The power of internet to rescue slave worker in China

Note: China government recently rescues over five hundred slave workers from an illegal brick kiln. It is believed that over 1,000 boys under the age of 18 were sold to Shanxi as slaves. They were forced to labour. Some of them were tortured and even bullied to death. For some reasons, this horrifying incident is not known by media and government until 400 fathers published a public letter on internet... ... Translated from QQ news ... ... Here I strongly condemn this dark and ugly incident happening in Shanxi. But I want to talk about the detailed process of exposing this incident to media and have some discussion on the importance of internet to people's life and work in contemporary society. I have noticed that the incident of Shanxi illegal brick kiln was exposed by interent at the very beginning. Those miserable kids were sold to the illegal brick kiln as slaves. Their parents were very anxious about their situations. They spent all of their money and took great risk to look for their children in the mountain areas. In two months, they had rescued 40 people and got some clues. But when they turned to government departments, the officials refused to take up any responsibility! Over 400 fathers released a co-singed letter on internet: “400 fathers call for helping the kids sold to Shanxi illegal brick kiln”. This letted was posted on the Dahe Forum of Henan Province on June 5. It aroused strong responses. This post had received hit rate as high as 310,000 until June 12. On June 7, this post was forwarded to Tianya Zhetan. Within six days, it received 580,000 hits and 3,000 comments. This post made by the victims' families has such a great impact on the society that many media with social responsibility began to concern this incident. It led to further some “related” concerns (referring to higher ranking cadres). We believe that because of it, these kids were helped. Those held responsible for this tragedy are subject to punishment. The enormous effect of media inspires more reflections. Modern society is an information society. The rapid development of internet has influenced people's life and thought. But its potential has not been fully developed. Particularly, it failed to help channel public opinion to the government very well. There are still many gaps between the communication between people and government. Although many governments set up internet forums, they are basically useless. They remain to be official slogans and empty talks but rarely touch upon facts and real issues. Some even are deleted by webmaster for the reason of “unverified evidence”. We feel sorry about it. In order to facilitate the development of internet and the society, we need to make internet a channel for the ordinary people to report their problems and complain to the government. We have to turn internet into a real channel for the communication between government and people. This is good for building up the harmony of society. We highly appreciate the achievement of the Dahe Net. It is affiliated to the Henan Daily and is characterized by its Dahe Forum. I am a regular visitor of this forum. Even though I visit it roughly, I can still sense its tolerance and sensitivity to the reality. There are few taboos there. It allow the posts about the real problems to be published. It is not that easy. That is the real reason for the co-signed letter being released to the public. All in all, after this incident, we should understand more clearly the importance of internet. Governments at all levels should encourage rather than block the opinions from the internet. We have to see internet as an important channel between government and people and make good use of it. No matter from which perspectives, internet is not a threatening monster. It is an indispensable tool and channel for social harmony. Photo: silverlinedwinnebago