(15 岁小童工 雇佣他因为可怜他？ 15 suì xiǎotóng gōng Gùyōng tā yīnwèi kělián tā?)
The headline for this article, which appeared on April 12th in one of Tianjin's leading daily newspapers, frames underage hiring as a question, suggesting that there may well have been mitigating circumstances, but at the same time hinting that the employer used "pity" as an excuse to exploit the young man: 15岁童工 雇用他因为可怜他15 suì tónggōng gùyòng tā yīnwèi kělián tā? 15-year-old worker: Was he hired "out of pity"?
A synopsis of the story precedes the main article itself: A 15-year-old boy, who should be sitting in a classroom, instead is working for a small shop in Tianjin's Hebei district ... Every day before dawn he begins his workday, and is on duty straight through until about 9:00p [Note: his job is to change out seats in cabs] ... He's been doing this hard labor for a little more than a month ... Most of his salary has been put into a "pledge" account by his employer. With the help of officials from the city's Labor Board, the boy has been "rescued" from this disastrous situation. 原本应该坐在课堂内的15岁少年，却在河北区一家小店打工。每天清晨就要开始干活的他，一直要到21：00左右才能休息。辛苦干了一个多月，大半工资却被店主做了“押金”。在市区两级劳动监察部门的帮助下，这名少年终于“获救”. Yuánběn yīnggāi zuòzài kètáng nèi de 15 suì shàonián，què zài Héběi qū yījiā xiǎodiàn dǎgōng. Měitiān qīngchén jiùyào kāishǐ gànhuó de tā，yīzhí yào dào 21:00 zuǒyòu cáinéng xiūxi. Xīnkǔ gànle yī ge duō yuè, dàbàn gōngzī què bèi diànzhǔ zuò le “yājīn”. Zài shìqū liǎng jí láodòng jiānchá bùmén de bāngzhù xià，zhè míng shàonián zhōngyú “huòjiù”...
The story came about because a cab driver, whose car the young man was servicing, thought the boy was "especially young-looking "特别‘面嫩'" tèbié‘miànnèn’ ... The cabby casually asked the boy his age, and figured out that he probably had just turned 15 years old ... As a concerned citizen, he called the newspaper; when the reporter arrived on the scene and asked, the boy claimed he was "16 years old," but also, perhaps unwittingly, revealed his zodiac sign, the Year of the Rat .少年说道：“16岁，属鼠的” Shàonián shuōdao：“16 suì，shǔ shǔ de” ... The reporter seized on this, because given the boy's approximate age, he had to have been born in the 1996 Year of the Rat, which meant he could not yet be 16 years old 但属鼠的孩子应是1996年出生，并非16岁 Dàn shǔ shǔ de háizi yīngshì 1996 nián chūshēng，bìng fēi 16 suì ...
The Labor Board authorities were called in ... They established the boy was born in October 1996, that he had been promised a salary of 1,400 RMB/month (about $225/month), was working 14-hour days [Note: at 420 hours/month, his hourly wage would be about $.50] ... They learned that his mother had passed away, and his father was bed-ridden ... The shop owner said that the boy showed up one day looking for work; they listened to his story, took pity on him, and decided to help him out by employing him ... But the shop owner also admitted that he actually paid the boy only a fraction of what he'd earned, keeping the rest of the salary in a "pledge account," to be paid later ... So it's hard to see how the shop owner actually improved the boy's situation ...
The authorities ordered the boy to stop working immediately, and set about reuniting him with his family ... They reminded the shop owner of the law ("National laws clearly state that no employer can employ anyone under the age of 16 国家明确规定，任何单位和个人都不得雇用16周岁以下的儿童 Guójiā míngquè guīdìng，rènhé dānwèi hé gèrén dōu bùdé gùyòng 16 zhōu suì yǐxià de értóng) ... The penalty for hiring underage workers is at least 5,000 RMB/month, and they explained to the shop owner that although they can accept that by hiring the boy he showed sympathy (雇用童工是出于同情这种说法在感情上可以接受 Gùyòng tónggōng shì chūyú tóngqíng zhèzhǒng shuōfa zài gǎnqíng shàng kěyǐ jiēshòu) , nevertheless, he had broken the law and would have to pay the fine, and admit to criminal behavior 店主不但要承担相应的赔偿责任，甚至还要承担刑事责任 Diànzhǔ bùdàn yào chéngdān xiāngyìng de péicháng zérèn，shènzhì háiyào chéngdān xíngshì zérèn...
Source: 《每日新报》 20110412 第B10版， “15 岁小童工 雇佣他因为可怜他？ 15 suì xiǎotóng gōng Gùyōng tā yīnwèi kělián tā?”
