Money for life, not life for money

A 22-year-old female surnamed Zhang, who is employee of e-commerce major Pinduoduo fell unconscious while returning from work at 1:30 am on Dec 29 and later died in hospital.

As the incident went viral, on Monday an account registered as the company posted a comment on zhihu.com saying, "Everybody is trading life for money; You can choose to stay comfortable but you must bear the result."

The the comment was deleted within 20 seconds, but a snapshot of it has gone viral, triggering fierce discussions online. Pinduoduo apologized saying it was not their view, but that of an individual who acted irresponsibly, even promising action against whoever was responsible, but the brouhaha online is reason enough to address the issue.

We live in an age when everyone is struggling for a better life, mostly by laboring. It is positive and healthy for society to praise the struggling spirit, because that is how wealth is created and society moves forward. However, the struggling spirit should never be interpreted as "trading life for money".

We struggle for better lives of the people, ourselves included; The people are the ends, not means, of that struggle. If life is being traded for money, then the wealth created and accumulated this way is of no use. The phrase "trading life for money" is rather weird because life can never be traded for money.

In legal practice, China has one of the world's best labor laws protecting its laborers. It is important for the laborers to know their rights and never compromise there. Enterprises must honor the law and respect their employees' rights. For society, it is necessary to legislate more good laws and strictly enforce them, so that laborers get better protection.

Laborers create wealth, and they should enjoy the wealth they create. There should be no room for distorting good practices and statements.