(博讯北京时间2007年6月16日 来稿)
我们知道古代奴隶制的丑陋，知道殖民者贩卖黑奴的冷血，知道早期资本主义压榨童工的贪婪，然而，在奴隶制、贩奴、童工早已成为千夫所指的二十一世纪，在自豪地炫耀大国崛起和五千年文明的中国，在天天宣讲“以人为本”、“和谐社会”的胡温亲民秀中，中国的山西却出现了大规模“黑窑童奴”，震惊海外。 (博讯 boxun.com)
《南方周末》记者笑蜀震惊于山西奴工事件，写下《山西奴工事件本质上是一场叛乱》，开篇就是：“山西奴工规模之大，持续时间之长，令人瞠目，令人气结！自认为自己的想象力并不差，尤其对黑暗的想象力并不差，对丑恶的想象力并不差，但黑暗到了这样极端的地步，丑恶到了这样极端的地步，仍然是自己做梦都不曾料到的。”
是的，人的行善，大都不会超出人类的想象力；而人的作恶，每每让人类的想象力不及。特别是生活在野蛮制度下的人，他们的为恶经常会让人惊叹：难以想象！
而中国，这个世界上人口最多、文盲最多、非正常死亡最多的国家，超出想象力的罪恶太多了，以至于，中国人已经没有想象力了，也不会再惊叹了！
中国的污染最重、枪毙人最多、大型矿难最多、强行堕胎最严重，已经无法刺激人们的神经了；
中国的侵犯知识产权最严重、假冒劣质品最多、食品最不安全，已经见怪不怪了；
中国的农民最多而农民却没有失业保险、医疗保险、养老保险，已经熟视无睹了；
中国的官僚人数最多、官员权力最大、官场最腐败，已经几千年一贯制了。
现在，中国人惊叹的是，中国已经崛起了，以人为本了，走向和谐了，步入历史上从未有过的盛世了，也将举办世界上最成功的2008年北京奥运了。
再看山西“童奴”之罪。
“童奴”的来源是非法贩卖、拐骗和绑架，有的“童奴”就是地方劳动监察部门卖给砖场的。
被劫掠的“童奴”大都是十五六岁的孩子，最小年龄只有八岁。他们被切断与外界的所有联系，彻底失去了自由。
“童奴”们被强迫卖苦力的黑窑，大都依山而建，三面土山，一面出口，出口处都有多条狼狗把守，监工和包工头也住在出口处，以防逃跑。大门一锁，监工居高临下、一目了然。
“童奴”被强制作工的时间是每天19个小时（早5点－午夜12点），一日三餐都是冷馍、凉拌包心菜或萝卜，三个月吃不到肉；睡在工棚的地上，多月不洗头、不洗澡，甚至不洗脸，虱子遍身。
为了防止“童奴”黑夜逃跑，入夜后监工就锁住工棚大门。整整一夜，“童奴”夜间的吃喝拉撒，全在黑暗的工棚里，腥臊味冲天。他们个个蓬头垢面、伤痕累累，有人还穿着沾满尘灰、破烂不堪的校服。
拐骗时许诺每月800元工资，但直到这些“童奴”被解救时，他们没有拿到分文。获救的姓朱童奴获救时，砖场补发了三百元的微薄工资，却遭官员没收。
“童奴”稍有怠慢，就会或皮鞭或棍棒或砖头加身，许多人被暴打致傻或致残，甚至有多名“童奴”被殴打致死。2007年春节前后，窑厂两位工人被监工殴打致死。河南电视台都市频道记者暗访时，甚至从当时埋尸的工人口中听说，在埋掉他们时，两个人似乎还有呼吸。
这样的人间地狱，存在了不是一年两年，而是历时数年。难道当地政府毫不知情？
这样的“童奴”，不是几人，而是上千人。那么多父母寻找失踪孩子的告示，难道还不足以引起当地公安部门的高度关注？
在数年的时间里，地方官员犯下如此骇人听闻的渎职罪，为什么中央政府毫不知情和毫无作为？
如果不是失踪孩子的父母们执着寻找，恐怕这罪恶至今仍然不为人知。
别跟我说是黑窑主贪婪得灭绝了人性，没有公权力的默许和配合，决不会有如此大规模的当代“童奴”。
也别跟我说是地方政府的隐瞒，如果不是中央政府全力维护的谎言制度和信息垄断，那么，在信息传递如此便捷的互联网时代，那么长时间的大规模犯罪怎么可能不为人知？没有不把人当人的制度及其政府，就不会发生如此令人发指的违法犯罪行为。
一个至今没有学会敬重生命和维护人权的独裁政权，一个至今还把维持垄断权力作为第一要务的寡头集团，不可能珍惜包括孩子们在内的国人生命。君不见，震惊海内外的山西“童奴”事件曝光后，大陆媒体的新闻头条仍然是中共寡头们，也仍然是弘扬主旋律的正面报道。
