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SURREAL MONEY: "Liu Dali" (a pseudonym to protect his identity), a 54-
year-old former prison guard, was jailed for three years for illegally
petitioning the Chinese government to crack down on corruption. By day,
Liu was forced to labor in the Jexi labor camp in northeast China,
breaking rocks in coal mines, carving chopsticks and toothpicks out of
planks of wood, and assembling car seat covers. But after hours, he had
more work to do: "gold farming." Liu says prisoners are forced to build
up credits in online games such as World of Warcraft, carrying out
menial online tasks that build up small amounts of credit, then
repeating it for 12 hours at a time. The credits are then sold to
gamers overseas -- for real cash. "Prison bosses made more money
forcing inmates to play games than they do forcing people to do manual
labor," Liu says. "I heard them say they could earn 5,000-6,000 Chinese
yuan [US$770-925] a day." (MS/London Guardian)
year-old former prison guard, was jailed for three years for illegally
petitioning the Chinese government to crack down on corruption. By day,
Liu was forced to labor in the Jexi labor camp in northeast China,
breaking rocks in coal mines, carving chopsticks and toothpicks out of
planks of wood, and assembling car seat covers. But after hours, he had
more work to do: "gold farming." Liu says prisoners are forced to build
up credits in online games such as World of Warcraft, carrying out
menial online tasks that build up small amounts of credit, then
repeating it for 12 hours at a time. The credits are then sold to
gamers overseas -- for real cash. "Prison bosses made more money
forcing inmates to play games than they do forcing people to do manual
labor," Liu says. "I heard them say they could earn 5,000-6,000 Chinese
yuan [US$770-925] a day." (MS/London Guardian)
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