CHINA, NATIONAL, NEWS: We Only Want to Live a Simple Life Without Being Beaten or Impoverished
By Lv Zhou
"Am I guilty? Have I done something wrong?" the 16 year-old A Ping asked herself and the writer, eager to know the answer.
A Ping was forced to kneel before her boss for almost half an hour the day before. The reason was she helped a fellow worker get away from a factory in Nan Hai. In her shabby shanty, A Ping told the writer her story of misery.
In the afternoon of the day before, Xiao Fei, who is also 16 years old, told A Ping she wanted to leave the dark factory because she could not bare the overtime and low wages. But she couldn't leave the factory by herself, because the gatekeeper would not allow her to leave the factory with her baggage, unless she had the allowance of the boss, which was impossible.
Xiao Fei wanted A Ping to help her leave. She would leave the factory without baggage first and then A Ping could enter her dormitory and throw her baggage out of the factory through a window. Xiao Fei would then get her baggage and be free. A Ping understood Xiao Fei's difficulties, she decided to help her.
After Xiao Fei left the factory, A Ping entered her dormitory and packed her baggage. But before she could throw it out the window, two of the boss's relatives saw her and said she was stealing; they had the guards take her to the boss's office.
"Though I told them again and again that I was only helping Xiao Fei get her baggage, they didn't listen to me and kept on abusing and beating me," A Ping said.
The guards' unceasing beating made her sick. The boss came soon after he got the news; instead of stopping the guards, he began to beat A Ping himself, demanding that she tell him where Xiao Fei was. He tried to force her to kneel down and apologize to him. A Ping wouldn't do it, this only caused him to beat her harder. Finally, she couldn't bare the hard beating any longer and kneeled to the boss with tears rolling down her face. Half an hour later, the boss let her up to go back to her dormitory to await her punishment.
Two hours later, at a meeting of the whole factory, the boss declared that A Ping was against the role of the factory and would be fined 200 Yuan.
"My whole body is in pain," A Ping said. "I can't go to see the doctor for I have no money."
A Ping didn't tell her misery story to her aunt, who is her only relative in Nan Hai. But her aunt knew of the incident through other fellow workers and she was shocked by it. She couldn't stand what the factory had done to her niece, and decided to tell the incident to the media and the government.
A Ping is from Sichuan. She said when she came to the factory she was less than 16, which is against the law. The boss made her do hard labor and paid her less than 100 Yuan per month.
"Because of the hard work and low pay, no one wants to work for the factory. So the factory will not allow workers to leave after they enter," A Ping explained. "If you insist on leaving, you will not get your baggage or your pay." She said that many workers escaped the factory through many kinds of ways.
During the interview, the writer saw a small card hanging on A Ping's neck. The card had A Ping's photo and a number on it. The weird card aroused the writer's attention. A Ping said that the card was a method for the factory to escape detection by the government--the government won't allow children under 18 to work.
She said the factory makes the ID cards look as if they are an allowance to see one's relatives supposedly working in the factory. The factory authorities are not afraid when government officers come to make the duty check.
"There are many workers who are under 18. The boss told us to say we are seeing our relatives when there are duty checks," the escaped Xiao Fei said.
The boss and the guards wouldn't accept an interview about the incident. After some journalistic efforts, the boss did accept an interview over the phone. He denied they had beaten A Ping and said: "We never embarrass our workers. If the workers do something wrong, we will punish them, but we will never beat them." The boss refused to say anything about the ID cards.
Some workers who accepted an interview said that they saw when A Ping was beaten in the office and that she was forced to kneel down for a long time.
"We only want to have basic living rights; to live our simple life, but it seems so hard. We are all human and we all have basic dignity, but in the boss's eyes, we are only the slaves and tools to make money for them," A Ping’s aunt said.
"Am I guilty? Have I done something wrong?" the 16 year-old A Ping asked herself and the writer, eager to know the answer.