所以，特别是不要跟我说，这桩骇人听闻的罪恶曝光后，胡锦涛、温家宝等高官震惊了，迅速作出严厉指示了，营救“童奴”的行动全面展开了。如果胡温真的被惊动了，那也决不是基于对罪恶本身的震惊，而是基于抹黑了胡温形象的震怒。
毛泽东不会为土改杀人、三反五反杀人、反右杀人、大跃进饿死几千人而震惊，否则的话，他不会制造文化大革命的浩劫。
邓小平不会为毛泽东的罪恶震惊，否则的话，他决不会动用全副武装的军队屠杀手无寸铁的学生和平民；
江泽民不会为邓小平的大屠杀震惊，否则的话，他决不会制造镇压法轮功的人权灾难。
胡锦涛不会为毛泽东、邓小平、江泽民的罪恶震惊，否则的话，他决不会至今还膜拜毛、邓的亡灵，还把江的三个代表挂在嘴边。
独裁权力是冰冷的，眼睛只盯着乌纱帽的大小官员，不可能是温暖的。
故而，千万别跟我说“黑窑奴童”惊动了胡温！
2007年6月15日于北京家中（《观察》2007年6月15日）
Thursday, June 21, 2007
刘晓波：就“黑窑童奴”向胡温中央问责
(博讯 boxun.com)
作者：刘晓波 文章来源：观察 更新时间：6/21/2007
自从胡温上台以来，屡屡发生本该被消除在萌芽中的公共灾难演化为震惊海内外的重大公共危机。比如，2003年的SARS危机，2005年的松花江水危机，2006年多起有毒食品和假药引发的公共安全危机。之所以如此，大都源于独裁体制下的中央政府的隐瞒或不作为。如果没有良知者通过难以完全封杀的互联网对危机真相的揭露，逼迫胡温中央不得不作出反应，后果将不堪设想。在此意义上，互联网真是上帝送给中国民众进行自我维权的最好礼物。
具体到此次黑窑童奴案。尽管，黑窑童奴案曝光后，15日胡温作出批示。20日温家宝主持国务院会议，听取山西黑窑事件调查处理初步情况的汇报，山西省省长做了检查。然而，胡温中央决不能以地方政府的错误来推卸责任，难道那些地方大员不是中央政府任命的吗？是，中央政府就要承担相应的责任。或者说，欲根治“黑窑童奴”，必先根治官员的冷酷；欲治官场，必先改革从来没有尊重生命和人权的独裁制度。
胡温中央更不能以“地方隐瞒”或“不知情”来卸责。因为，仅从知情不为的做派上看，胡温中央仍然脱不了干系。
早在今年3月8日，河南郑州市民羊爱枝未满16岁的孩子王新磊失踪。为了寻找儿子，羊爱枝去派出所报案，没有结果；她走了上百个网吧，张贴数千张寻人启事，还是毫无结果。
3月底，羊爱枝与河南孟县的另一位丢失孩子的家长一起去山西寻找孩子。在运城、晋城、临汾，母亲甚至长跪在砖窑厂门前，询问孩子的下落。她跑了100多家窑厂，没有找到孩子，却发现了惊人的黑窑秘密。4月初，羊爱枝等六位孩子失踪的家长一起再次前往山西寻子，没结果。
5月9日，河南都市频道记者付振中与六位家长们一道赶往山西，他用摄像机偷偷记录下黑窑惨状，并以“罄竹难书，惨绝人寰”为题进行了电视报道，闻讯前往电视台求救的家长居然超过1000人。与此同时，上百位家长前往山西寻找孩子。
6月5日，河南的“大河论坛”出现一个题为《罪恶的“黑人”之路！孩子被卖山西黑砖窑400位父亲泣血呼救》的帖子。在帖子中，400位河南籍父亲叙述了骇人听闻的事实：他们的孩子被人贩子或诱骗或绑架，卖到山西的黑砖窑做苦工，山西临汾市、永济市是窑场比较集中的地方。
6月11日，羊爱枝给总理温家宝发出了紧急求救信，发出一位母亲的泣血呼喊：“救出我们被魔鬼哄骗、绑架，而生活在地狱中的孩子吧！”
与此同时，媒体开始大规模聚焦“黑窑童奴”事件。
6月15日，胡锦涛和温家宝等高官才作出批示，中华全国总工会书记处书记、纪检组长张鸣才赶到山西，对黑窑案的查处进行督促、调查。劳动保障部也派员前往山西调查黑窑非法用工情况。山西省委书记张宝顺和省长于幼军才发出指示，在全省开展“打击黑窑主，解救拐骗民工”专项行动。
从3月8日到6月15日，三个多月的时间里，父母们的自发寻找，河南电视台的曝光，400位父亲的网上求助，居然没有引起中央政府的注意!
