The men who crowded into Wu’s room no longer worked for Lucky Gem. Wu pointed to a small man who, like the others, had slipped off his sandals at the door and who was now sitting barefoot on the concrete floor, leaning against the wall, his legs stretched out in front of him. His face was pale. Liu Huaquan, Wu said, was the first to fall ill. Liu acknowledged Wu’s introduction with a smile—a perverse pride in being the first one afflicted. It was 1999 when his symptoms—breathlessness and coughing—first appeared. They were diagnosed as tuberculosis and for two and half years he paid 300 yuan a month—nearly half his wages—for treatment. But his health continued to worsen and when he finally sought a second opinion at the Guangzhou Occupational Diseases Centre, he was told he had silicosis.

‘I had never heard of it,’ Liu said. ‘They said it was an occupational disease and I shouldn’t work any more. They said I should get compensation from the factory. I wanted to work. I still do. I have a wife and two children. But now they ask you for a health certificate and I can’t get a job anywhere.’ His weight had dropped from 121 pounds to ninety and he could barely climb the stairs. Silicosis is incurable, but the right treatment can slow the disease’s progression. Liu had received some compensation from a social insurance fund but he could not spend the money on the treatment that might slow his decline because he fears that his wife and children would be left destitute. His only hope was somehow to force the factory to compensate him. ‘I never thought this was going to happen,’ he said. ‘I thought I would work for a while, then go home and set up a business.’