Think of them as job centres. The landscape of cities in China is dotted with such “labour service companies”, “HR centres” or “talent shops”. But the service provided by one may well have led directly to an employee’s death, right here in our very own Jiangsu.
将它们视为就业中心。在中国的城市里，这样的“劳务公司”、“人力资源中心”或“人才商店”星罗棋布。但一个人提供的服务很可能直接导致一名员工的死亡，就在我们自己的江苏这里。
It was this Monday, 11 July, that the troubling news came to light of the stabbing of a female labour service company employee in Dongbang Town of Changshu City in Jiangsu’s Suzhou City.
7月11日星期一，江苏省苏州市常熟市东浜镇一名劳务公司女员工被刺伤的消息传出。
It is understood that the assailant came to the labour service company looking for a job on Friday, 8 July. The company, which cannot be named for legal reasons, was able to find the assailant a job, beginning as soon as the following day.
据了解，行凶者于7月8日星期五来到劳务公司寻找工作。这家因法律原因无法透露姓名的公司最快第二天就为袭击者找到了一份工作。
Speaking with media outlet, The Paper, relatives of the victim said that the assailant is a male about 40 years old. He had later returned to the labour service company armed with a knife. A conversation took place for less than a minute, after which the fatal stabbing took place, reports The Paper.
受害者亲属接受澎湃新闻采访时表示，行凶者是一名40岁左右的男性。随后，他持刀返回劳务公司。据澎湃新闻报道，双方交谈了不到一分钟，随后就发生了致命的刺伤事件。
Speculation abounds that the reason for the brutal killing to be dissatisfaction with the employee’s service on the part of the assailant.
人们普遍猜测，残忍杀害的原因是袭击者对员工的服务不满意。
The labour company employee had been alone in their office premises at the time of her murder. The company is said to have been operating for 3 years.
这名劳工公司雇员被谋杀时独自一人在办公室里。据称，该公司已运营3年。
Details of the crime have been reported to Changshu Public Security Bureau. Further information cannot be disclosed at this point.
犯罪详情已向常熟市公安局报案。目前无法透露更多信息。
With a population of 51,961 at the end of 2019, Dongbang Town has been awarded the title of “Safe and Civilised Town in Jiangsu Province”, according to the Changshu Local Chronicles Compilation Committee.
据常熟市地方志编纂委员会介绍，东浜镇2019年末人口51961人，荣获“江苏省安全文明镇”称号。
Under China’s planned economy of the past, all employment used to be managed by government labour departments. But with the country’s opening up and deepening enterprise ownership reform, labour service companies sprang up to address a large surplus labor force, comprising the laid off and unemployed, as well as the large rural labor force flowing into urban centres.
在过去的中国计划经济下，所有的就业都是由政府劳动部门管理的。但随着国家的对外开放和企业所有制改革的深化，劳务公司的兴起，解决了大量下岗失业人员以及大量农村劳动力流入城市的问题。
