Wearing the same blue shirt and jeans he has worn since Friday, Chip Starnes, 42, walked around his factory in Qiaozi, a quiet town in northeast Beijing, on a gloomy Tuesday morning. Tired but still smiling, he greeted reporters standing outside the factory gate.

There are an estimated 262 million rural migrant workers in China. They have been the engine of China's spectacular economic growth over the last two decades but, because of the household registration (hukou) system, they are still marginalized and discriminated against. Their children have limited access to education and healthcare and can be separated from their parents for years on end.

CHIP STARNES, an American businessman, used to run a medical-equipment factory just outside Beijing. For six days last month however he gained renown as an impromptu prisoner. His own employees had become his jailers, until they released him on June 27th.

More than 100 workers at the Huizhou subsidiary of a major piling manufacturer have reportedly detained five senior managers for five days in a bid to ensure that an estimated 1.2 million yuan in wage arrears was paid in full.