China issued a reward late Monday for the capture of eight foremen wanted over the brickyard slavery scandal that has rocked the nation, state media said.
The eight are suspected of forcing people to work in kilns in north China's Shanxi province, the official Xinhua news agency said.
A 10,000 yuan (1,300 US dollars) reward has been offered by the ministry of public security for anyone with information that leads to the capture of the eight, Xinhua said.
Investigators have said they have freed 359 people in Shanxi, including 12 children, and 65 people with mental disabilities, who were forced to work in kilns in appalling conditions.
An Internet petition posted by concerned parents earlier this month said up to 1,000 children were languishing in brickyards and small mines in Shanxi, triggering widespread attention to the scandal.
Since then, 45,000 policemen have raided more than 8,000 brickyards and small coal mines in Shanxi and Henan province in the past two weeks in an effort to end the slave labour, the government has said.
Police are now holding 35 people linked to the forced labour and are still hunting for another 20, Xinhua has said.
The eight foremen are "suspected of beating and forcing enslaved people" to work in the kilns, Xinhua said Monday.
The eight were named as Chen Zhiming, Zhou Qiusheng, Zhang Zhenjiang, Yao Haitao, Ke Changjiang, Ke Changfu, Wang Ziguo and Wang Zihong.
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