At the coal face of the dot.commodity demand problem

"At 17, Wang Binyu left his village of Kangu in the arid mountains of Gansu in China's north-west, where his family slept in a single bed in their tiny cottage, and joined the millions of other rural labourers seeking work in the cities.
He started on one building site for 7.5 yuan (Aus$1.21) a day, with his younger brother Wang Binyin, then aged 15, working alongside him for just five yuan a day. With just a fourth-grade education, they were at the bottom of the ladder.

"The years passed by with the Wang brothers working at various mills and building sites, or pedalling rickshaw carts around markets, and gradually they were able to send money back to Kangu to add a few brick rooms to the family home, although not yet to add glass windows. Two years ago, Wang Binyu began working for a contractor called Chen Jiwei, who was installing insulation at a new factory at Weinong in the neighbouring Ningxia region. It was hard and unpleasant work, as the Rockwool insulation irritated their unprotected skin.

"Wang became a team leader on 35 yuan a day [tad over A$5/day]. But his wages piled up in unpaid arrears. Chen refused to pay medical bills as agreed and began making deductions for board and meals that were supposed to be part of the deal.

"In May came a financial crisis. Their father needed urgent medical treatment, no longer free in China's hospitals. Wang Binyu spoke to Chen, his boss, and to the foreman, Wu Xinguo, about getting his estimated 5000 yuan in back pay. They refused."

After many attempts to get paid without any success, Wang Binyu went into a rage and killed one of the recalcitrant foremen.

"Then he went to a bridge over the Yellow River, threw his knife into the water, washed the blood off his hands, and took a taxi to the nearest police station, where he turned himself in. In June a court sentenced him to death.

"The popular newspaper Southern Metropolitan News wrote extensively about the background to the killing, and it became emblematic of the frequent exploitation of China's 200 million migrant workers, who the government admits are owed billions of dollars in unpaid wages.

"Whether Wang makes his lonely final walk out onto a bleak execution ground and gets a pistol bullet in the head remains to be seen.

"This week, the official Xinhua news agency issued a commentary headed "Media, let the facts talk, not the sentiment."
(http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/chinese-riveted-by-tragic-tale-of-worker-exploitation/2005/09/23/1126982230858.html)