally employed. The investigation uncovered cases of people being kidnapped, of restriction of personal freedom, of forced labour, use of child labour, and abuse and even murder of workers. [Full Text]
Li Datong is a Chinese journalist and formerly editor of Freezing Point. Read also Building Human Rights, Brick by Brick by Hu Shuli, editor of Caijing:
In the wake of a recent slave labor tragedy at brick kilns in Shanxi Province, an avalanche of criticism in various media stressed that the incident was by no means accidental, regional or something new, but was indicative of a problematic judicial system, moral decay and government negligence.
It was inspiring to see such powerful media oversight in the news coverage, and the central government’s immediate response. However, a basic question arises here. Applying the Chinese expression “humans and the gods alike are outraged” by such incidents, why did the brutality continue in communities for such a long period, and why were the rights to life, freedom and dignity, especially those of children, denied in ways that violate humanity? [Full Text]
See also China’s Slavery Scandal Reveals Weaknesses in Governance by Willy Lam, senior fellow at The Jamestown Foundation:
The slave labor scandal in Shanxi Province has exposed not only the near-barbarity of the “early stage of capitalism with Chinese characteristics” but also the deep-seated administrative malaise in the Chinese system. Since early this month, the nation has been stunned by reports revealing that more than 1,000 “slaves,” including children and mentally retarded men, were working for long hours with no pay in primitive brick-making kilns in hilly and remote counties in the underdeveloped province. Investigations ordered by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) leadership have discovered that massive kidnapping and smuggling of children and youth”and their subsequent enslavement in shoddy kilns, mines and other makeshift workshops”has taken place in Shanxi during the past few years. While some 359 victims have so far been rescued, the shocking incident is a slap in the face of the “putting people first” and “harmonious society” credos of Chinese President Hu Jintao and Premier Wen Jiabao. [Full Text]
