Forced Labor2007
Jieshou, China, 2007
China CN
Chinese law enforcement cracked down on the practice and promised more investigation into forced labor throughout the country.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
The data
Documented cases
Every case on SlaveryMap, drawn from public sources and shown with its location deliberately generalized to protect survivors.
1,631documented cases
112countries
1981–2025years covered
631 of 1,631 cite a source · Updated
Forced Labor
Matching cases
Showing 1–7 of 7
Forced Labor2007
Macau, China, 2007
China CN
A Chinese woman coerced three of her friends to come to Macau with her from mainland China, putting them in a slave-labor position and cheating them out of $9,000 in the process.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Forced Labor2005
Beijing, China, 2005
China CN
Jennifer was interned at a women's prison in China for a long period of time. Like many in the laojing system, she was forced to work horrendous hours making a number of products. These ranged from sweaters to a very detailed description of work related to a stuffed rabbit. Some of the other items were disposable syringes, toys, and chopsticks. The women also did miscellaneous labor tasks such as ditch digging and stores transport and storage. Especially with wares like the rabbit, the women would work from 5AM to 2 or 3 AM the next morning. Assembling and stitching a single stuffed rabbit could take nearly 10 hours to complete. If the women fell behind, there were consequences. Note: All of the above information is a synopsis of the passages related to this slave in the book "To Plead Our Own Cause" by Kevin Bales and Zoe Trodd. Book published 2008 by Cornell University Press.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Forced Labor2005
Beijing, China, 2005
China CN
Bin, along with other prisoners, was forced to make a host of goods sold in the west as a slave laborer in Chinese prisons. These included quite a few popular Christmas items such as lights and holiday clothing. Bin was forced to make lights. He noted that many of the prisoners who were not sentenced to death ended up at labor camps like this having been raped and beaten at other camps/prisons. Those individuals came to the labor camp with a host of health issues including blood-related and sexually-transmitted diseases. From his own words: "Every day, prisoners were supposed to tie copper wires tightly around a plastic tank in a fixed shape and then connect all the bulbs together. The prisoners' hands were usually bleeding. Needless to say, their diseased skin and sexually-transmitted diseases were left on the light bulbs." Note: All of the above information is a synopsis of the passages related to this slave in the book "To Plead Our Own Cause" by Kevin Bales and Zoe Trodd. Book published 2008 by Cornell University Press.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Forced Labor2004
Beijing, China, 2004
China CN
Ying was immprisoned in China for her involvement with the Falun Gong organization, currently recognized as a terrorist/subversive group in the country. Ying was incarcerated at both the Tuanhe Prisoner Dispatch Center where she was forced to labor packaging "large quantities of chopsticks" and cosmetics. She was then transferred to the Xin'an Female Labor Camp where she wass forced to make a number of different products ranging from sweaters to stuffed animals to slippers. Inmates were forced to work, Ying said, from early morning until midnight or later. Ying was forced to room with more than a dozen people in a cell about twelve sq. meters in size and with only 8 bunks. They were forced to eat, drink, sleep and use the toilet in the room. She also noted that as a form of punishment, female prisoners were often forced outside in the winter naked until they lost consciousness from the cold. All of the above information is from "To Plead Our Own Cause" by Dr. Kevin Bales and Zoe Trodd - Cornell University Press - 2008.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Forced Labor2003
Guangdong Province, China, 2003
China CN
Sam Lu, a former graduate student at Georgia State University, worked as a tax auditor in China. Because he handed in a letter expressing support for the Falun Gong organization, he was arrested and imprisoned in the Guangdong Province in China. Sam was forced to make toys and other products for 15 hours per day. Sam and other prisoners lived in a 300x300 cell where they also made the goods, ate and went to the restroom. He said that inmates were beaten with a wire whip if they could not keep up with expected production levels. All of the above information is from "To Plead Our Own Cause" by Dr. Kevin Bales and Zoe Trodd - Cornell University Press - 2008.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016
Forced Labor1997
Shanghai, China, 1997
China CN
Of sorts. The victim, Shenqi, was incarcerated first at the Shanghai Municipal Prison for political crimes in 1983. By 1994, he was working at the 2nd Company, 3rd Battalion Shanghai Reeducation-through-Labor (Laojiao) Camp in Dafeng County, Jiangsu Province. In cooperation with a state-run knitting mill, he was forced along with other inmates to manufacture clothing for as long as 20 hours per day. Eventually, Shengqi moved to a different labor camp in which he made Christmas lights for export from the Haiman Lamp Company. Direct quote from Shenqi's personal testimony: "On laojiao farms, inmates were often beaten and cursed. The government cadres cuffed and kicked them at will. Those laojiao inmates trusted to supervise other inmates beat and cursed them even more." All of the above information is from "To Plead Our Own Cause" by Dr. Kevin Bales and Zoe Trodd - Cornell University Press - 2008.
Needs a sourceArchive 2008–2016