In 2002, worker representatives at the Liaoyang Ferroalloy Plant were arrested and sentenced after workers' protests

In 2002, workers at the Liaoyang Ferroalloy Plant launched weeks of protests over long-term unpaid wages and losing everything after being laid off; worker representatives were subsequently arrested and sentenced on charges of illegal assembly, inciting subversion of state power, and others, on Zhu Rongji's signal.