care” funding from the city government’s coffers, based on the severity of their illness.

Nevertheless, in 2017 when the Hunan provincial government investigated provincial silicosis indicators, the investigation revealed a large number of new cases. According to statistics, Sangzhi County in Zhangjiajie is home to 300 individuals who were either diagnosed or suspected to suffer from silicosis, in addition to nearly 200 in Leiyang and over 40 in Miluo. The great majority of these workers had worked in Shenzhen, and had stopped working as drillers since 2009. In reality, due to the long latency period of silicosis, many workers who were unable to be diagnosed with the disease in 2009 now show lung irregularities associated with silicosis, despite having never been diagnosed.

More recently, workers who were re-diagnosed as sufferingfrom silicosis have again gone south, asking for a response from the Shenzhen city government.

On the eve of the Spring Festival, these workers from Hunan began the 2018 campaign for their rights. At this time, the situation was similar to that of 2009, as the largest stumbling block was still the certification of employer-employee relations, followed by the authentication of their diagnosis with silicosis. This indicates that for a large number of workers, there was no way to express their power through the process of legal petitions or suits. At the time, they received a spoken promise from the city government representatives: After the Spring Festival, Shenzhen would organize a working group to go directly to Hunan and resolve the issue. However, after the Spring Festival, the working