broken, buried under mountains of medical debt.

Four of Wang Cuilan’s five children died of silicosis. The fifth suffers from Stage 3 of the disease and is currently in Shenzhen as part of the protest movement.

Furthermore, some of the workers who were examined in 2009 and not diagnosed with silicosis found that their symptoms worsened during the intervening period, and actually passed away prior to this rights defense campaign. Among them, a significant number committed suicide. According to a report on the subject, 37 people died as a result of silicosis between 2009 and 2015 in Leiyang County, Hunan. Among these, at least nine committed suicide because they couldn’t bear the pain associated with the symptoms of silicosis. Each of these deaths left behind an increasingly impoverished family.

Li Wanmeiwas “just skin and bones,” kneeling on the bed in his underwear, his arms supporting his body, his head propped up by pillows. An electric fan was placed next to him, but he had trouble breathing and was sweating all over. “As if water was pouring out of his body.” Li Wanmei had not eaten or slept for several days, he just kept kneeling in the same position. Less than a month later, Li Wanmei died kneeling in his bed.

In Tonglin village, Daozi county, one day during the 12th lunar month of 2011, silicosis victim Wang Congcheng couldn’t bear the torment any more. He used scissors to pierce his throat, then stabbed his abdomen and placed his hands into a water container while holding a power strip. He