[Congressional Record Volume 147, Number 103 (Monday, July 23, 2001)]
[House]
[Pages H4405-H4407]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




EXPRESSING CONDOLENCES OF HOUSE TO FAMILIES OF PEOPLE KILLED IN FANGLIN 
       ELEMENTARY SCHOOL EXPLOSION IN PEOPLE'S REPUBLIC OF CHINA

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that 
the Committee on International Relations and the Committee on Ways and 
Means be discharged from further consideration of the resolution (H. 
Res. 121) expressing the sincerest condolences of the House of 
Representatives to the families of the 42 people, including 37 
children, killed in the March 6, 2001, explosion at the Fanglin 
elementary school in the Jianxi province of the People's Republic of 
China, and for other purposes, and ask for its immediate consideration 
in the House.
  The Clerk read the title of the resolution.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New Jersey?
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, reserving the right to 
object, I yield to the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) to explain 
the resolution.
  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for 
yielding and for his leadership on this issue.
  Mr. Speaker, I think it is important to send our condolences to the 
survivors of those who died. Let me say briefly, Mr. Speaker, 10-year-
old Zhang Yanhong was a good student; and she always listened to her 
teachers. As a result, on March 6 of this year she and 36 other of her 
third and fourth grade classmates all lost their lives.
  For years, the parents of the children in the Fanglin elementary 
school which is in the small village 480 miles southwest of Shanghai, 
had complained that their children were being forced by school 
officials to manufacture large firecrackers at school. Every day, the 
young children were required to spend hours mounting fuses and 
detonators into the firecrackers that were then sold by local Communist 
party officials. The underpaid teachers and government officials 
running the child labor scheme also set a sliding production quota in 
order to maximize their profits. It started at 1,000 firecrackers per 
day for the youngest children and reached 10,000 firecrackers per day 
for the fifth graders.
  Mr. Speaker, something terrible was bound to happen and soon it did. 
On a Tuesday afternoon, the firecrackers exploded in the elementary 
school and took the lives of 42 people including 37 young children.
  Chinese Prime Minister Zhu immediately denied that there had been any 
forced labor involved in Fanglin. Instead, Communist party officials 
invented a story about a mad man who entered the school and set off the 
explosion as part of his suicide attempt.
  According to news accounts, Communist Party officials blocked off 
roads into the village to prevent journalists from seeing the scene of 
the accident for themselves and interviewing residents. Residents who 
let journalists through the roadblocks anyway were reportedly arrested, 
and some families had their telephones disconnected to prevent contact 
with the outside world.
  However, thanks to the brave and determined reporting of both Chinese 
and international journalists, and to the parents of the children, many 
of whom refused to go along with the official cover-up of the deaths of 
their loved ones, Prime Minister Zhu was forced to eventually 
acknowledge what really happened and apologize in a nationally 
broadcast message.
  The forced labor and child labor condoned by the government of the 
People's Republic of China violates several conventions of the 
International Labor Organization; but, unfortunately, the ILO has no 
enforcement powers. For now all we can do is express our deep 
condolences to the parents and thank the journalists who risked their 
lives and their freedom to report the story.
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, continuing under my 
reservation, I want to begin by thanking the gentleman from New Jersey 
(Mr. Smith) for bringing this resolution to the floor and the help he 
has been in getting it here today. I think this is an important 
resolution, and it is an important message from the Congress of the 
United States addressing China's disgraceful record on child and forced 
labor. Many of us, along with the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Smith), have been raising this issue year after year as Congress has 
considered legislation granting special trade privileges to China.
  Mr. Speaker, 2 weeks ago nearly 3 million of our fellow citizens 
celebrated our Nation's independence on July 4, and millions of 
fireworks were set off in celebration of that great anniversary. 
Unknown to many Americans, millions of those fireworks may have been 
made by young Chinese children compelled to labor in dangerous 
factories to raise money for their schools.
  On March 6 of this year, 37 young Chinese school children were killed 
in an explosion that occurred while third and fourth graders were 
forced to manufacture fireworks at the Fanglin Elementary School. For 
years before the explosion, the parents of these children had pleaded 
with school administrators and government officials to end the

[[Page H4406]]

