In 1993 a fire in the south China city of Shenzhen, in Guangdong province, took eighty-seven lives and left forty-six injured, in the Zhili Toy Factory. All were young female migrant workers from poor provinces. Letters from these victims were found in the ruins. Of the seventy-seven letters, seventy-three were written by friends and relatives to the victims of the Zhili fire; only four were written by Zhili workers and had not been posted before the fire. Many researches on labour issues add significantly to our knowledge of the migrant workforce. But important aspects of the workers’ situations and feelings are kept private and are revealed only in the intimacy of their letters to relatives and close friends. These letters cast light on a hidden part of their lives.
http://www.sweatshopwatch.org/media/pdf/Chan_A.pdf
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