A Ping was forced to kneel before her boss for almost half an hour the day before. The reason was she helped a fellow worker get away from a factory in Nan Hai. In her shabby shanty, A Ping told the writer her story of misery.
In the afternoon of the day before, Xiao Fei, who is also 16 years old, told A Ping she wanted to leave the dark factory because she could not bare the overtime and low wages. But she couldn't leave the factory by herself, because the gatekeeper would not allow her to leave the factory with her baggage, unless she had the allowance of the boss, which was impossible.
Xiao Fei wanted A Ping to help her leave. She would leave the factory without baggage first and then A Ping could enter her dormitory and throw her baggage out of the factory through a window. Xiao Fei would then get her baggage and be free. A Ping understood Xiao Fei's difficulties, she decided to help her.
After Xiao Fei left the factory, A Ping entered her dormitory and packed her baggage. But before she could throw it out the window, two of the boss's relatives saw her and said she was stealing; they had the guards take her to the boss's office.
"Though I told them again and again that I was only helping Xiao Fei get her baggage, they didn't listen to me and kept on abusing and beating me," A Ping said.
The guards' unceasing beating made her sick. The boss came soon after he got the news; instead of stopping the guards, he began to beat A Ping himself, demanding that she tell him where Xiao Fei was. He tried to force her to kneel down and apologize to him. A Ping wouldn't do it, this only caused him to beat her harder. Finally, she couldn't bare the hard beating any longer and kneeled to the boss with tears rolling down her face. Half an hour later, the boss let her up to go back to her dormitory to await her punishment.
Two hours later, at a meeting of the whole factory, the boss declared that A Ping was against the role of the factory and would be fined 200 Yuan.
"My whole body is in pain," A Ping said. "I can't go to see the doctor for I have no money."
A Ping didn't tell her misery story to her aunt, who is her only relative in Nan Hai. But her aunt knew of the incident through other fellow workers and she was shocked by it. She couldn't stand what the factory had done to her niece, and decided to tell the incident to the media and the government.
A Ping is from Sichuan. She said when she came to the factory she was less than 16, which is against the law. The boss made her do hard labor and paid her less than 100 Yuan per month.
"Because of the hard work and low pay, no one wants to work for the factory. So the factory will not allow workers to leave after they enter," A Ping explained. "If you insist on leaving, you will not get your baggage or your pay." She said that many workers escaped the factory through many kinds of ways.
During the interview, the writer saw a small card hanging on A Ping's neck. The card had A Ping's photo and a number on it. The weird card aroused the writer's attention. A Ping said that the card was a method for the factory to escape detection by the government--the government won't allow children under 18 to work.
She said the factory makes the ID cards look as if they are an allowance to see one's relatives supposedly working in the factory. The factory authorities are not afraid when government officers come to make the duty check.
"There are many workers who are under 18. The boss told us to say we are seeing our relatives when there are duty checks," the escaped Xiao Fei said.
The boss and the guards wouldn't accept an interview about the incident. After some journalistic efforts, the boss did accept an interview over the phone. He denied they had beaten A Ping and said: "We never embarrass our workers. If the workers do something wrong, we will punish them, but we will never beat them." The boss refused to say anything about the ID cards.
Some workers who accepted an interview said that they saw when A Ping was beaten in the office and that she was forced to kneel down for a long time.
"We only want to have basic living rights; to live our simple life, but it seems so hard. We are all human and we all have basic dignity, but in the boss's eyes, we are only the slaves and tools to make money for them," A Ping’s aunt said.
3 Comments:
At 10:51 AM , Stephen Frost said...
Hi. This is a great story. I just wanted to say I quoted from it and linked to it from our website here.
I was particularly interested in how the factory owners got around employing child workers.
At 12:04 PM , Anonymous said...
Think of ideas to solve the problems.
At 11:25 AM , Anonymous said...
And we thought that we had bullying in the western world.
How cruel Ping's boss is and he needs to be thrown in jail and beaten too
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