[mfrykman]

A friend of mine is an investigative journalist in China - he spent a while working in a helmet foam factory and living in a dorm such as the one in the article.

He heard rumors that the Chinese mafia would pay workers to commit suicide at Foxconn in exchange for money for their family in the countryside. The mafia would then threaten suicide attempts as leverage to extort concessions from Foxconn.

Not sure if it's true (was only a rumor), but certainly got me thinking about it from another perspective.

Some of my buddy's work:

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/yvwj3k/chinas-21st-centur...

http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/roads/2015/0...

[dopamean]

Honestly, that sounds like a convenient rumor for Foxconn.