Shannon Kwok
Review of the Literature

Child labor seems like a topic that isn't part of our world just because it takes part in other countries such as China . It makes one feel as if it has no effect on our lives just because we don't see it happening. In China however, it's a big problem. The Human Rights Watch [1], Mendelievich [4], and Ching-Ching Ni [5] all reported that there are four to fourteen-year-olds that are forced to work at very young ages, sometimes at places where their lives are threatened each day, and where they are denied an education due to circumstances such as poverty. Hobbs , McKechnie, and Lavalette [3] had done their study about why child labor is part of the reason for China 's economic achievements. They had also addressed the laws that are prohibiting against it that aren't being reinforced, resulting in the continuation of such inhumane treatment. Yet on the other hand, Ching-Ching Ni [5] provided stories where the presence of these laws cost children their lives because their owners were scared to get caught employing children who were too young.

These children work in many areas of labor that could potentially kill them. Hobbs, McKechnie, Lavalette [3], Mendelievich [4], Ni [5] and the Human Rights Watch [1] portray this harsh life that child laborers deal with every day and the environment that they're forced to endure. According to Ni [5], local authorities had begun to crack down on child labor because children began testing positive for lead poisoning and skin ailments. These problems are as extreme to those that the Human Rights Watch [1] also reported on about children that worked in rug looms who have been “disabled with eye damage, lung disease, stunted growth, and a susceptibility to arthritis as they grow older.”

My goal for this website is to make people aware of the child labor that went on, and is still happening to this day. It may seem like such a long stretch from home and not very relevant, but in fact our lives are affected by these children. Products we buy made by companies who employ child laborers are sold in the United States , and if this is the only connection we have to these children, then so be it.