Some 50 students from three universities in Hubei Province who had been promised part-time jobs in Shenzhen during the summer vacation, were left wandering around Longgang District after they arrived in the city Wednesday and found the jobs didn't exist, the Southern Metropolis Daily said Thursday.

They were among 200 students who came to Shenzhen on the promise of jobs by a teacher with Hubei No. 2 Normal University in Wuhan, the newspaper said.

Ni Danmei, a sophomore at the Hubei No. 2 Normal University, said the students had been told by Tang Jiakuan, who did not come to Shenzhen with the group, that his brother Tang Jiawang would take care of them when they arrived.

Ni said all the students had paid 200 yuan (US$26) in fares and 200-250 yuan in service fees before they left for Shenzhen.

More than 200 students from Hubei No. 2 Normal University, Wuhan Business College and Hubei Institute of Technology were promised a part-time job of packing cosmetic products in Shenzhen, earning more than 1,000 yuan a month with lodgings and food provided after they paid Tang Jiakuan the money. Most of them are freshmen and sophomores, Ni told the newspaper, adding that 150 students were taken into a factory but 50 from her university were sent away for no reason.

Tang Jiawang didn't show up when they arrived at Pingshan, Longgang on Wednesday morning. In the afternoon, Tang Jiawang showed up to tell the students to return home as "there is no job available."

The students called the police, and Tang Jiawang was taken into custody.

Tang Jiawang told Longgang police that he was a psychology teacher at Hubei No. 2 Normal University. He worked with some employment agents to attract cheap labor from campuses.

He said the recruitment exercise was not approved by the university authorities.

(Shenzhen Daily July 14, 2007)