As China's Economy Grows, So does China's Child Labour Problem
hild labour in China is hardly a new phenomenon. For years, despite official regulations banning the employment of minors (defined by Chinese law as those under sixteen years of age), teenagers and even pre-adolescents from poorer regions of China have been drawn to the rapidly developing southern and coastal areas looking for work. For this army of juvenile labourers, employment is readily available in the workshops and factories (and to a lesser extent related industries, such as food service) that are at the heart of China's economic boom. A recent People's Daily Report cites an investigation undertaken by the government agency in charge of monitoring labour conditions in Shandong province's Jinan City. According to the report, the use of juvenile labour is most prevalent in the following industries: Toy production, textiles, construction, food production, and light mechanical work. Concerning the latter, the report concludes that child labour is particularly in demand because children have smaller hands and eyesight undamaged by years of labour, making them more desirable than adults for certain kinds of work....
A report issued by Human Rights in China (
Human Rights in China) in March of this year documented the tragic case of five adolescent girls who appeared to have been poisoned by carbon monoxide smoke from a coal brazier lit in the confines of their cramped factory sleeping quarters. In an attempt to hide culpability for the girl's deaths, the panicked factory manager ordered that the bodies be disposed of immediately; later investigation revealed that two of the girls had likely been buried alive. Even among a Chinese public increasingly used to news of workplace tragedy, the egregiously grim nature of this case sparked outrage and gained widespread media coverage throughout China and abroad. ...
Guangzhou's Southern Metropolis Newspaper did investigating child labour visited a local textile factory and found workers as young as twelve years old working as much as sixteen hours per day, more during peak production season. When the reporter asked to see the young worker's sleeping quarters, they replied that the cramped 200-square meter workshop was it, and that at night they slept on or under their worktables. ....
.....headmaster in Guangdong province's Huizhuo city. This headmaster was found employing students from his school in a private toy factory which he owned (3). According to the report, local labour and commercial officials found thirty-five juveniles between the ages of eight and sixteen working in the "headmaster's" factory......
As China's Economy Grows, So does China's Child Labour Problem | CLB
