Shenzhen has seen a series of attacks on labor activists that experts and workers' rights advocates fear may signal a worrying new trend - privatized intimidation.
Once it would have been the government going after activists such as Huang Qingnan. But now Huang, stabbed repeatedly by thugs in an incident in November, is less worried about the government and more about gangsters he believes are being hired by the rough new capitalists to cow workers.
A week before the assault, another Shenzhen labor activist, Li Jinxin, was badly beaten. At least two others had been attacked around the same time.
Companies have used thugs to attack enemies in business disputes, but rarely against labor groups in big cities, said Anita Chan, a research fellow at Australian National University.
"I think Guangdong will be in big trouble" if the trend develops, she said. "It will create a type of culture of violence, similar to what you find in Latin America."
Huang said the atmosphere in Shenzhen started getting tense in September, when his group began informing workers about the new law that would take effect on January 1 and was expected to be the most significant change in labor rules in more than a decade. It sets standards for labor contracts, the use of temporary workers and severance pay. It gives those who have worked at a company for more than 10 years some protection against unjustified dismissal.
Huang's group, called Dagongzhe or "Worker," passed out pamphlets explaining the law and held workshops.
"Some factories noticed that Dagongzhe has been educating the workers and causing problems for them, so they sent people to smash up our office and target me," Huang said.
The office was attacked twice. On both occasions thugs smashed glass, desks, chairs and other office items.
Six days after the second attack, Huang was chatting with a friend and watching a mahjong game when two men stabbed him from behind, inflicting six wounds. He fought back, and a bystander threw bricks at the attackers before they fled on motorcycles, he said.
Activist Liu Kaiming said authorities know who attacked Huang but will not do anything "because the government doesn't care about the case."
Huang expects to recover but be left with a severe limp.
