Chinese Father Documents Life With Son Every Year of His Life for 3 Decades

2007: Slave Scandal

In 2007, a horrifying practice came to light and the world took notice. A series of forced labor cases emerged as thousands of Chinese people were discovered to have been forced to work as slaves in illegal brickyards in the Shanxi province. Many of the discovered slaves turned out to be children. The brickyards began operating after corrupt deals with government officials and the brickyard owners, who reportedly tortured their slave workers. When word of the scandal made its way to then-President Hu, the governor of Shanxi resigned and a police force was sent to check on these places to rescue slaves and arrest the owners.