Kids Sold Like "Cabbages"

A Chinese newspaper has reported that thousands of children in Southwest China have been sold into slavery like "cabbages", to work as labourers. These children, who's parents are mostly poor farmers, are usually between the ages of 13-15 with some laborers as young as 7 years old. These poor children are forced to work as many as 80 hours in a week. The Chinese Government has said that they have began a crackdown on slavery and child labor and would send agents to go an rescue the children. It's difficult for me to believe this statement by the Chinese Government, given the common practice of sweatshops in China and their overall poor Human Rights record. While I hope that the Chinese Government is sincere in their desire to help these children, I wonder if they are just attempting to clean up their image before this summer's Olympic Games. It's hard for us in the West to imagine the conditions of poverty that would force parents to sell their children. China is a rising economic and military superpower. They still have a long road to travel on Human Rights issues in order to achieve true greatness as a people.