preface
If someone had not provided accurate information, van der Bao, a 33-year-old rich man, might still be trapped in the black brick kiln in Zhanyi, Qujing. He could not be lazy, for the overseer would beat him; He couldn’t escape. His family kept looking for him, but he didn’t even know where he was. Forced into a black brick kiln in 2005, he spent 11 years as a slave until he was freed in early July.
1
July 12, 2016 — It’s the ninth day van der Boer has been home and he’s not yet used to life at home.
After 11 years out of touch with society, Van der Boer can’t use a cell phone, barely watches TV or surf the Internet. At 8 p.m., he came home from a day of farm work, his mother and brother were preparing dinner, and he was alone on the couch, his eyes blank.
For 11 years, van der Pol had left only multiple scars all over his body. He put on a dress to hide his scar, but it did not cling to his skinny body, empty. A gust of wind came, blowing his clothes, as if the next second will blow him away.
Every meal van der Pol recalled his experiences in the black brick kiln. Every meal van der Pol recalled his experiences in the black brick kiln.
Because of a mild mental disability, Van der Boer dropped out of school in the third grade to return home. For the first 22 years of his life, he lived at home in Luo Mein, Fumin County, and never traveled far from home.
His first “long trip” at the age of 22 was the beginning of a nightmare.
Van der SAR’s father, Fan Bingzhi, went to Wuding to build a road and took van der SAR with him, “hoping he would see the world”. Relative Liu Wei (pseudonym) is a small contractor of the construction team, he detest van der Bao “eat a lot, work and not good”. At 10 a.m. on May 18, 2005 — a moment Van der Pol remembers vividly — Liu Wei pointed at him and shouted, “How come you can’t do a little thing?”
This excited Van der Baugh, and a quarrel broke out between them. In a fit of piquance van der Pol got up and left the site.
After a long aimless “play” outside, van der Baugh was getting ready to go home at four o ‘clock that afternoon. He did not say goodbye to his father, walking alone on the road in Wuding, ready to go home.
2
Van der Baugh had not been walking down the road long when he saw a white van parked on the side of the road. When van der Boer came, someone on the bus greeted him, and a man calling himself “Boss Li” asked him if he would like to work in Kunming for “150 yuan a month.”
Van der Pol didn’t want to go. Unexpectedly, “boss Li” and driver jump suddenly however get off come, drag him forcibly get on the car. Van der Pol tried to resist, but was pinned down to death. As he struggled, he saw two other people in the car, both in their 30s. As soon as he was put on the bus, the driver started the engine and the van left.
More than two hours later, the van stopped at a brick factory in Yiliang County. Van der Baugh was dismounted and bewildered into the service of the brick-factory. His job was to move bricks, with people watching him. He was not very brainy, but he soon realized that he had been “cheated.” He insisted on going, but was stopped again and again. The foreman assured him that he would be sent back in 20 days, “with your wages.”
At this time, the father fan Bingzhi is looking for his son around the construction site. He had not seen his son since he came back from the vegetable market, and there was no sign of him anywhere. Then, after three days of searching, someone told him, “Your son may have been taken to a brick kiln.”
A brick factory in Zhanyi, Qujing, where Van der Baugh spent three years (courtesy of the police)
On the ninth day of his work at the brickyard, Van der Pol had caught a cold and wanted nothing more than to rest. The overseer came and told him to hurry up. Van der Baugh tried to explain, but the overseer raised his hand and slapped him across the face.
Van der Pol had been beaten in exchange for a less demanding job.
On the 20th day of work, a welding machine in the brick factory was stolen and the boss called the police. Just after 8 a.m. that morning, Van der Baugh was bundled into a van. He looked out the window and saw police approaching, taking photos and forensics, just over 10 meters away. He wanted to call for help, but before he could, the car started and drove off.
Immediately, the brick factory located in Zhangguanying Village, Songming County, became van der Bao’s second stop. After taking the brickyard owner’s thousand dollars, the driver left Van der Pol here.
3
There were broken bricks scattered all over the dark cave, and the fire was burning till one was sweating. Van der Baugh still remembered being led into his cave, stumbling over a brick and nearly tumbling over himself, stirring up a layer of dust on the ground, and covering his clothes with dust.
Before he could pat the ashes, the boss came from behind, pointed to him and said: “Your business is to pull bricks from the outside in and set up.” Van der Baugh obeyed.