practice of forced child labor, but their concerns were ignored. The 
conditions of the labor of these little children were hazardous, and 
the demands were unrealistic. The youngest children in the school were 
expected to mount at least 1,000 detonators and fuses into firecrackers 
per day. Children who were slightly older were each required to 
manufacture 10,000 firecrackers per day.
  It was only a matter of time before this kind of tragedy occurred. 
And when it did on March 6, the first response of the Chinese 
government was to deny the facts and try to cover up the fact that the 
incident took place and try to fabricate a story. What we found out 
later, because of the bravery of these parents and because of some of 
the members of the press in China, the international journalists, we 
now know the truth about forced child labor in this school.
  A week after the Chinese government invented its story, the Chinese 
prime minister finally apologized for the incident and acknowledged 
that the firecrackers were manufactured in an elementary school. 
Prohibition on child labor is not only the standard for Western 
countries or developed countries, it is an internationally recognized 
labor standard that has been approved by the ILO of which the United 
States and virtually every country of the world is a member.
  All children, no matter how rich or poor their country, deserve to 
spend their developing years learning in school. The children at the 
Fanglin Elementary School were denied that right. Unfortunately, nobody 
knows if the hundreds of thousands of firecrackers produced at the 
Fanglin Elementary School were eventually sold to stores and 
firecracker stands right here in the United States.
  However, if they did enter the United States market, it is a 
violation of U.S. laws which prohibit the importation of products made 
by forced labor. I have called upon the U.S. Customs Service and the 
Department of Labor to conduct an investigation to determine which 
products are produced under Chinese forced child labor. A few years 
ago, the Chinese government acknowledged that it was encouraging 
industries to move production into Chinese elementary and high schools. 
The government gave tax incentives to the businesses that set up their 
factories in the schools. While the government claims that these school 
industries do not use child labor or forced labor, the case of the 
Fanglin Elementary School suggests otherwise.
  Over 700,000 Chinese elementary and high schools have industries 
manufacturing a host of products, and the U.S. Government must ensure 
that none of these child labor products are reaching U.S. consumers. I 
call upon the Secretary of Labor and the Commissioner of Customs to act 
on my inquiries and to ensure that the imports from China are free from 
forced child labor.
  Today the Members of the House can join in expressing condolences to 
the families of the children who died as a result of the exploitative 
labor conditions in Chinese schools and elsewhere in that country.
  Mr. Speaker, let us remember these children when we debate the issues 
on international trade in the future.
  Mr. Speaker, further reserving the right to object, I yield to the 
gentlewoman from Ohio (Ms. Kaptur).
  Ms. KAPTUR. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman from California (Mr. George 
Miller) has been a leader in child labor protection and labor rights, 
along with the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith). They are a voice 
over these trade routes for people, including for children, and that 
trade is more than just material goods. It is amazing how hard it is to 
carry that message, even in this country, and yet we look at a nation 
like China, with over 1.250 billion people, and we see that none of the 
standards that we have written into law in this country exist. Yet we 
continue to be the chief market, whether it is fireworks or toys or 
clothing, the chief market in the world for Chinese exports.
  Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of this resolution asking for a full 
accounting and also condemning China for allowing its children to be 
used in such a heinous way.
  With imported carpet from India, we require smiling logos in order to 
guarantee to American consumers that they are buying a product that is 
not made with child labor. We have no such guarantees with China.
  I thank the gentleman for what he is doing here. In some places on 
Earth, life is very cheap; and here in our country it used to be cheap. 
In fact, it was not until a wonderful woman by the name of Mary Norton, 
the first Democratic congresswoman to serve here east of the 
Mississippi River in the 1930s who wrote into our laws the prohibition 
on child labor in our country. We as a country gained a broader 
conscience of how we should live as a people and that children have 
value as human beings beyond whatever they might be able to produce. 
They have a value beyond being a producer. They have an intrinsic value 
as a human being.
  Mr. Speaker, I support the gentleman's fine cause and support the 
resolution and again compliment the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Smith) and the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller) for 
reminding us of our own heritage as we try to lift another part of the 
world forward as she struggles to meet her own social and economic 
needs internal to herself. It should not be done at the cost of any 
human life to be so disregarded.
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Mr. Speaker, continuing under my 
reservation, I yield to the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. Kucinich).
  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman from New Jersey and 
the gentleman from California for their concern about this very 
important human rights issue.
  Years ago when the United States began its trading relationship with 
China, we were told that this would be a way to help democratize China, 
to bring China into a tradition for human rights and worker rights and 
environmental consciousness. We have found that there is a time lag in 
China, a slow understanding of the principles which we have tried to 
communicate to them through our trading relationship.
  The incident at Fanglin Elementary School is a graphic example and a 
very sad example of how we have really failed to follow through on the 
spirit of our trade relationship with China because the spirit of our 
trade relationship with China says that as a precondition of trade, we 
want to transmit democratic values that show that China appreciates the 
democracy that we have; not that we appreciate their type of 
government.
  We have been trying to bring China over towards a more democratic 
expression, and what do we see. We see an example where 37 children die 
in a fireworks factory that was otherwise known as a school. They 
called it a school, but it was actually a fireworks factory. The very 
type of child labor that is being discussed here is abhorrent to the 
American people. We do everything we can, parents rich or poor, to try 
to make the childhood experience one where children are given an 
opportunity to be nurtured, children are given an opportunity to have 
their status protected. But no, that is not what is happening in China. 
Children making fireworks. How dangerous an occupation that is any way, 
but to have children making them in their schools, that is why this 
resolution is important.
  Mr. Speaker, this resolution lets China know that it is not good 
enough to have a manufacturing base that includes child labor and slave 
labor. It is not good enough to offer cheap goods to this country and 
other countries around the world when those cheap goods are made under 
dangerous conditions by children who have no means of recourse.

