group that the city government sent in April continued to insist that the workers gather and present proof of their employment relation and pursue legal action, just as before. In the brief span of these two months, three workers passed away, unable to wait for the results of the petition.

On April 24, Wang Xiangyong from Zhangjiajie passed away. Prior to his death, proof of his employment relation was recognized, but he had not yet undergone an occupational disease assessment, so the over 100,000 RMB that he had spent on healthcare was never compensated.

April 18th marked the second time that the workers’ group arrived at the Shenzhen complaints office. But, on the morning of April 19th, while they were quietly waiting for a response, what awaited them was actuallya riot squad. The workers had been divided and sent to different places, and the government had even provided a lawyer for each worker, who invariably demanded that the individual workers resolve the issue through legal channels. However, this attempt to safeguard their rights made no headway whatsoever. Through various channels, the Shenzhen city government recognized the labor contracts of less than one tenth of the workers, but by April 27th, a large group of the workers found that the money they had brought with them was running out, leaving them without enough money to buy food. With no other options, they agreed to take the government-provided bus back to Hunan.

In the following period, the Shenzhen city government still had not responded to the workers’ demands. On May