Brick factories also have overseers. After work was over, the supervisor told the workers to go back to the dormitory and lock the door with a big lock and the Windows were sealed with iron sheets. There were six or seven people in the house of 20 square meters. Grass and quilts were thrown on the ground, and people slept on them. There is water in the room, no other furniture, the toilet is in the room to solve, access only supervisors can open the door. If anyone messed around in the room, they were taken out and beaten up.
On one occasion, having worked too late the day before, vanderburgh, trying to sleep in, was caught by the overseer, who seized a brick and struck him in the back, knocking him to the ground. His mouth still insisted on scolding, said to give him a good look.
“You get hit for being lazy, you get hit for making mistakes, and the supervisor doesn’t reason with you. He just hits you with a brick. I have several scars on my back and butt from being beaten.” Touch yourself, vanderburgh smiled wryly.
In the brickyard, the “quarters” in which Van der Baugh and the other workers lived
A few years passed, the father fan Bingzhi has not given up looking for his son. In 2008, he found out that his son was in Songming, hurried to a few relatives, found zhang Guanying village brick factory.
At the brickyard they had not found Van der Baugh, but they had seen what had happened to him — a workman had made a mistake, and the overseer, without another word, dashed at him with a brick. Van der Pol’s mother, MAO Lanzhen, couldn’t see past it and came forward to persuade her, but the supervisor shouted at her to “mind her own business.”
“Animals are always treated well. These workers are worse than animals…” Maolangzhen could not help crying at the thought of how her son might be treated.
By this time, Van der Pol had already been transferred to other brick factories. A few months ago, the owner of a brick factory transferred his workers overnight when he heard that the police station was under tight control – a common tactic used by bosses to evade inspection.
Van der Baugh remembered that he was usually moved after less than six months in one place. In the past 11 years, he had been to 21 black brick kilns, including Kunming, Qujing, Chuxiong and Honghe. The most recent was moved to a brick factory in Zhanyi County, Qujing city, in 2013.
His father held van der Baugh’s hand tightly as he was rescued (police photo)
After a long period of hard labor, Van der Bao’s original weight of 60 kilograms had been reduced to only more than 40 kilograms. Every day he only had cabbage and rice. “You have to wait three or four months, sometimes half a year, before you can eat meat.” Occasionally, he remembers, his boss would “have a heart of gold” and hand out one or two hundred yuan to his workers during the New Year.
The Spring Festival is a time for family reunion, but the workers in the brick factory do not have this opportunity. Those who had gone before left Mr. Van der Baugh a mobile DVD player with no discs and a radio, which he treasured. During the rare rest time, he could only pass the time by the sound on the radio to comfort himself who was not free.
More often, even listening to the radio is also extravagant hopes. Working hours at the brickyard are set by the boss, who wakes up at 6.30am and may be beaten if he moves too slowly. You can’t go to bed until 11:30 p.m. “Sometimes I had to work overtime and didn’t go to bed until three or four o ‘clock [in the morning].”
4
Van der Baugh had tried many times to escape.
In the second year of being forced to work in a brickyard, he was ready to run away. One morning, as the overseer went to dinner, Van der Baugh lingered pretending to carry bricks, and when all the others were gone, he took to his heels. But after a short run along the road, he was spotted. The three overseers soon tracked him down, and van der Pol, feeble and weak, was caught. Then the rod was struck again and again, and he had to endure the pain and go back to his work.
The escape was not successful, but the supervisor was more strict in his management, always keeping an eye on whether any workers were left alone.
Before escaping a second time, the overseer cursed Van der Baugh at his work. That afternoon he saw his chance and ran straight to the village next to the brick factory. The overseer who had cursed him caught up with him…
When workers flee, they not only lose labor, but also may cause trouble for themselves. Not daring to let down their guard, some brick factory owners have even installed security cameras inside their factories, apart from sending supervisors to watch over them. “Fight as soon as you get it, until you’re scared.” Having escaped twice, van der Baugh, afraid of being beaten, never escaped again.
Fu Min County public Security Bureau Luo Shun police station of the police officer Gu Chongyi, has dealt with many black kiln escape incidents. “They [black brick kilns] like to use young people with intellectual disabilities. This person is easy to control, even if you run, you do not know which direction home is. Not to mention the many informants in the black brick kiln, even if they run out, they are easy to catch back.” “Gu Chongyi said.
Workers in black brick kilns often escape, and most are taken back and beaten. Only once van der Boer remembered a deaf mute in one of the brickyards he had been in, “Who, during the day, when picking up bricks, ran away when the overseer was not looking, and never came back. Must have been a successful escape? I never saw him again.”
