Two journalists whose assets were frozen in a 30-million-yuan (US$3.75 million) defamation case initiated by a Taiwan-funded company have started a blog that has drawn tens of thousands of comments.

China Business News journalists Weng Bao and Wang You started the blog, blog.sina.com/m/wengbaowangyou, to air their grievances. The first article was posted at 4:10 pm on Monday and was read by 69,675 Internet users in the first 26 and a half hours.

Weng said in the blog that he was under tremendous pressure. "It is the most difficult time for me since I began to work in the media 10 years ago."

Wang You said her home, which was included in the list of frozen assets, was a gift from her parents who spent all their savings on it. The money in her bank account was given by her mother for when she got married.

Hongfujin Precision Industry Co, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Taiwan's Foxconn that manufactures iPods for US-based Apple Inc, has sued the journalists over a report saying most of its workers had to work standing up 12 hours a day and some fainted with fatigue.

Hongfujin is seeking 30 million yuan (US$3.75 million) in damages from the journalists with the Shanghai-based newspaper. The Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court froze the two journalists' assets, including their homes, a car and two bank accounts.

It is believed to be the largest sum in damages ever sought in a Chinese defamation case and the first defamation lawsuit against individual journalists in China in recent years.

Yun Lizhen, an official with Guangdong High Court, told Xinhua yesterday that Shenzhen court officials held a meeting after Chinese media reported the case and the court would hear and settle the case as soon as possible.

Hongfujin officials refused to comment on the case yesterday, but said they would respond to the media at a later date.

(China Daily August 30, 2006)