The eight hostages who were released in Iraq and returned to Pingtan County, Fujian Province this week are having to face up to the financial worries they went there to solve -- and the additional debts with which going abroad has left them.

With the Spring Festival, or Chinese Lunar New Year, celebrations approaching, their woes are likely to cast a starker contrast than ever.

"I knew little about Iraq beforehand," the mother of one hostage, Lin Zhong, said. "But now I won't let my son go there again."

But she shook her head and said she wouldn't like to say more when talking about the loan the family had taken out to fund Lin Zhong's trip.

At the house of another hostage, Lin Bin, in Hushan village, his wife showed reporters the socks she had bought for her children for the coming festival. "Our life is tough and we don't have much money to buy gifts," she said.

With all three children still in school, Lin Bin's family is probably the poorest of all eight families. "We don't have any idea how to repay the debt now," she said.

Pingtan's economic development has been sluggish for a long time, and a rapid decline in coastal resources has made it difficult for the local traditional fishing industry to survive.

The Publicity Department director of the county government, Cheng Suming, said they will try to help the eight find new jobs.

"We have been making great efforts to enhance economic development, aiming to improve farmers' income," Cheng said.

"We will also strengthen a crackdown on illegal labor export agencies," he continued, adding that they are increasing the local population's awareness of the situation in Iraq via television and special broadcast programs.

The county has built an industrial zone in the provincial capital Fuzhou. The first phase has been operational since last year, and it is expected to create an annual output volume of about 600 million yuan (US$72.5 million) in two or three years.

(China Daily January 28, 2005)