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Xinjiang migrant workers head for coastal factories

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2009-08-07 00:02

URUMQI: The first batch of migrant workers to depart China's far western Xinjiang region since the July 5 riot in the region's capital Urumqi, is heading for factories thousands of kilometers away in the eastern province of Zhejiang.

The 189 female workers, all Uygurs from Jiashi County, Kashgar, left Urumqi on Wednesday night on a two-day train trip to work for two textile companies in Shaoxing City, the county government said Thursday.

Special coverage:  Riot in Urumqi Related readings:  Migrant Uygurs assemble success  Han, Uygur groups working together at factory  Xinjiang's migrant workers take job offers on free will  Uygur victims of south China toy factory brawl condemn Xinjiang riot  Rape rumor led to brawl, 2 killed

The workers, the 23rd batch from Jiashi this year, received preliminary work and language training in their hometown.

About 19,000 migrants from Jiashi have sought work in other parts of China since 2006, for average net income of more than 7,000 yuan (US$1,025) a year.

Adil Abdureshit, a senior county official, said working in the eastern regions helped the migrants earn more and many even returned to open their own businesses and helped attract investment.

On June 26, a massive brawl in a toy factory in Shaoguan, south China's Guangdong Province, left two Uygur migrant workers dead and more than 100 injured.

Police said Wednesday they had arrested a man who allegedly spread rumors by exaggerating the death toll of the brawl that was later used by the World Uygur Congress (WUC) to trigger the Urumqi riot.

The violence in Urumqi left 197 people dead and more than 1,600 injured.