One of my local 24 hour shops on my street appears to be run by a family, but it often has a 6 or 7 year old boy working at the counter.

The first time i saw this, i thought it was cute, because the parents were nearby and he was able to use the cash machine etc.

But i've been there many times now, and he's often alone in the shop even at 2am, and today at 11pm he was alone working the counter while his father was at the back of the shop laughing and sitting down chatting with friends.

Is this really ok in China? Because I don't feel comfortable with this. If the 7 year old boy is working while his father is in the back of the shop playing poker... i mean, wtf?

To top it off the kid tried to rip me off 20rmb almost as if he was trained to. Sorry, i can count.

Does China have laws about child labour and is there anything I can do about this?

Please tell me China has laws against pre-teens working.

He might even be 9 or 10, but he is definitely pre-teen and he's doing late shifts.

Is he working during school hours?

About 'laws' I don't know, not that Chinese people give a rats arse about the law.

Chinese people seem to be 'careless' about their children despite the fact that 'technically' they love them so much.
I'm tired to see little kids (2-3 year old) playing, peeing, etc in the sidewalk without not much adult supervision so if the child wants to run towards the incoming traffic and get run by a bus I guess is 'bad luck'?.
So it doesn't surprise me that Dad plays poker & smokes while little boy runs the business.
This is China

P.S. I wouldn't get involved if I was you, remember this is not a 'civilized' country (and you are NOT in Kansas anymore) plus they don't really like laowais. You don't want to end up deported because you made somebody 'loose face'.
Just Saying

Hm. I guess my question is, what is your objection to the situation, other than the fact that it is a late hour? It's not clear to me that the child is in an unsafe situation. This isn't like the US or UK, where shopkeepers in urban areas are (all too often) subject to being held up at gun/knifepoint. Probably most of the other local residents who are customers know him and the rest of the family by name. I'm assuming that dad, although he's out back playing cards, is within earshot. So whilst I agree that the late hour is a bit of a concern, the overall situation doesn't strike me as especially bad. Kids have worked in all manner of family businesses for all of human history, right? To me this is maybe not so different from, say, a farming family where the kid would be getting up at four a.m. in the freezing cold to go milk cows for 2 hours. It's not like the kid is being sent down in the coal mines for 12 hours a day, at least (and don't think that isn't happening in this country somewhere right this minute, too.)

Over Christmas some friends and I were sort of talking about something similar. We were watching "It's a Wonderful Life" and were reminded that when he was working in Mr. Gower's drugstore, George Bailey was meant to be 12. So at 12 years old, George was running the fountain counter and also entrusted to deliver prescription drugs. As an after school job. Nowadays of course we would find such a thing preposterous, but at the time the film was made, this was not presented as any unusual circumstance; in fact it's part of the narrative of his formative years and how George becomes the kind man he grows up to be.

condesa wrote:About 'laws' I don't know, not that Chinese people give a rats arse about the law.

Chinese people seem to be 'careless' about their children despite the fact that 'technically' they love them so much.
I'm tired to see little kids (2-3 year old) playing, peeing, etc in the sidewalk without not much adult supervision so if the child wants to run towards the incoming traffic and get run by a bus I guess is 'bad luck'?.
So it doesn't surprise me that Dad plays poker & smokes while little boy runs the business.
This is China

P.S. I wouldn't get involved if I was you, remember this is not a 'civilized' country (and you are NOT in Kansas anymore) plus they don't really like laowais. You don't want to end up deported because you made somebody 'loose face'.
Just Saying

I think it's unfair to label all Chinese people one way or another....sometimes we say the kids are spoiled brats and next day we say that the parents don't care about them...different family have different economic/education/family.....backgrounds and will do as they seem fit (as long as not excessive/against the law). When I talk to my Chinese wife she was amazed that I worked in a Ice Cream shop just in the summer time (not year round unlike some) when I was in High School saying that Chinese parents won't allow kids to work since studying/school was deemed too important. It's arguable which method is right or wrong (usually those that experienced it one way or another will think it is right since part of it was what made them into what they are today).

highlander wrote:I think it's unfair to label all Chinese people one way or another....sometimes we say the kids are spoiled brats and next day we say that the parents don't care about them...different family have different economic/education/family.....backgrounds and will do as they seem fit (as long as not excessive/against the law). When I talk to my Chinese wife she was amazed that I worked in a Ice Cream shop just in the summer time (not year round unlike some) when I was in High School saying that Chinese parents won't allow kids to work since studying/school was deemed too important. It's arguable which method is right or wrong (usually those that experienced it one way or another will think it is right since part of it was what made them into what they are today).

I've been told it's unusual for parents to even allow their children to work while attending school. I think if anything, the kids are too sheltered, not forced to go out to work.

There are immigrants' children all over the western world working in convenience stores owned by their parents.

tiaowuu wrote:
Does China have laws about child labour and is there anything I can do about this?

Please tell me China has laws against pre-teens working.

Yes, of course there is a law, this would be "The PRC Law on the Protection of Minors" （中华人民共和国未成年人保护法） from 1991, revised in 2006 and there are also some articles in "The PRC Labour Law" （中华人民共和国劳动法）from 1995 concerning child labour.

Here you can find a good summary of children's rights in China.
http://www.loc.gov/law/help/child-rights/china.php

Text of the laws:
http://www.lawinfochina.com/search/SearchLaw.aspx
http://www.lawinfochina.com/display.aspx?id=705&lib=law