Former slave labor tells of brick kiln ordeal

时间：2007-06-21 08:29:26

（单词翻译:单击）

RUZHOU - Up from the countryside and desperate for work, 16-year-old Chen Chenggong jumped at the well-paying factory job offered by the unknown man who approached him at the train station.

 

Within hours, he was bundled into a minivan with 12 others and dumped at a brick yard where they were fed little, beaten often and forced to haul loads for 20 hours daily without pay. As for the recruiter, he never saw the man again.

 

"I hope they are shot," Chen said of his former tormentors on Wednesday, his face, arms, legs and torso mottled with sores where the guards' blows became infected. Finally freed in a raid by provincial1 police, he returned home Saturday, but fear of his former tormentors remained palpable.

 

While Chen's story was impossible to immediately confirm, it jibes2 with many other tales told by former slaves over recent weeks. Apparently3 prompted by online protests and media reports, tens of thousands of officers have raided more than 8,000 kilns4 and small coal mines in Shanxi and Henan provinces, freeing nearly 600 workers, including 51 children, and detaining about 160 suspects.

 

China's central authorities have ordered thorough investigations5.

 

Local governments, who benefited from bribes6, taxes paid, and ownership shares, are widely believed to have protected the operations, although authorities have leveled direct accusations7 at only one village-level Communist Party secretary so far.

 

Chen's tale points to government neglect from start to finish. Having failed to qualify for upper high school, he was easy pickings for recruiters at the sprawling8, chaotic9, train station in Zhengzhou, provincial capital of his native Henan. Streets surrounding the station are plastered with job offerings and unlicensed job agencies, some of them believed linked to human traffickers who sell workers onto brick yards.

 

In response to allegations of such ties, at least one other major city in the area, Xi'an, said Wednesday it was banning all job agencies from around its railway station.

 

Following his March abduction, Chen said he often saw local uniformed police officers visit the brickyard in Shanxi's Hongtong region.

 

"They were paid off by the owner. The whole village was his," Chen said, surrounded by a small crowd of neighbors and relatives, who weighed in from time-to-time with comments and expressions of sympathy.

 

The 34 workers in his group included at least one foreigner, Chen said, a 20-year-old Iranian who had drifted across the border into China. He said children who looked as young as five made roofing tiles in a neighboring yard.

 

Food consisted of normal farmer's fare, he said, though there was never enough. "Sometimes we'd steal someone else's," he said. All workers slept on the bricks they hauled, with no showers, medical care or even haircuts.

 

Eight guards beat the slaves when they worked too slowly, while six guard dogs helped keep them in fear and prevent escapes, Chen said. Beatings were sometimes carried out with iron bars and wooden staves, although often guards would simply pick up a brick and smash it across a worker's head or body, he said. Workers who tried to escape were shackled10, though still forced to work.

 

"It was very 'black'," he said, using the Chinese term for evil or corrupt11.

 

Chen said at least one prisoner who managed to slip away reported the slavery, but no action was taken.

 

Many freed slaves were reported in a daze-like state from their ordeal12 and Chen seemed unclear about the circumstances of his release. One day, he said, the "big police" appeared and the yardseeing those who ran the yard go to trial.

 

Asked if he warned his son of such dangers, Chen Jinliang said: "You just never think of such things happening in a farming village."

 

Worries of retaliation13 by those connected to the yard remained constantly on the family's mind, and they agreed to be interviewed only after receiving assurances that the exact location of their homes would not be identified.

 

"I'm afraid of those people over there," Chen blurted14 out in a raspy voice, fumbling15 with a cigarette.

