Times Reporter, Photographer, Translator Detained For Nine Hours In Chinese Toy Factory

It always pays to read New York Times articles to their bitter end. Buried deep in a piece about financial problems at toy company RC2, we find out that a Times reporter, photographer and translator were illegally detained at a Chinese factory that was making (!) lead-painted Thomas the Tank Engine toys for the company:

Yesterday, the factory’s zone’s manager was angered after his security guards allowed several journalists to visit the factory and take photographs. He identified himself only as Mr. Zhong. “You’re intruding,” Mr. Zhong said in a discussion in his office. “Tell me, why exactly are you here?” Mr. Zhong and the zone’s security staff detained a journalist from this newspaper, photographer and translator for over nine hours. The three were eventually released by police and local government officials early this morning.

Nine hours? By a security guard at the Thomas the Tank Engine factory? How is that not the lede?

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