Tangshan Worker Gets Six Years Over Blast After Wage Dispute

A migrant worker in northern China was sentenced to six years in prison after a homemade explosive device went off inside a labour inspection office, injuring four people. His family is appealing the verdict and challenging the authorities' handling of the wage dispute that preceded the blast.

The case returned to public attention in mid-July after an article titled "Who Drove Tangshan Migrant Worker Liu Quan to Build a Bomb to Demand His Wages?" circulated on Chinese social media. It later became unavailable on some platforms, although copies remain online. Courts, police and labour authorities in Tangshan have not issued a public response to the renewed discussion.

According to excerpts of the first-instance judgment circulated online, Liu took the device into a labour inspection office in Tangshan's Caofeidian district on April 8, 2025. It exploded at about 10:30 a.m., injuring Liu, two labour inspectors and a police officer who had arrived at the scene. No one was killed.

The judgment excerpts say Liu suffered a first-degree minor injury, while the two inspectors sustained second-degree minor injuries and the officer was slightly injured. Property damage was assessed at 87,378.40 yuan. Ruibao has not obtained the full judgment from an official court channel.

Caofeidian District People's Court delivered its verdict on March 9, 2026, under case number (2025) Ji 0209 Criminal First Instance 419. It sentenced Liu to four years for causing an explosion and three years for illegally manufacturing explosive devices, combining the terms into a six-year sentence. He was also ordered to pay 94,644.87 yuan in civil compensation.

The dispute behind the case involved 56,000 yuan, according to accounts citing the judgment. About 24,000 yuan was said to be wages owed to several workers, while the balance covered materials and living expenses that Liu had advanced. Liu had worked as a temporary electrician on a Tangshan construction project from October 2022 to June 2023 without a written contract.

His family says he first complained to the Caofeidian labour inspection office in August 2023 and travelled there 14 times from his home in Zunhua. A mediation record reportedly put the contractor's unpaid balance at 47,200 yuan. The office later ended its handling of the complaint after the other party produced documents saying the account had been settled.

Liu then called a government hotline, sought labour arbitration and asked about filing a lawsuit, according to his family, lawyers and the author of the article. The local human resources bureau and the contractor have not publicly responded to that account.

China's Regulation on Ensuring Wage Payments to Migrant Workers, in force since May 2020, requires employers to pay wages in full and on time. It also assigns local governments responsibility for enforcement and gives human resources departments a duty to investigate wage-arrears complaints. Liu's lawyers want the appeal court to examine why his complaint was closed and whether the mediation record conflicted with the later settlement documents.

The trial court found that Liu had endangered public safety by detonating the device in a government office. It treated other devices found at his home as a separate offence of illegal manufacture, while citing the origins of the dispute as a mitigating factor. The defence contests the second conviction, the combined sentence and aspects of the investigation and trial. The court has not publicly addressed those arguments.

Liu appealed to Tangshan Intermediate People's Court. The author who reported the case said Liu's relatives and lawyer visited the court on July 16 to submit materials and were told that no hearing was planned at that point. Ruibao could not independently verify the meeting.

No appellate ruling or public hearing notice had been found as of July 21. Tangshan authorities have also not released the labour inspection file or explained why the wage complaint was closed.

Sources: This report draws on excerpts of the first-instance judgment circulated online, a reposted version of "Who Drove Tangshan Migrant Worker Liu Quan to Build a Bomb to Demand His Wages?", other public accounts citing the judgment and Liu's family, and China's Ministry of Justice text of the Regulation on Ensuring Wage Payments to Migrant Workers. Ruibao did not find the full judgment or an official case statement on the public websites of the local courts, police or human resources authorities. Claims that have not been confirmed by officials are attributed in the text.