 
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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 provincial Nt8ye     
adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人
参考例句：
  • City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
  • Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。
2 jibes 49506cd35213aebe9bb100d2fdf507b1     
n.与…一致( jibe的名词复数 )；（与…）相符；相匹配v.与…一致( jibe的第三人称单数 )；（与…）相符；相匹配
参考例句：
  • He made several cheap jibes at his opponent during the interview. 在采访中他好几次对他的对手粗俗地加以嘲讽。
  • The report jibes with the facts. 报告与事实相符。 来自辞典例句
3 apparently tMmyQ     
adv.显然地；表面上，似乎
参考例句：
  • An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽，豁然开朗。
  • He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
4 kilns a783251ff4c9ad3d87dce8463073429b     
n.窑( kiln的名词复数 )；烧窑工人
参考例句：
  • Bricks and earthware articles are baked in kilns. 砖和陶器都是在窑中烧成的。 来自辞典例句
  • The bricks are baking in the kilns. ？里正在烧砖。 来自辞典例句
5 investigations 02de25420938593f7db7bd4052010b32     
（正式的）调查( investigation的名词复数 )； 侦查； 科学研究； 学术研究
参考例句：
  • His investigations were intensive and thorough but revealed nothing. 他进行了深入彻底的调查，但没有发现什么。
  • He often sent them out to make investigations. 他常常派他们出去作调查。
6 bribes f3132f875c572eefabf4271b3ea7b2ca     
n.贿赂( bribe的名词复数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂v.贿赂( bribe的第三人称单数 )；向（某人）行贿，贿赂
参考例句：
  • It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
  • corrupt officials accepting bribes 接受贿赂的贪官污吏
7 accusations 3e7158a2ffc2cb3d02e77822c38c959b     
n.指责( accusation的名词复数 )；指控；控告；（被告发、控告的）罪名
参考例句：
  • There were accusations of plagiarism. 曾有过关于剽窃的指控。
  • He remained unruffled by their accusations. 对于他们的指控他处之泰然。
8 sprawling 3ff3e560ffc2f12f222ef624d5807902     
adj.蔓生的，不规则地伸展的v.伸开四肢坐[躺]( sprawl的现在分词 )；蔓延；杂乱无序地拓展；四肢伸展坐着（或躺着）
参考例句：
  • He was sprawling in an armchair in front of the TV. 他伸开手脚坐在电视机前的一张扶手椅上。
  • a modern sprawling town 一座杂乱无序拓展的现代城镇
9 chaotic rUTyD     
adj.混沌的，一片混乱的，一团糟的
参考例句：
  • Things have been getting chaotic in the office recently.最近办公室的情况越来越乱了。
  • The traffic in the city was chaotic.这城市的交通糟透了。
10 shackled 915a38eca61d93140d07ef091110dab6     
给（某人）带上手铐或脚镣( shackle的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
  • The hostage had been shackled to a radiator. 当时人质被铐在暖气片上。
  • He was shackled and in darkness of torment. 他被困在黑暗中备受煎熬。
11 corrupt 4zTxn     
v.贿赂，收买；adj.腐败的，贪污的
参考例句：
  • The newspaper alleged the mayor's corrupt practices.那家报纸断言市长有舞弊行为。
  • This judge is corrupt.这个法官贪污。
12 ordeal B4Pzs     
n.苦难经历，（尤指对品格、耐力的）严峻考验
参考例句：
  • She managed to keep her sanity throughout the ordeal.在那场磨难中她始终保持神志正常。
  • Being lost in the wilderness for a week was an ordeal for me.在荒野里迷路一星期对我来说真是一场磨难。
13 retaliation PWwxD     
n.报复，反击
参考例句：
  • retaliation against UN workers 对联合国工作人员的报复
  • He never said a single word in retaliation. 他从未说过一句反击的话。 来自《简明英汉词典》
14 blurted fa8352b3313c0b88e537aab1fcd30988     
v.突然说出，脱口而出( blurt的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句：
  • She blurted it out before I could stop her. 我还没来得及制止，她已脱口而出。
  • He blurted out the truth, that he committed the crime. 他不慎说出了真相，说是他犯了那个罪。 来自《简明英汉词典》
15 fumbling fumbling     
n. 摸索,漏接 v. 摸索,摸弄,笨拙的处理
参考例句：
  • If he actually managed to the ball instead of fumbling it with an off-balance shot. 如果他实际上设法拿好球而不是fumbling它。50-balance射击笨拙地和迅速地会开始他的岗位移动，经常这样结束。
  • If he actually managed to secure the ball instead of fumbling it awkwardly an off-balance shot. 如果他实际上设法拿好球而不是fumbling它。50-50提议有时。他从off-balance射击笨拙地和迅速地会开始他的岗位移动，经常这样结束。

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