更有甚者，胡温中央的知情不为的时间，不是三个月而是将近一年。据《潇湘晨报》6月19日《人大代表与山西黑砖窑较量9年 曾上书总理》的报道指出，早在1998年，湖南省石门县新关镇人大主席、省人大代表陈建教已与山西、河北等多个地方的黑砖窑展开较量，解救出数百名被困的民工，其中也有多名童奴。当陈建教先生经过长期的孤军奋战而感到无能为力时，他想到了求助于胡温中央。2006年9月8日，他直接写信给温家宝总理，为了从总体上解决黑窑奴工问题，建议中央政府在全国开展一次整治“黑砖厂”的行动，全面解救被囚禁的民工。他在信中直言：“这些‘黑砖厂’难道当地政府、公安、劳动部门不知道吗？我想他们应该都清楚，就西姬砖厂而言，就曾出现好几起通过当地公安部门、劳动部门解救民工事件，如此虐待民工的‘黑砖厂’无人过问，我想其中的原因可能是说不清道不明吧！”
如果中央政府对这位省人大代表的上书迅速作出反应，违法犯罪的黑窑奴工就能够提前得到治理，即便无法完全根治，起码能引起社会舆论的关注，让童奴少受近一年的虐待，使被拐骗、被绑架的孩子减少，官黑勾结的犯罪也能得到一定遏止。然而，这位省人大代表的上书如石沉大海，没有得到温家宝或中央政府相关部门的任何回音。
胡温中央如此对待一位省人大代表的上书，在引发海内外震惊的黑窑奴工案曝光后，胡温中央难道不应该出面向受害者道歉认错吗？中央政府对省级人大代表的态度尚且如此轻慢，他们如何对待毫无权势的平民就不待多言了。
胡温上台以来，最爱表演的就是“亲民秀”， 废除收容遣送、改变应对SARS的决策，人权写进宪法、免农业税，走乡串户，替民工讨薪、为农民卖桃、下矿井中过三十、穿旧旅游鞋、多次为民间疾苦流泪……通过垄断媒体的年年讲、月月讲、天天讲，胡温多少还积累点亲民的形象。然而，亲民是脸上的和电视镜头前的，而冷酷是骨子里的、黑箱决策中的。因为，他们毕竟是现行寡头独裁集团的首脑，他们一定要把维护独裁权力和特权结成的既得利益放在首位，而不可能把主流民意、生民疾苦和社会公益放在首位；他们也一定要把突出政绩、展示伟光正形象作为媒体的首要任务，而不可能让媒体变成专门挑刺的无冕之王；此次“黑窑奴童”罪恶的曝光，再次戳穿了胡温的问责诺言和亲民神话。
2007年6月21日于北京家中（《观察》2007年6月21日）
作者：刘晓波 文章来源：观察 更新时间：6/21/2007
自从胡温上台以来，屡屡发生本该被消除在萌芽中的公共灾难演化为震惊海内外的重大公共危机。比如，2003年的SARS危机，2005年的松花江水危机，2006年多起有毒食品和假药引发的公共安全危机。之所以如此，大都源于独裁体制下的中央政府的隐瞒或不作为。如果没有良知者通过难以完全封杀的互联网对危机真相的揭露，逼迫胡温中央不得不作出反应，后果将不堪设想。在此意义上，互联网真是上帝送给中国民众进行自我维权的最好礼物。
具体到此次黑窑童奴案。尽管，黑窑童奴案曝光后，15日胡温作出批示。20日温家宝主持国务院会议，听取山西黑窑事件调查处理初步情况的汇报，山西省省长做了检查。然而，胡温中央决不能以地方政府的错误来推卸责任，难道那些地方大员不是中央政府任命的吗？是，中央政府就要承担相应的责任。或者说，欲根治“黑窑童奴”，必先根治官员的冷酷；欲治官场，必先改革从来没有尊重生命和人权的独裁制度。
胡温中央更不能以“地方隐瞒”或“不知情”来卸责。因为，仅从知情不为的做派上看，胡温中央仍然脱不了干系。
早在今年3月8日，河南郑州市民羊爱枝未满16岁的孩子王新磊失踪。为了寻找儿子，羊爱枝去派出所报案，没有结果；她走了上百个网吧，张贴数千张寻人启事，还是毫无结果。
3月底，羊爱枝与河南孟县的另一位丢失孩子的家长一起去山西寻找孩子。在运城、晋城、临汾，母亲甚至长跪在砖窑厂门前，询问孩子的下落。她跑了100多家窑厂，没有找到孩子，却发现了惊人的黑窑秘密。4月初，羊爱枝等六位孩子失踪的家长一起再次前往山西寻子，没结果。
5月9日，河南都市频道记者付振中与六位家长们一道赶往山西，他用摄像机偷偷记录下黑窑惨状，并以“罄竹难书，惨绝人寰”为题进行了电视报道，闻讯前往电视台求救的家长居然超过1000人。与此同时，上百位家长前往山西寻找孩子。
6月5日，河南的“大河论坛”出现一个题为《罪恶的“黑人”之路！孩子被卖山西黑砖窑400位父亲泣血呼救》的帖子。在帖子中，400位河南籍父亲叙述了骇人听闻的事实：他们的孩子被人贩子或诱骗或绑架，卖到山西的黑砖窑做苦工，山西临汾市、永济市是窑场比较集中的地方。
6月11日，羊爱枝给总理温家宝发出了紧急求救信，发出一位母亲的泣血呼喊：“救出我们被魔鬼哄骗、绑架，而生活在地狱中的孩子吧！”
与此同时，媒体开始大规模聚焦“黑窑童奴”事件。
6月15日，胡锦涛和温家宝等高官才作出批示，中华全国总工会书记处书记、纪检组长张鸣才赶到山西，对黑窑案的查处进行督促、调查。劳动保障部也派员前往山西调查黑窑非法用工情况。山西省委书记张宝顺和省长于幼军才发出指示，在全省开展“打击黑窑主，解救拐骗民工”专项行动。
从3月8日到6月15日，三个多月的时间里，父母们的自发寻找，河南电视台的曝光，400位父亲的网上求助，居然没有引起中央政府的注意!
