Child LaborArchive 2008–2016

Child Labor in Urumqi, Xinjiang (2009)

A child labor case from 2009 in Urumqi, Xinjiang, China.

This page describes exploitation and abuse. Need to report something? How to report →

Documented on the original SlaveryMap (2008–2016). We don’t have a verifiable source on file yet. Know one?

What happened

The kidnappers, a 22-member gang, confessed that they promised jobs to children in impoverished regions in Xinjiang and took them to Guangzhou. Instead, they trained the children how to steal and forced them to hand in 2,000 yuan (292 U.S. dollars) to 5,000 yuan a day. Those who couldn't bring in that much faced abuse, such as cigarette burns or whippings.

Response and intervention

Police investigated, freed the children, set up ID files for each child, and tried to contact their parents. They escorted the children back to Xinjiang. 20 children (17 boys and three girls, aged eight to 16) who had been abducted and forced into pickpocket gangs in southern China, where some had been held as long as four years, were freed after police broke up the child-abduction gang in Guangzhou. Some limited services were provided, such as clothing, meals and transportation back to their home areas. Some parents came to the station, while many children had to stay in a local care facility until police located their families. Chinese Police

Nearby cases

All 16 in China →

Sex Trafficking2010

Zhonjiang, Deyang, Sichuan and Hohhot, Mongolia, China, 2010

China CN

The trafficker was a boyfriend of the girl in this small village in South Western China. For a living, the man removes warts of local farmers. He offered to take her to his see his parents, but ended up selling her to a man in Hohhot, Mongolia. The girl was often beaten and raped during the 32 months she was trafficked.

1 sourceArchive 2008–2016

Sex Trafficking2005

Bazhong, Sichuan Province, China, 2005

China CN

An outstanding student at a computer vocational school, Zhang, took her fellow classmates out for dinner while they were interning at a factory in Bazhong. Zhang then took the 10 girls to a town close by, Qiandong, and sold them over to Wang and Xie. Xie and Wang are notorious sex traffickers in Qiandong, where they operated a brothel in a residential area. They took all of the girls' money and possessions, coerced them into prostitution with violence and threats.

Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016

Child Labor2008

Xichuan, Henan Province, China, 2008

China CN

the family gang was led by Ye Zengxi, 55, his son and daughter-in-law. Also involved was Ye's brother Ye Xiaolin. The gang used Ye's 12-year-old nephew to lure other children away from their parents' view with toys or food, and then whisked them away by motorbike. "The gang members had abducted nine children, all boys between two and eight years old, since April, and sold them to rural families," said Wang Jianmin, Nanyang Municipal Commission of Politics and Law secretary. Eight of the children were sold to rural families who wanted boys, while another was held captive awaiting a buyer before the police rescue.

Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016