2007 Chinese slave scandal

The 2007 Chinese slave scandal (simplified Chinese: 山西黑砖窑案; traditional Chinese: 山西黑磚窯案; pinyin: Shānxī Hēi Zhuān Yáo àn; literally: "Shanxi Black Brick Kiln incident") was a series of forced labour cases in Shanxi, China. Thousands of Chinese people including many children had been forced to work as slaves in illegal brickyards, and were tortured by the owners of the brickyards. As of June 2007, approximately 550 people have been rescued from such situations.

Shanxi is located in the Loess Plateau in northern China which is known for its rich clay deposits which are easier and cheaper to mine than coal. Through corrupt relationships with officials, slave "bosses" opened illegal brickyards. Due to a scarcity of labor in Shanxi, some factories outsourced production to middlemen who recruited workers from other provinces, making huge profits for the bosses. For example, in one notorious case, it was reported that Wang Bingbing, the son of Wang Dongyi, a secretary of a local CCP branch, was the owner of a brickyard located in Hongdong County, Linfen. The owner outsourced the brickyard to Heng Tinghan, who was from Henan. The brickyard produces 10,000 bricks per day. The market price for 10,000 bricks is about 2,000 to 3,000 yuan; the owner, however, paid only 360 yuan to Heng per 10,000 bricks produced. Wang Bingbing and Heng Tinghan, along with three other employees, including Heng's son, were later charged with a variety of crimes including murder, illegal detention, and forced labor.

The existence of illegal brickyards was first reported to authorities in 1998. On 1 May, Chen Jianjiao, a representative of the Shanxi People's Congress, received a telephone call from a laborer who had escaped from an illegal brickyard. The escaped man also wrote to the chairman of the Shanxi People's Congress. As a result, slave rescue operations were carried out by provincial government authorities without notifying local officials. Over 150 slaves, three of them child laborers, were freed from these illegal brickyards. Chen Jianjiao himself was responsible for helping to free hundreds of them.

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