更有甚者，胡温中央的知情不为的时间，不是三个月而是将近一年。据《潇湘晨报》6月19日《人大代表与山西黑砖窑较量9年 曾上书总理》的报道指出，早在1998年，湖南省石门县新关镇人大主席、省人大代表陈建教已与山西、河北等多个地方的黑砖窑展开较量，解救出数百名被困的民工，其中也有多名童奴。当陈建教先生经过长期的孤军奋战而感到无能为力时，他想到了求助于胡温中央。2006年9月8日，他直接写信给温家宝总理，为了从总体上解决黑窑奴工问题，建议中央政府在全国开展一次整治“黑砖厂”的行动，全面解救被囚禁的民工。他在信中直言：“这些‘黑砖厂’难道当地政府、公安、劳动部门不知道吗？我想他们应该都清楚，就西姬砖厂而言，就曾出现好几起通过当地公安部门、劳动部门解救民工事件，如此虐待民工的‘黑砖厂’无人过问，我想其中的原因可能是说不清道不明吧！”
如果中央政府对这位省人大代表的上书迅速作出反应，违法犯罪的黑窑奴工就能够提前得到治理，即便无法完全根治，起码能引起社会舆论的关注，让童奴少受近一年的虐待，使被拐骗、被绑架的孩子减少，官黑勾结的犯罪也能得到一定遏止。然而，这位省人大代表的上书如石沉大海，没有得到温家宝或中央政府相关部门的任何回音。
胡温中央如此对待一位省人大代表的上书，在引发海内外震惊的黑窑奴工案曝光后，胡温中央难道不应该出面向受害者道歉认错吗？中央政府对省级人大代表的态度尚且如此轻慢，他们如何对待毫无权势的平民就不待多言了。
胡温上台以来，最爱表演的就是“亲民秀”， 废除收容遣送、改变应对SARS的决策，人权写进宪法、免农业税，走乡串户，替民工讨薪、为农民卖桃、下矿井中过三十、穿旧旅游鞋、多次为民间疾苦流泪……通过垄断媒体的年年讲、月月讲、天天讲，胡温多少还积累点亲民的形象。然而，亲民是脸上的和电视镜头前的，而冷酷是骨子里的、黑箱决策中的。因为，他们毕竟是现行寡头独裁集团的首脑，他们一定要把维护独裁权力和特权结成的既得利益放在首位，而不可能把主流民意、生民疾苦和社会公益放在首位；他们也一定要把突出政绩、展示伟光正形象作为媒体的首要任务，而不可能让媒体变成专门挑刺的无冕之王；此次“黑窑奴童”罪恶的曝光，再次戳穿了胡温的问责诺言和亲民神话。
2007年6月21日于北京家中（《观察》2007年6月21日）
Reports of Forced Labor Unsettle China
June 16, 2007
By HOWARD W. FRENCH
SHANGHAI, June 15 — Su Jinduo and Su Jinpeng, brother and sister, were traveling home by bus from a vacation visit to Qingdao during the Chinese New Year when they disappeared.
Cheated out of their money when they sought to buy a ticket for the final leg of the journey home, their father, Su Jianjun, said in an interview, they were taken in by a woman who provided them with warm shelter and a meal on a cold winter night. She also offered them a chance to earn enough money to pay their fare by helping her sell fruit.
The next thing they knew, however, they were being loaded onto a minibus with several other children and taken to a factory in the next province, where they were pressed into service making bricks. Several days later, the boy, 16, escaped along with another boy and managed to reach home. A few days later, Mr. Su was able to rescue his daughter, 18.
This story and many others like it have swept China in recent days in an unfolding labor scandal in central China that involves the kidnapping of hundreds of children, most in their teens but some as young as 8.
The children, and many adults, reportedly, have been forced to work under brutal conditions — scantily clothed, unpaid and often fed little more than water and steamed buns — in the brick kilns of Shanxi Province.
As the stories spread across China this week, played prominently in newspaper headlines and on the Internet, a manhunt was announced midweek for Heng Tinghan, the foreman of one of the kilns, where 31 enslaved workers were recently rescued.
Mr. Su said his children were brought to the factory around midnight of the day they vanished. Once there, they were told they would have to make bricks. “You will start working in the morning, so get some sleep, and don’t lose your bowls, or you will have to pay for them,” he said the children were told. “They also charged them 50 renminbi for a blanket.” That is equivalent to about $6.50.
Mr. Su managed to recover his children after only a matter of days at the kiln, but many other parents have been less fortunate, losing contact with children for months or years. As stories of forced labor at the brick kilns have spread, hundreds of parents have petitioned local authorities to help them find their children and crack down on the kilns.
In some cases, according to Chinese news media reports, parents have also come together to try to rescue their children, placing little stock in the local authorities, who are sometimes in collusion with the operators of the kilns. Other reports have said that local authorities, including labor inspectors, have taken children from freshly closed kilns and resold them to other factories.
The director of the legal department of the Shanxi Province Worker’s Union said it was hard to monitor the kilns because of their location in isolated areas.
“Those factories are located in very remote places and most them are illegal entities, without any legal registration, so it is very hard for people outside to know what is going on there,” said the union official, Zhang Xiaosuo. “We are now doing a province-wide investigation into them, both the legal and illegal ones, to look into labor issues there.”
Liu Cheng, a professor of labor law at Shanghai Normal University, had a different explanation. “My first reaction is that this seems like a typical example of a government-business alliance,” Mr. Liu said. “Forced labor and child labor in China are illegal, but some local governments don’t care too much.”
Zhang Xiaoying, 37, whose 15-year-old son disappeared in January, said she had visited over 100 brick factories during a handful of visits to Shanxi Province in search of him.
“You just could not believe what you saw,” Ms. Zhang said in a telephone interview on Thursday. “Some of the kids working at these places were at most 14 or 15 years old.”
The local police, she said, were unwilling to help. Outside one factory, she said, they even demanded bribes.
“We finally got into that place, and I saw people hauling carts of bricks with great difficulty,” Ms. Zhang said. “Some of them were very small, and the ropes they pulled left tracks of blood on their shoulders and backs. Others were making bricks, standing by the machines.
“They had to move the bricks from the belt very quickly, because they were hot and heavy and they could easily get burned or hurt by the machines.”
By Friday, with the help of Mr. Su, Ms. Zhang finally located her son at a kiln near the one to which Mr. Su’s children had been taken.
