​   An investigation found that most such cases involve key projects. Local governments depend on these projects and sometimes "turn a blind eye" when handling them.

    Migrant worker Zhao Zhiming was hacked to death by employees of the company that owed him wages as he tried to recover 8,000 yuan in pay. Employees of the China Railway 15th Bureau's Guangle Expressway project were involved.

    More than 20 people surrounded and hacked at the workers seeking wages

    On March 6, Zhao Xinbiao, his nephew Zhao Zhiming and 20 other fellow villagers from Quanzhou, Guangxi, went to the China Railway 15th Bureau's Guangle Expressway T22 project department on the outskirts of Yingde City to demand wages that had been overdue for more than half a year. At around 1 p.m., the workers left the project department after failing to get their wages. Unexpectedly, more than ten minutes later, they were intercepted by a group of people. Zhao Xinbiao said: "Three cars came. The two in front lay in ambush, and one chased up from behind to block us. More than 20 people, armed with machetes over a meter long and iron rods, charged at us without a word."

    Zhao Xinbiao recalled that the workers, unarmed, were stunned at once. Many were knocked to the ground, and then everyone scattered. Only after the group swaggered away did they find Zhao Zhiming lying in a ravine by the roadside, bleeding profusely. "He blinked once, and then he was gone. He didn't leave a single last word," Zhao Xinbiao said. Local police confirmed that Zhao Zhiming's right femoral artery was severed by a machete. By the time doctors arrived, he had died of excessive blood loss and shock. Another worker, Tang Aming, was wounded in the left thigh and buttock.

    A person in charge of the Criminal Investigation Detachment of the Yingde Public Security Bureau said that preliminary investigation showed that the leaders of the attack that noon were Li Yukun and three others, all from Langbu Village in Chengnan, near the project site. Li Yukun was an employee of the China Railway 15th Bureau project office and, according to the contract, a materials contracting transporter for the project department. Public security authorities have criminally detained four suspects and are pursuing three others online.

    China Railway says it bears no direct responsibility

    The workers seeking wages said they had no longstanding feud with Li Yukun. This ambush and attack was retaliation for their wage demands, and the project department cannot escape responsibility. Zhao Xinbiao said that each time they demanded wages, the project department's responsible person was tough or refused to meet them, while Li Yukun always showed up. "He was effectively the one who 'kept watch' for the project department. That noon, Li Hepei, the project department's engineering department head, also hit our workers in the canteen. Now that something has happened, the project department has washed its hands of it."

    Zhao Ping, deputy manager of the China Railway 15th Bureau's Guangle Expressway T22 project department, denied that the project department instigated retaliation, but said "supervision was indeed inadequate" and "we don't understand the local dialect, so we usually ask Li Yukun to help handle disputes with villagers." Zhao Yongqi, vice chairman of the trade union of China Railway 15th Bureau First Company, said: "China Railway bears no direct responsibility. Out of humanitarian considerations, we are giving the family a one-time compensation of 180,000 yuan."

    A reporter's investigation found that most such cases involve key projects. Local governments depend on these projects and sometimes "turn a blind eye" when handling them.