bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

sponsorType

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

At least 167 Sichuan  child labourers illegally sold by overseers to Dongguan  factories have been rescued by police in a two-day operation.
Police said most of the children were under 16, but their  names and ages had yet to be confirmed because most  were carrying fake identity cards given to them by the overseers, the Southern Metropolis News reported yesterday.
The Dongguan government told the South China Morning Post yesterday that further investigations and crackdowns on child slavery would be launched, and about 20 officials from the children's home area,  the Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture ,    had arrived in Dongguan to help move them home.
The city authorities said they would help the children contact their families and buy them tickets home.
They said they  investigated 3,629 factories and 450,000 employees over the two days, but refused to reveal the  number of child workers freed.
In an earlier interview, Dongguan party chief Liu Zhigeng   urged the city's public security and labour bureau to  investigate the issue.
'All overseers illegally trading in child slaves, and manufacturers who exploit them, should be dealt with according to the law. We need to take action and reply to the public and media with the truth,' Mr Liu was quoted as saying in mainland media.
Reports said Sichuan overseers  bought children from Liangshan for 500 yuan (HK$558) to 1,000 yuan per person, and resold them to illegal job agencies in Dongguan after they arrived in the city.
Overseers can earn 100,000 yuan in  a few months, and job agencies had received a 10 per cent commission on each child's salary, the Southern Metropolis News reported. Unscrupulous manufacturers can save about 40,000 yuan a month by hiring 100  children,  whose wages are only half those of an adult migrant worker.
Ma Haiqubu , one of the  rescued children, described his hometown as a beautiful but desperately impoverished place.
The child's father told the newspaper he would take his son back if the family could afford it.
'He could starve to death if he stayed with us,' the father was quoted as saying. 'I would prefer him to be taken by overseers to the Pearl River Delta, where he can at least have something to eat. Selling our children can also save the entire family from starvation.'



Police find Sichuan children sold as workers