Another father, Cai Tianliang, said he had set out to Shanxi Province in May from his native Henan Province in search of his missing 19-year-old son after a local television broadcast had shown a team of television reporters and Henan parents searching the Shanxi kilns for kidnapped children.
“I thought there was a great possibility that my son was also kidnapped, so I went there twice,” Mr. Cai said. “The usual thing is for an owner to have more than one factory, and to shift people without identification from one place to another.”
On his first trip, which he took with a group of parents, Mr. Cai said he found few clues. On a second visit to the area, he said, he was refused police permits to enter any of the brick factories but persisted anyway.
“We located a place called the Zhenjie Brick Factory in a town called Chengbei, and at first they would not allow us in,” he said, “but we kept negotiating. Finally, they let a few of us in, and they found my son inside.”
Like many other parents, Mr. Cai said he was dumbfounded by the boy’s condition when they were reunited.
“My son was totally dumb, not even knowing how to cry, or to scream or to call out ‘Father,’ ” he said. “I burst into tears and held him in my arms, but he had no reaction. He was in rags and had wounds all over his body. Within three months he had lost over 10 kilos,” about 22 pounds.
Mr. Cai said he tried to rescue a 16-year-old boy he found there, but was refused by the factory boss. “He said I could only take my own,” Mr. Cai said, “and must leave other people behind at the kiln.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/16/world/asia/16china.html?pagewanted=print
Fast-Growing China Says Little of Child Slavery’s Role
June 21, 2007
Memo From Shanghai
Fast-Growing China Says Little of Child Slavery’s Role
By HOWARD W. FRENCH
SHANGHAI, June 20 — There is a certain ritualistic aspect to stories in China like the one this past week about the hundreds of people, many of them teenagers or even younger, who were forced to work under slavelike conditions in the brick kilns of Shanxi Province. First, Chinese readers are horrified by a picture of their country that many say they hardly recognize, then a villain is rounded up, and finally, after a torrent of unusually blunt and emotionally charged news reports and editorials, the matter drops from view, ensuring that the larger issue goes unresolved.
The villain in the case was Heng Tinghan, the manager of the brick works, who was arrested Saturday and promptly cemented his bad-guy image by protesting that it was a “fairly small thing” to beat and abuse underage workers, and to deprive them of pay. With his arrest, and the urging of the Central Office of External Communication of the Communist Party, the story then died away. But Chinese newspapers are constantly peppered with accounts of the death and injury of child laborers, and of disputes that arise because of unusually low wages, or the withholding of pay, with no region of the country exempted.
Just within a week or so of the brick kiln story, there were several reports of labor abuses against children. A 14-year-old boy was killed in an explosion while filling a tank with napthalene at a chemical factory near Nanjing. A 15-year-old boy was dragged into a cotton gin and crushed to death in Nanchang after working a succession of 20-hour days. And 70 girls from rural Henan Province were brought by their teacher to work at a grape processing plant in Ningbo, where their hands bled from working 16-hour shifts.
From the densely packed factory zones of Guangdong Province to the street markets, kitchens and brothels of major cities, to the primitive factories of China’s relatively poor western provinces, child labor is a daily fact of life, experts here say, and one that the government, preoccupied with economic growth, has traditionally turned a blind eye to.
“In order to achieve modernization, people will go to any ends to earn money, to advance their interests, leaving behind morality, humanity and even a little bit of compassion, let alone the law or regulations, which are poorly implemented,” said Hu Jindou, a professor of economics at the University of Technology in Beijing. “Everything is about the economy now, just like everything was about politics in the Mao era, and forced labor or child labor is far from an isolated phenomenon. It is rooted deeply in today’s reality, a combination of capitalism, socialism, feudalism and slavery.”
Under President Hu Jintao, the Communist Party has made the creation of what it calls a harmonious society the government’s main watchword. As part of that effort, in fact, a major revision of laws governing the rights of children took effect just this month, prompting the country’s vice premier, Wu Yi, to call their adoption “a festive present for the mainland’s 300 million children.”
Chinese labor market experts say, however, that the country remains far from achieving even the spirit of the new law, which mandates that adequate time be set aside for sleep, entertainment and sports. In fact, many say, an overwhelming emphasis on economic growth directly contradicts it.
This was underscored by another story that emerged the same week the kiln factory abuses were revealed. Students from the Dayin Middle School in Sichuan Province, in China’s interior, complained in newspaper reports about a work-study program in which they were shipped to an electronics assembly plant hundreds of miles away, in the industrial boomtown of Dongguan, which is near the coast.
The students told about having to work 14-hour days, with mandatory overtime, and having their wages withheld. In some instances, they said, those who wished to quit the program had no way of telephoning their families or paying for transportation home.
“My daughter promised to call every week, but she’s been gone for three weeks and has only called once,” said Zhang Ronghua, the mother of a 15-year-old Sichuan student. “She said that she wants to come home, that she’s worked from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. and that she’s constantly busy and tired.”
Yuan Guangyao, the deputy manager of the factory, defended his company’s arrangement with the school. “This internship is a form of cooperation between our company and the school, or rather with the county,” he said. “I’ve been to that county myself, and I found the local people were very poor, so this initiative of having students work here is a win-win strategy for both of us.”
But many of the parents see a different picture, suspecting that the factory and the school are profiting at their children’s expense.
Liu Kaiming, a longtime researcher on labor conditions in Guangdong Province, where Dongguan is, said the employment of students who were paid low wages and forced to work overtime was commonplace. “In Dongguan, you can even see children of 12 and 15 working in toy factories,” he said. “These kids are basically from adjacent, underdeveloped provinces and they are brought by their teachers. There are laws forbidding child labor, but for work-study programs there are no specific rules, and no limitations on age, working hours or job description.”
