China: The New Capitalist Paradise

Another in a series of very disturbing articles about horrific working conditions in China.

China's Workers Risk Limbs in Export Drive
By JOSEPH KAHN


YONGKANG, China — In his 17 days of molding tool boxes, Wang Chenghua learned to work like a metronome. He slipped strips of metal under a mechanical hammer with his right hand, then swept molded parts into a pile with his left. He did this once a second for a 10-hour shift, minus a half-hour lunch.

Just before lunch on the 18th day, he lost the beat. The hammer, backed by 4,000 pounds of pressure, ripped through the middle and ring fingers of his right hand, reducing them to pulp.

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