Zhou Yunpeng 周云蓬, 38, is a poet and folk singer based in Beijing. He went blind when he was nine. His last image of the colored world was the elephant in a zoo playing harmonica. This became an inspiration for him to write songs...
It’s happened at last. From John Kennedy at Global Voices: From forcing the rescue of hundreds of brick kiln slave laborers last year and seeing it through long after local bodies gave up to being analytical piranhas when...
On Global Voices, Bob Chen reminds us that the families of brick kiln slave workers are still desperately searching for their lost children, despite the lack of prolonged media or government interest in helping: According to the...
Freelance writer and blogger Lian Yue rewrote the poem, Look Up to the Stars by China’s Prime Minister Wen Jiabao. Lian’s poem, from Niubo Net, translated by CDT: I look up to the stars, So vast and profound; As abysmal as the road to the mine. The infinite truth, So hard for me to seek […]
Spiegel Online tells the story of laborers forced to work in the Shanxi brick kilns and of families still searching for loved ones who may have disappeared inside the kilns: Chinese intellectuals like Hu Shuli, the editor in chief of the business magazine Caijing, are questioning whether the country — with its poorly paid labor […]
Xinhua News Agency just run this update report about investigation and law enforcement on Shanxi brick kilns: A total of 1,340 people, 367 of whom are mentally handicapped, have been rescued from forced labor since the notorious brick kiln forced labor scandal came to light in June, a joint investigation group reported on Monday afternoon. […]
Reports concerning forced labor at brick kilns in Shanxi province have disappeared from the Western media in recent weeks, but the case is not yet resolved. As Danwei reports, journalists and netizens in China are helping to track down people still missing who are suspected of having been forced to work in the kilns. From […]
Shanxi Province’s governor recently plead with his colleagues to do a better job in managing crises after punishments were handed down in the brick kiln slavery debacle. Selected passages translated from Nanfang Group, via sina.com: Shanxi penalized 95 local officials for failure in crisis mismanagement, or lack of speedy action, in the aftermath of the […]
Apparently many family members of the victims of the Shanxi slave labor case are not appeased by the recent sentences handed down to brick kiln management: “We are very angry. This sentence is too lenient,” said Zhang Shanlin, father of a young man so badly beaten and burned that he cannot walk without assistance. “The […]
China announced verdicts yesterday in the Shanxi Brick Kiln slave labor controversy. According to the New York Times, popular response to the government’s measures, which included prosecution of only a few low-level officials, has been somewhat less than enthusiastic: Chinese journalists say government propaganda officials have urged the news media to limit coverage of the […]
From IANS, via China National News: China’s forced labour scandal has led to the punishment of 95 officials in north China’s Shanxi province, with some sacked from their party or government posts and others given disciplinary warnings for lax supervision and dereliction of duty. The provincial disciplinary commission of the Communist Party of China (CPC) […]
The second phase in China’s legal response to the Shanxi illegal brick kiln'(ȪëÁ†ñÁ™ë) controversy has begun. From AFP via Yahoo! News: Another 26 people accused of forced labour and brutal conditions in brickyards have gone on trial in China amid a scandal that has outraged the nation, state press said Thursday. The defendants are all […]
Liu Junning (ÂàòÂÜõÂÆÅ) is a researcher on social issues at the Institute of Chinese Culture under China’s Ministry of Culture. UPI Asia Online translated the article (original Chinese here): Recently exposed cases of enslaved child and adult laborers in China’s inland provinces have drawn nationwide attention. There are different opinions as to the causes behind […]
From China Media Project: The Shanxi Brick Kiln Affair (ȪëÁ†ñÁ™ë‰∫㉪∂) has received a wave of coverage in China over the last few weeks. But the lead editorial (Á§æËÆ∫) in today’s Southern Metropolis Daily takes a hard look at reporting for the story and gives the media low marks for its own role. The editorial steps […]
Southern Weekend has continued coverage of the Shanxi brick kiln case by interviewing several officials in Hongdong County about their role in the incident. ESWN translated the article (original Chinese here): The Southern Weekend reporter interviewed a large number of Shanxi government officials at various levels and went into a previously unexplored subject area about […]
From BBC News: A trial has begun of 12 people who are accused of involvement in a slave labour scandal in illegal mines and brick factories in northern China . Among those who went on trial on Wednesday are kiln boss Wang Bingbing and foreman Heng Tinghan , state news agency Xinhua said. The charges […]
Wu Si (Âê¥ÊÄù) is a well respected thinker, author and historian in China. The following interview was published on a Chinese news site Red Net on June 29, 2007. Thanks to David Kelly for the translation. Editor’s note: When the Shanxi black kiln incident was exposed by the media, critics rapidly responded, exploring the core […]
The group of fathers whose children are missing in the brick kilns of Shanxi Province have written a second letter expressing frustration with the long and painful process they have been through searching for their children and decrying the government for their failure to help. Translated by a CDT reader: We are the fathers of […]
Click on the image to download Firefly for circumvention
CDT is a non-profit media site, and we need your support. Your contribution will help us provide more translations, breaking news, and other content you love.