Other experts said local officials were reluctant to take any steps that would impede economic growth. Traditionally, high growth rates and social stability have been the main criteria for promotion of local officials, and in relatively poor regions providing employment, even for youths, is seen as contributing to these goals.
Indeed, in the Shanxi brick kiln case, the owner of the factory that was the focus of most of the media attention was a local Communist Party leader.
Local officials also take advantage of overlapping jurisdictions to evade responsibility. In Sichuan Province, the local officials said they had no say over working conditions negotiated between the school and the factory.
Officials at the provincial labor bureau in Guangdong Province said that labor arrangements made by a school should be regulated by the Education Ministry. The ministry did not respond to telephone calls or faxed questions on the matter.
“Each department or ministry only cares about itself,” said Jin Yingjie, a labor law expert at China University of Political Science and Law. “If the law concerns its own interest, it will make an effort to apply it. But when an issue involves the intersection of more than one department, they tend to shirk responsibility.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/21/world/asia/21china.html?ei=5087%0A&em=&en=2b3c410c0be879bb&ex=1182657600&pagewanted=print
Memo From Shanghai
Fast-Growing China Says Little of Child Slavery’s Role
By HOWARD W. FRENCH
SHANGHAI, June 20 — There is a certain ritualistic aspect to stories in China like the one this past week about the hundreds of people, many of them teenagers or even younger, who were forced to work under slavelike conditions in the brick kilns of Shanxi Province. First, Chinese readers are horrified by a picture of their country that many say they hardly recognize, then a villain is rounded up, and finally, after a torrent of unusually blunt and emotionally charged news reports and editorials, the matter drops from view, ensuring that the larger issue goes unresolved.
The villain in the case was Heng Tinghan, the manager of the brick works, who was arrested Saturday and promptly cemented his bad-guy image by protesting that it was a “fairly small thing” to beat and abuse underage workers, and to deprive them of pay. With his arrest, and the urging of the Central Office of External Communication of the Communist Party, the story then died away. But Chinese newspapers are constantly peppered with accounts of the death and injury of child laborers, and of disputes that arise because of unusually low wages, or the withholding of pay, with no region of the country exempted.
Just within a week or so of the brick kiln story, there were several reports of labor abuses against children. A 14-year-old boy was killed in an explosion while filling a tank with napthalene at a chemical factory near Nanjing. A 15-year-old boy was dragged into a cotton gin and crushed to death in Nanchang after working a succession of 20-hour days. And 70 girls from rural Henan Province were brought by their teacher to work at a grape processing plant in Ningbo, where their hands bled from working 16-hour shifts.
From the densely packed factory zones of Guangdong Province to the street markets, kitchens and brothels of major cities, to the primitive factories of China’s relatively poor western provinces, child labor is a daily fact of life, experts here say, and one that the government, preoccupied with economic growth, has traditionally turned a blind eye to.
“In order to achieve modernization, people will go to any ends to earn money, to advance their interests, leaving behind morality, humanity and even a little bit of compassion, let alone the law or regulations, which are poorly implemented,” said Hu Jindou, a professor of economics at the University of Technology in Beijing. “Everything is about the economy now, just like everything was about politics in the Mao era, and forced labor or child labor is far from an isolated phenomenon. It is rooted deeply in today’s reality, a combination of capitalism, socialism, feudalism and slavery.”
Under President Hu Jintao, the Communist Party has made the creation of what it calls a harmonious society the government’s main watchword. As part of that effort, in fact, a major revision of laws governing the rights of children took effect just this month, prompting the country’s vice premier, Wu Yi, to call their adoption “a festive present for the mainland’s 300 million children.”
Chinese labor market experts say, however, that the country remains far from achieving even the spirit of the new law, which mandates that adequate time be set aside for sleep, entertainment and sports. In fact, many say, an overwhelming emphasis on economic growth directly contradicts it.
This was underscored by another story that emerged the same week the kiln factory abuses were revealed. Students from the Dayin Middle School in Sichuan Province, in China’s interior, complained in newspaper reports about a work-study program in which they were shipped to an electronics assembly plant hundreds of miles away, in the industrial boomtown of Dongguan, which is near the coast.
The students told about having to work 14-hour days, with mandatory overtime, and having their wages withheld. In some instances, they said, those who wished to quit the program had no way of telephoning their families or paying for transportation home.
“My daughter promised to call every week, but she’s been gone for three weeks and has only called once,” said Zhang Ronghua, the mother of a 15-year-old Sichuan student. “She said that she wants to come home, that she’s worked from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. and that she’s constantly busy and tired.”
Yuan Guangyao, the deputy manager of the factory, defended his company’s arrangement with the school. “This internship is a form of cooperation between our company and the school, or rather with the county,” he said. “I’ve been to that county myself, and I found the local people were very poor, so this initiative of having students work here is a win-win strategy for both of us.”
But many of the parents see a different picture, suspecting that the factory and the school are profiting at their children’s expense.
Liu Kaiming, a longtime researcher on labor conditions in Guangdong Province, where Dongguan is, said the employment of students who were paid low wages and forced to work overtime was commonplace. “In Dongguan, you can even see children of 12 and 15 working in toy factories,” he said. “These kids are basically from adjacent, underdeveloped provinces and they are brought by their teachers. There are laws forbidding child labor, but for work-study programs there are no specific rules, and no limitations on age, working hours or job description.”
