Slave search goes online

ABOUT 400 Chinese men whose children were sold to work as slaves at brickworks were seeking help online after risking their lives and spending all their savings in a mostly futile search, media reported yesterday.

At least 1,000 children, with the youngest being eight-years-old, were kidnapped near train or bus stations in the central province of Henan and had been sold to work in north-western Shanxi, the official People’s Daily said on its website (www.people.com.cn).

The fathers from Henan, who “spent all the money they had and risked their lives to go deep into the mountains looking for their children”, had already rescued about 40, the report said.

“We were shocked by what we saw,” it quoted the fathers as saying in a petition letter.

“They worked 14 hours a day, but had little to eat ... Being beaten up was common,” it said.

Last week, state media reported the rescue of 31 people, forced to work for a year as slaves at a brickworks run by the son of a local Communist Party official in the same province.

Among them, eight were so traumatised by the experience that they were only able to remember their names.