<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">BEIJING (AFP) - Police said Thursday they had rescued more than 200 people, including 29 children, who were working as "slaves" in brick kilns, in a shocking revelation of labour practices in booming China. "We have rescued 217 people, including 29 children, from brick kilns in Henan (province)," a police officer at the criminal investigation department of the Henan public security bureau told AFP by phone. "During inspections of the kilns we arrested 120 criminal suspects." The police officer refused to comment further, nor would he confirm widespread stories in the state press that human traffickers had been selling labourers to brick kilns in Henan and neighboring Shanxi province for months. "The labourers were enticed or sent by human traffickers to the kilns, but upon arrival were beaten, starved and forced to work long hours without payment," the official Xinhua news agency said .. .. "I was at the Zhengzhou train station in early March, when a group of traffickers drugged me and sold me into slavery," the Southern Weekly quoted 17-year old Zhang Wenlong as saying. Zhang said he worked from five in the morning to midnight, eating only pickled vegetables and turnips three times a day and being deprived of meat for three months. "All we could do was watch the guards enjoying dog meat and beer," the paper said cited him as saying. "There was no way to escape, they had six dogs watching over us at night."</div> <div align="center">Source: Yahoo! News</div> That is truly crazy, but not surprising these things take place. The only surprising part for me was about the kid who was drugged at a train station and sold to slavery. Thoughts?
<div class="quote_poster">Chutney Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">China's got some serious problems. It's gonna suck if/when they become a superpower.</div> I'd consider them a superpower already. China has a lot of problems just like every other country out there.
<div class="quote_poster">shapecity Wrote</div><div class="quote_post">Yeah this story is f'd up. The people running these operations are likely going to be executed.</div> No less than they deserve imo.