Fan Bingzhi has not given up looking for his son. Whenever he heard of a “black brick kiln” in any county, he would rush there to look for it. In the past 11 years, he went to Shilin 10 times, Jining 9 times, Songming 8 times and Yiliang 2 times. He spent a total of 100,000 yuan on finding his son. This is all the family’s savings.
Fan Bingzhi had twice found van der Baer had stayed in the black brick kiln, but unfortunately, his son had been moved away; He also found the “boss Li” who had abducted his son, hoping that the other side would tell him his son’s whereabouts. It is this conversation, Fan Bingzhi just know, the son is called Liu Wei’s small contractor relative “sold” off, to find his son, that relative is the key.
In order to find his son, Fan Bingzhi even thought about making a “hostage” – kidnap the relative’s son. But relatives of the family heard the wind, have long run out of trace.
5
In June 2016, a man approached Fan bingzhi’s home with a piece of news that thrilled him: Van der Bao had been confirmed to be being held in a black brick kiln in Zhanyi, Qujing. At that time, the pennily-poor Fan Bingzhi everywhere, just managed to borrow 20,000 yuan, from the rich people set out, hurried to benefit.
On July 2, three police officers with Fan Bingzhi and Van der Bao’s brother came to Zhanyi. Based on past experience, if you go out in a big way to find someone, you’re bound to fail. After weighing, the police decided to change the body casual clothes, first to find out the location of the brick factory.
In the early morning of July 4, the police squatting near the brick factory decided to go in as soon as it was light. A group of five people hid in a hiding place near the brick factory, quietly observe the movement of the brick factory.
At about seven o ‘clock in the morning, it was broad daylight, and the brick-factory workers began to work. When they entered the brick factory, they saw a thin man in a hat, a short-sleeved shirt and a pair of trousers. His clothes were dirty. Gu Chongyi walked over and patted him on the shoulder. The man turned around.
“Uncle Koo, there you are.”
“Are you Van der Pol?” “Asked Gu Chongyi.
“Be.”
Fan’s original condition is not comfortable, in order to find Van der Pol, the home almost used up all the savings fan’s original condition is not comfortable, in order to find Van der Pol, the home almost used up all the savings
Seeing his son, Fan Bingzhi hurried forward and firmly grasped his son’s right hand. Seeing his father, whom he had not seen for 11 years, Van der Pol simply said, “Dad, you’re here.”
Without a sense of drama or the “choking sobs and hugs” that many imagined, the 33-year-old Van der Pol had ended his nightmarish life in a black brick kiln.
Boss and supervisor came, the police bright identity, the district police station police also came… When he left from Zhanyi, the owner of the brick factory compensated Fan Bingzhi more than 70 thousand yuan as van der Boer’s wages.
6
Back at the home of the rich, Van der Baugh became the focus of attention. His mother and brother followed him all the time, even to the toilet, lest he should slip away from home again. “He’s been gone for 11 years, and we can’t let him go anymore.”
Looking at his little son, Fan Bingzhi gasps. “Bitter for so many years, just compensate him more than 70,000… It’s not enough!” His tone was unequivocal.
Since his son disappeared, he had no heart to work. Everywhere he went, he would think of the pain his son might have suffered. He could not let go of it. “I couldn’t smoke a pack of cigarettes a day, then I smoked out a pack of cigarettes in less than a day.”
In order to find his son, Fan Bingzhi also specially spent money to hire a lawyer, the son missing situation written material, to the Fumin County public security bureau, political and legal commissar, but was told because of the principle of territoriality management, missing in Wuding people have to find Wuding police management. Fan Bingzhi looked for Wuding County public Security Bureau, and because of a variety of reasons, was pushed back…
He also went to Kunming to report the situation to the Public Security Department of Yunnan Province, but could not find the information because of the uncertainty. He ran out of savings, had no money to repair the leaking house, and was exhausted from running around. He thought about giving up, but every time he found a picture of his younger son, he thought, “I can’t rest assured, I still have to look for it.”
Van der Baugh was home now, and he did not have to get up at half-past six in the morning to carry the bricks. He could sleep well. There was meat at every meal, and he could go wherever he wanted, and occasionally he would work in the fields.
Van der Pol spoke calmly of the past, as if it were not his own. Just talking about going home, he would smile uncontrollably.
After van der Bao was rescued back, Fan Bingzhi has taken him to the provincial public security department twice, reflecting the situation of the black brick kiln, hoping to rescue those workers who are still trapped inside, but he did not get a clear answer, “I will go to reflect again, the province can not manage”.
He planned to take his son to have a checkup first. Then he went to the brick factories where his son had worked and asked for his salary one by one.
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