Chinese Paper Prints Expose of Child Labor

In a rare expose, a newspaper considered the mouthpiece of China’s Communist Party shed light Saturday on the widespread problem of child labor.

The newspaper, the People’s Daily, gave examples of neglect, cruelty and indifference among young workers laboring for a pittance in China’s factories.

Among them:

Cheng Hongli, 15, lost the tip of an index finger at work at a private factory in the northeastern city of Shenyang, the newspaper said.

It did not say when the accident happened.

She was rushed to a clinic and taken home. Her employer visited her and gave her 100 yuan ($12), the newspaper said, adding that the visit was the last she saw of him.

There are no official estimates on the number of child laborers in the country, but they can be seen at private enterprises, peddling on the sidewalk, at hotels and at foreign-funded ventures, the newspaper said. Most are from the countryside.

China banned children under 16 from working as of January, but the problem remains widespread and poverty is not the only reason.

Most child laborers the People’s Daily reporter interviewed could not read newspapers or write letters.

Shi Fusheng, 15, the son of a farmer, hated school and was thrilled when a factory owner offered him a job. He felt the factory owner was “freeing him from his cage,” the newspaper said.

Shi started work at the factory without informing his parents and worked more than 10 hours a day making bottle caps for 0.28 yuan (3 cents) per two pounds until he lost four fingers in an accident.

The youth was rushed to a hospital, where his employer prevented the doctor from reattaching his fingers. Shi’s boss did not want to spend money and told the doctor that the fingers had been smashed.

It was exploitative child labor, the newspaper said. Two pounds of bottle caps sold for 6.60 yuan (80 cents), and Shi’s boss made a net profit of four yuan (48 cents) for every two pounds Shi produced, it said.