Other experts said local officials were reluctant to take any steps that would impede economic growth. Traditionally, high growth rates and social stability have been the main criteria for promotion of local officials, and in relatively poor regions providing employment, even for youths, is seen as contributing to these goals.
Indeed, in the Shanxi brick kiln case, the owner of the factory that was the focus of most of the media attention was a local Communist Party leader.
Local officials also take advantage of overlapping jurisdictions to evade responsibility. In Sichuan Province, the local officials said they had no say over working conditions negotiated between the school and the factory.
Officials at the provincial labor bureau in Guangdong Province said that labor arrangements made by a school should be regulated by the Education Ministry. The ministry did not respond to telephone calls or faxed questions on the matter.
“Each department or ministry only cares about itself,” said Jin Yingjie, a labor law expert at China University of Political Science and Law. “If the law concerns its own interest, it will make an effort to apply it. But when an issue involves the intersection of more than one department, they tend to shirk responsibility.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/21/world/asia/21china.html?ei=5087%0A&em=&en=2b3c410c0be879bb&ex=1182657600&pagewanted=print
Tuesday, June 5, 2007
Hong Kong’s Tiananmen Vigil Draws Crowd After Official’s Denial
June 5, 2007
Hong Kong’s Tiananmen Vigil Draws Crowd After Official’s Denial
By KEITH BRADSHER
HONG KONG, June 4 — A candlelight vigil here on Monday evening to observe the 18th anniversary of the military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in Beijing drew an unusually large crowd, apparently in response to the recent assertion by the leader of Hong Kong’s pro-China party that no massacre took place.
By contrast, Tiananmen Square itself remained quiet, if under tight security, on a sunny day, with the usual tour groups and pedestrians milling about. Several well-known dissidents had been placed under house arrest or close watch, though some described the harassment as more passive than in years past.
Some dissidents communicated through Web sites established to commemorate the anniversary.
Hu Jia, a leading Chinese advocate on issues like AIDS, said that he and others had been confined to their homes but that the authorities had shown a few small signs of leniency. He said Ding Zilin, a leader of a group known as the Tiananmen Mothers, was allowed to commemorate the death of her son by visiting one of the sites where soldiers fired upon pro-democracy demonstrators.
In Hong Kong, the Tiananmen Square killings are once more a subject of active discussion after remarks on May 15 by Ma Lik, the chairman of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong. Mr. Ma told local reporters that Hong Kong residents lacked patriotic devotion to China because they believed that the Communist Party had massacred people at Tiananmen Square.
Mr. Ma contended that Hong Kong residents were too willing to believe versions of events in 1989 that were reported by Westerners. He went on to suggest that the city would not be ready to be granted full democracy by Beijing until 2022 as a result.
Mr. Ma described his remarks a day later as “rash and frivolous,” but maintained his position that no massacre had taken place. Mr. Ma did not answer calls to his cellphone last month or on Monday.
Public debate over Mr. Ma’s remarks appeared to help the turnout at the vigil on Monday evening. Organizers said 55,000 people were there; the police said 27,000. The organizers’ estimate last year was 44,000, while the police said 19,000.
Yip Wingki, a 32-year-old salesman, said that he had not attended any previous vigils but that he came to the vigil on Monday evening and brought his 7-year-old son because he was offended by Mr. Ma’s remarks. “He warped the truth totally,” he said as his son sleepily held a lighted candle in the sweltering heat.
Jim Yardley contributed reporting from Beijing.
Hong Kong’s Tiananmen Vigil Draws Crowd After Official’s Denial
By KEITH BRADSHER
HONG KONG, June 4 — A candlelight vigil here on Monday evening to observe the 18th anniversary of the military crackdown on the Tiananmen Square demonstrations in Beijing drew an unusually large crowd, apparently in response to the recent assertion by the leader of Hong Kong’s pro-China party that no massacre took place.
By contrast, Tiananmen Square itself remained quiet, if under tight security, on a sunny day, with the usual tour groups and pedestrians milling about. Several well-known dissidents had been placed under house arrest or close watch, though some described the harassment as more passive than in years past.
Some dissidents communicated through Web sites established to commemorate the anniversary.
Hu Jia, a leading Chinese advocate on issues like AIDS, said that he and others had been confined to their homes but that the authorities had shown a few small signs of leniency. He said Ding Zilin, a leader of a group known as the Tiananmen Mothers, was allowed to commemorate the death of her son by visiting one of the sites where soldiers fired upon pro-democracy demonstrators.
In Hong Kong, the Tiananmen Square killings are once more a subject of active discussion after remarks on May 15 by Ma Lik, the chairman of the pro-Beijing Democratic Alliance for the Betterment and Progress of Hong Kong. Mr. Ma told local reporters that Hong Kong residents lacked patriotic devotion to China because they believed that the Communist Party had massacred people at Tiananmen Square.
Mr. Ma contended that Hong Kong residents were too willing to believe versions of events in 1989 that were reported by Westerners. He went on to suggest that the city would not be ready to be granted full democracy by Beijing until 2022 as a result.
Mr. Ma described his remarks a day later as “rash and frivolous,” but maintained his position that no massacre had taken place. Mr. Ma did not answer calls to his cellphone last month or on Monday.
Public debate over Mr. Ma’s remarks appeared to help the turnout at the vigil on Monday evening. Organizers said 55,000 people were there; the police said 27,000. The organizers’ estimate last year was 44,000, while the police said 19,000.
Yip Wingki, a 32-year-old salesman, said that he had not attended any previous vigils but that he came to the vigil on Monday evening and brought his 7-year-old son because he was offended by Mr. Ma’s remarks. “He warped the truth totally,” he said as his son sleepily held a lighted candle in the sweltering heat.
