ABSTRACT
Han rode the state railroad for five years with a team of workers who maintained refrigeration freight cars. Often railway bosses ordered the team to labor amid a gas of ammonia that leaked from the ramshackle freight. Some workers choked and had to be carried by their workmates away from the searing gas. Enraged by the official abuse of workers, Han helped lead China's first unofficial trade union during the 1989 democracy movement in Tiananmen Square. After the army massacred hundreds of protesters on June 4, Han was jailed and tortured. During twenty-two months in prison" he nearly died as tuberculosis induced by his jailers gutted his right lung. Han believes that as millions of Chinese see their slim assets erode they will demand a political voice and the right to unionize freely. Barred from redressing their grievances within factories, workers will probably try to do so in the streets, as they did in 1989.
