Chinese police are investigating reports that a group of people with mental disabilities have been working in slave-like conditions.
The 11 workers were apparently sold by an unauthorised charitable organisation to a factory in the country's north-west.
Reports say the workers were unpaid and lived in appalling conditions.
This is not the first time a case like this has been uncovered in China, where there are no independent trade unions.
Media reports suggest the workers lived as virtual slaves. They were given no pay, no protective clothing and had not showered for years, according to the Global Times newspaper.
They apparently had to eat the same food as the factory owner's dogs.
One man said he twice tried to escape but was caught and badly beaten.
The workers were apparently rounded up in the county of Qu in Sichuan Province by a man running what was supposed to be a charitable organisation.