SHANGHAI - After an online tip, an inspection of an electronics factory in Suzhou, Jiangsu province, found more than 10 child laborers working there, a labor supervision official said on Monday.
"Officials from the district government and our division have gone to the plant for investigation and evidence collection today," said the man, surnamed Zhou.
The official inspection of Suzhou Nousstar Electronic Technology Co in the city's Wuzhong district was triggered after an Internet user named Quanquantian uploaded a post and a video clip to an online forum on Saturday. The clip showed a dozen boys and girls around 1.5 meters in height working on an assembly line.
As seen from the video on Tudou.com, some of the workers were so young and they had to prop themselves up on benches because they were too short, and one boy claimed to be a recent primary school graduate.
Another official from the district bureau of human resources and social security, surnamed Yang, also confirmed that there are children working at the factory. "But no child is as young as 9, as previously reported in the media," he said.
Officials declined to reveal the exact number of children involved and how long they had been in the factory. Labor supervision officials were unavailable for further comment at press time.
The Internet user said in the post that these children are members of ethnic groups and were led there by a fellow villager, who forwards the children's monthly income from the company to their families. They work nearly 12 hours every day, he said.
A foreman of the company told Suzhou Television Station that "people of the Yi ethnic group from at least four counties are here in the plant".
Every dog has his day, or at least he should
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