Last week I went through one of my most interesting experiences yet in regard to China, as I helped a poor young fellow in Beijing who had been stiffed by his big multinational employer.

Actually, all I did was offer moral support and some counsel. But I watched day by day as this 24-year-old refused to give in, stood his ground, prepared a detailed letter on how China labor law proved his case — and you know what? He pulled it off. He brought this big famous company to its knees, David and Goliath style. He did his homework, he knew the arbitration procedures and he knew when the company refused to give him a settlement offer in writing that they were committing an offense. Knowledge is power, and my friend won.

Which brings us to the subject of this post, the migrant workers who are lured to cities like Beijing where they are exploited, to the point of their lives being ruined. These people have no knowledge of the law, no tools or resources. They are China’s damned.

This is a horrible story; The bottom line is that these poor young men work for months on immense construction projects in the coastal cities, and then they are never paid. When authorities investigate, some corrupt contractor shows the forged receipts proving he’s paid them, and that’s that. (The authorities probably get their cut as well.) And there’s nothing for the poor fucked peasants to do except cry.

(I know that somewhere this fits in with the recent discussions we’ve been having on a number of blogs in regard to the Chinese and how whoever has the power seems to be by divine right the victor in all circumstances, no matter how grotesque their acts of evil.)

My friend, with a university degree and good connections, was able to make a difference and force a company to live up to the law. But the disenfranchised migrant workers — to whom can they turn? As the article indicates, this is no trivial issue, with as much as $40 billion owed to itinerant laborers throughout the country.

Mr. Gao is the poor sap who convinced his friends in their poor village to come with him to work in the city:

They are all stranded in the capital, and as team leader, Mr Gao feels responsible for their fate.

“We have got no money at all,” one of them says. “Not a cent.”

For Gao Mingyu, there are few options left. Last year he borrowed $2,000 for his daughter’s education, and the interest on that is increasing all the time.

He has not seen her since he first left home to find work in the capital.

And when he thinks about his 70-year-old mother waiting for him at home, he breaks down.

“I would sacrifice my life to get that money back,” he sobs.

His story is all too familiar – it’s estimated millions of others are in the same position.

And it is tales like this that breed resentment against China’s leaders who – despite issuing orders – seem powerless to improve life for the victims of the country’s economic boom.

Let them eat cake.

UPDATE: I see Stephen beat me to it on this. And with far fewer words.