Jim Yardley contributed reporting from Beijing.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
胡佳：高智晟律师出狱之后再度被北京国保警方殴打
胡佳：高智晟律师出狱之后再度被北京国保警方殴打
博闻社 北京时间：2007年06月02日23时50分 发布
2007年6月2日18点50分高智晟律师简要述说自己被殴打（录音）
http://www.bowenpress.com/cn/2007/china/204_1.shtml
2007年6月2日傍晚，突然接到高智晟律师的电话，他述说自己被北京市公安局国保总队的警察殴打。打人者就是2006年11月24日中午曾经殴打高律师妻子耿和的恶警。而事情的起因是高智晟律师去质问对方是否殴打过自己的妻子耿和。这名残暴的国保总队警察去年针对妇女的暴行已经令人发指，而今天再度对被中共政法系统非法监控的维权律师大打出手，这些行径令北京市公安局国保总队的暴虐残忍昭然若揭。
高智晟律师信奉非暴力原则，作为丈夫他去质问曾经殴打过妻子的行凶者，这本合情合理。并且高律师有权利让对方为此而道歉，甚至有权利报警将对方绳之以法。而高律师自己根本没有料到对方如此蛮横无理，警方如此轻易就释放出其作为专制体制爪牙的暴力本性。这名身材魁梧的恶警劈头盖脸集中攻击高律师的头部，他的4名同伙在旁边围观。现场还有很多邻居和过路人成为目击证人。高律师被殴打得浑身发抖回到家里，这是他2006年12月22日回到家中之后第一次受到国保警方严重的暴力攻击。
北京市公安局国内安全保卫总队的孙荻处长负责监控高律师和他妻女的，在高律师被捕期间，所有针对高律师妻子儿女的凌辱和暴力殴打都是由孙荻负责指挥实施的。高律师回家“服刑”之后，这一次的暴力袭击依然由孙荻负责。
高智晟律师家住在北京奥林匹克体育中心东门附近，离2008年奥运会主会场“鸟巢”不足1.5公里，近年来国际奥委会的官员们已经多次亲奥运会场检查工程进度，他们可曾想到，奥运会五环辉映的范围内，中共正在以法西斯手段压制公民，迫害人权卫士。难道中共真的要把北京奥运会变成1936年的柏林奥运会吗，成为历史上最丑陋最黑暗的奥运会吗。北京市委书记刘淇是29届奥运会的主席，早在2004年4月六四15周年阶段，北京的国保警方就提及这一年严密镇压六四纪念的命令直接来自于刘淇，而今北京的种种暴行，除了政法委书记和北京市公安局局长之外，市委书记刘淇也难辞其咎。
胡佳
于BOBO自由城家中
被北京市公安局国保总队非法拘禁的第9天
离2008年奥运会开幕还有432天
http://www.bowenpress.com/cn/2007/china/203_1.shtml
博闻社 北京时间：2007年06月02日23时50分 发布
2007年6月2日18点50分高智晟律师简要述说自己被殴打（录音）
http://www.bowenpress.com/cn/2007/china/204_1.shtml
2007年6月2日傍晚，突然接到高智晟律师的电话，他述说自己被北京市公安局国保总队的警察殴打。打人者就是2006年11月24日中午曾经殴打高律师妻子耿和的恶警。而事情的起因是高智晟律师去质问对方是否殴打过自己的妻子耿和。这名残暴的国保总队警察去年针对妇女的暴行已经令人发指，而今天再度对被中共政法系统非法监控的维权律师大打出手，这些行径令北京市公安局国保总队的暴虐残忍昭然若揭。
高智晟律师信奉非暴力原则，作为丈夫他去质问曾经殴打过妻子的行凶者，这本合情合理。并且高律师有权利让对方为此而道歉，甚至有权利报警将对方绳之以法。而高律师自己根本没有料到对方如此蛮横无理，警方如此轻易就释放出其作为专制体制爪牙的暴力本性。这名身材魁梧的恶警劈头盖脸集中攻击高律师的头部，他的4名同伙在旁边围观。现场还有很多邻居和过路人成为目击证人。高律师被殴打得浑身发抖回到家里，这是他2006年12月22日回到家中之后第一次受到国保警方严重的暴力攻击。
北京市公安局国内安全保卫总队的孙荻处长负责监控高律师和他妻女的，在高律师被捕期间，所有针对高律师妻子儿女的凌辱和暴力殴打都是由孙荻负责指挥实施的。高律师回家“服刑”之后，这一次的暴力袭击依然由孙荻负责。
高智晟律师家住在北京奥林匹克体育中心东门附近，离2008年奥运会主会场“鸟巢”不足1.5公里，近年来国际奥委会的官员们已经多次亲奥运会场检查工程进度，他们可曾想到，奥运会五环辉映的范围内，中共正在以法西斯手段压制公民，迫害人权卫士。难道中共真的要把北京奥运会变成1936年的柏林奥运会吗，成为历史上最丑陋最黑暗的奥运会吗。北京市委书记刘淇是29届奥运会的主席，早在2004年4月六四15周年阶段，北京的国保警方就提及这一年严密镇压六四纪念的命令直接来自于刘淇，而今北京的种种暴行，除了政法委书记和北京市公安局局长之外，市委书记刘淇也难辞其咎。
胡佳
于BOBO自由城家中
被北京市公安局国保总队非法拘禁的第9天
离2008年奥运会开幕还有432天
http://www.bowenpress.com/cn/2007/china/203_1.shtml
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