                              {time}  1900

  This is an important step towards our continuing effort to insist 
that China as our trading partner live by higher standards. I salute 
the gentleman from California (Mr. George Miller) and the gentleman 
from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) for their work in this regard. I thank the 
gentleman for the opportunity to address this.
  Mr. GEORGE MILLER of California. Finally, under my reservation I 
again want to thank the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith) and the 
Committee on International Relations for bringing this matter to the 
floor. I appreciate their cooperation.
  Mr. Speaker, I withdraw my reservation of objection.

[[Page H4407]]

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Gibbons). Is there objection to the 
request of the gentleman from New Jersey?
  There was no objection.
  The Clerk read the resolution, as follows:

                              H. Res. 121

       Whereas on March 6, 2001, an explosion at the Fanglin 
     elementary school in the Jianxi province of the People's 
     Republic of China's killed at least 42 people, including 37 
     children;
       Whereas the children, all between the ages of 9 and 11, 
     were being forced by elementary school officials to 
     manufacture fireworks when this tragedy occurred;
       Whereas the parents of the deceased children report that 
     the mandatory labor, which involved mounting fuses and 
     detonators into large firecrackers, had been a daily practice 
     at the school for years;
       Whereas this systematic exploitation of children in the 
     elementary school was not only known about but actually 
     organized by individuals holding official responsibilities 
     with the local Chinese Government;
       Whereas this practice is a grave violation of the rights of 
     children under the International Labor Organization's 
     Conventions 138 and 182, as well as Convention 29 on Forced 
     Labor; and
       Whereas Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji has taken the 
     important step of acknowledging these violations of 
     internationally recognized labor standards: Now, therefore, 
     be it
       Resolved, That the House of Representatives--
       (1) expresses its sincerest condolences to the families of 
     the 42 people killed in the March 6, 2001, explosion at the 
     Fanglin elementary school in the Jianxi province of the 
     People's Republic of China, including to the parents and 
     families of the 37 young children who lost their lives as a 
     result of this dangerous and forced child labor;
       (2) expresses its gratitude to the Chinese and 
     international journalists who reported the true cause of the 
     explosion in response to the Chinese Communist Party's 
     original attempts to put forward an ``authorized'', but 
     false, version of the events; and
       (3) expresses its support for international trade 
     agreements and policies that will enforce the International 
     Labor Organization's core labor standards, which include 
     prohibition of child labor and forced labor.


  Amendment in the Nature of a Substitute Offered by Mr. Smith of New 
                                 Jersey

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I offer an amendment in the 
nature of a substitute.
  The Clerk read as follows:

       Amendment in the nature of a substitute offered by Mr. 
     Smith of New Jersey:
       Strike all after the resolved clause and insert the 
     following:
       That the House of Representatives--
       (1) expresses its sincerest condolences to the families of 
     the 42 people killed in the March 6, 2001, explosion at the 
     Fanglin elementary school in the Jianxi province of the 
     People's Republic of China, including to the parents and 
     families of the 37 young children who lost their lives as a 
     result of this dangerous and forced child labor; and
       (2) expresses its gratitude to the Chinese and 
     international journalists who reported the true cause of the 
     explosion in response to the Chinese Communist Party's 
     original attempts to put forward an ``authorized'', but 
     false, version of the events.

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (during the reading). Mr. Speaker, I ask 
unanimous consent that the amendment in the nature of a substitute be 
considered as read and printed in the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New Jersey?
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the amendment in the 
nature of a substitute offered by the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. 
Smith).
  The amendment in the nature of a substitute was agreed to.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the resolution, as 
amended.
  The resolution, as amended, was agreed to.


      Amendment to the Preamble Offered by Mr. Smith of New Jersey

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Mr. Speaker, I offer an amendment to the 
preamble.
  The Clerk read as follows:

       Amendment to the preamble offered by Mr. Smith of New 
     Jersey:
       Strike the preamble and insert the following:
       Whereas on March 6, 2001, an explosion at the Fanglin 
     elementary school in the Jianxi province of the People's 
     Republic of China's killed at least 42 people, including 37 
     children;
       Whereas the children, all between the ages of 9 and 11, 
     were being forced by elementary school officials to 
     manufacture fireworks when this tragedy occurred;
       Whereas the parents of the deceased children report that 
     the mandatory labor, which involved mounting fuses and 
     detonators into large firecrackers, had been a daily practice 
     at the school for years;
       Whereas this systematic exploitation of children in the 
     elementary school was not only known about but actually 
     organized by individuals holding official responsibilities 
     with the local Chinese Government; and
       Whereas Chinese Prime Minister Zhu Rongji has taken the 
     important step of acknowledging these violations of 
     internationally recognized labor standards: Now, therefore, 
     be it

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey (during the reading). Mr. Speaker, I ask 
unanimous consent that the amendment to the preamble be considered as 
read and printed in the Record.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from New Jersey?
  There was no objection.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the amendment to the 
preamble offered by the gentleman from New Jersey (Mr. Smith).
  The amendment to the preamble was agreed to.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

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