The headline for this article, which appeared on April 12th in one of Tianjin's leading daily newspapers, frames underage hiring as a question, suggesting that there may well have been mitigating circumstances, but at the same time hinting that the employer used "pity" as an excuse to exploit the young man: 15岁童工 雇用他因为可怜他15 suì tónggōng gùyòng tā yīnwèi kělián tā? 15-year-old worker: Was he hired "out of pity"?
A synopsis of the story precedes the main article itself: A 15-year-old boy, who should be sitting in a classroom, instead is working for a small shop in Tianjin's Hebei district ... Every day before dawn he begins his workday, and is on duty straight through until about 9:00p [Note: his job is to change out seats in cabs] ... He's been doing this hard labor for a little more than a month ... Most of his salary has been put into a "pledge" account by his employer. With the help of officials from the city's Labor Board, the boy has been "rescued" from this disastrous situation. 原本应该坐在课堂内的15岁少年，却在河北区一家小店打工。每天清晨就要开始干活的他，一直要到21：00左右才能休息。辛苦干了一个多月，大半工资却被店主做了“押金”。在市区两级劳动监察部门的帮助下，这名少年终于“获救”. Yuánběn yīnggāi zuòzài kètáng nèi de 15 suì shàonián，què zài Héběi qū yījiā xiǎodiàn dǎgōng. Měitiān qīngchén jiùyào kāishǐ gànhuó de tā，yīzhí yào dào 21:00 zuǒyòu cáinéng xiūxi. Xīnkǔ gànle yī ge duō yuè, dàbàn gōngzī què bèi diànzhǔ zuò le “yājīn”. Zài shìqū liǎng jí láodòng jiānchá bùmén de bāngzhù xià，zhè míng shàonián zhōngyú “huòjiù”...
The story came about because a cab driver, whose car the young man was servicing, thought the boy was "especially young-looking "特别‘面嫩'" tèbié‘miànnèn’ ... The cabby casually asked the boy his age, and figured out that he probably had just turned 15 years old ... As a concerned citizen, he called the newspaper; when the reporter arrived on the scene and asked, the boy claimed he was "16 years old," but also, perhaps unwittingly, revealed his zodiac sign, the Year of the Rat .少年说道：“16岁，属鼠的” Shàonián shuōdao：“16 suì，shǔ shǔ de” ... The reporter seized on this, because given the boy's approximate age, he had to have been born in the 1996 Year of the Rat, which meant he could not yet be 16 years old 但属鼠的孩子应是1996年出生，并非16岁 Dàn shǔ shǔ de háizi yīngshì 1996 nián chūshēng，bìng fēi 16 suì ...
The Labor Board authorities were called in ... They established the boy was born in October 1996, that he had been promised a salary of 1,400 RMB/month (about $225/month), was working 14-hour days [Note: at 420 hours/month, his hourly wage would be about $.50] ... They learned that his mother had passed away, and his father was bed-ridden ... The shop owner said that the boy showed up one day looking for work; they listened to his story, took pity on him, and decided to help him out by employing him ... But the shop owner also admitted that he actually paid the boy only a fraction of what he'd earned, keeping the rest of the salary in a "pledge account," to be paid later ... So it's hard to see how the shop owner actually improved the boy's situation ...
The authorities ordered the boy to stop working immediately, and set about reuniting him with his family ... They reminded the shop owner of the law ("National laws clearly state that no employer can employ anyone under the age of 16 国家明确规定，任何单位和个人都不得雇用16周岁以下的儿童 Guójiā míngquè guīdìng，rènhé dānwèi hé gèrén dōu bùdé gùyòng 16 zhōu suì yǐxià de értóng) ... The penalty for hiring underage workers is at least 5,000 RMB/month, and they explained to the shop owner that although they can accept that by hiring the boy he showed sympathy (雇用童工是出于同情这种说法在感情上可以接受 Gùyòng tónggōng shì chūyú tóngqíng zhèzhǒng shuōfa zài gǎnqíng shàng kěyǐ jiēshòu) , nevertheless, he had broken the law and would have to pay the fine, and admit to criminal behavior 店主不但要承担相应的赔偿责任，甚至还要承担刑事责任 Diànzhǔ bùdàn yào chéngdān xiāngyìng de péicháng zérèn，shènzhì háiyào chéngdān xíngshì zérèn...
Source: 《每日新报》 20110412 第B10版， “15 岁小童工 雇佣他因为可怜他？ 15 suì xiǎotóng gōng Gùyōng tā yīnwèi kělián tā?”
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