Former workers from one of China’s top comic studios have revealed that they endured harsh working conditions and were living together in a “farm-like” apartment for years while suffering from excessive work pressure, often leading to sleep deprivation.
Employees at A-soul, which is among China’s most renowned manga studios, is being accused of having studios with poor working conditions and overworked and sleep-deprived employees. The employees told the South China Morning Post that they were also verbally abused.
An employee, who goes by his online name Zhenliubao, said A-soul shattered his dream and claimed that since 2008, dozens of comic artists like him, were living in dormitories converted from a livestock factory and using unisex bathrooms.
The studios are situated in a rural area of southeastern Beijing and currently has around 70 employees.
“We were never allowed to open the curtains, forcing us to work in a dark environment for years,” he wrote, as per the South China Morning Post.
Zhenliubao said his manager, Liu Zhi, ‘manually controlled’ employees through ‘verbal abuse and indoctrination’ and insisted on being called ‘brother’. He barred employees from reading books or seeking medical treatment when they were unwell, did not give social security benefits and split the salaries.
Laogui, another former employee, said he was often forced to draw 12 to 14 pages a day instead of the four to six pages, which was normal.
“I have gone grey in my twenties and face immense mental pressure daily,” he wrote in an online forum.
Amid the social media uproar over A-soul studio’s working conditions, current employee Liu Ke, who ranked ninth on the 2013 China Comic Artists’ Rich List, issued a statement defending the company. He attributed the harsh conditions to the studio’s severe financial struggles at the time. Liu also explained that before the studio’s official registration, he and fellow workers “willingly” contributed their salaries to sustain the team while denying claims of forced labour.
“A-soul is a family of ambitious comic artists built from scratch. Creating a utopia requires the spirit of sacrifice,” Liu Ke wrote.
On social media, users condemned A-soul studio, with one calling it a “slave factory” that violates human rights. Another urged, “If Zhenliubao’s claims are true, the studio has broken labor laws—gather the evidence and take them to court.”
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