Li Ao helped Jasic International's workers apply to set up a union led by members they had elected, and she also advised them about the law. Chinese police have arrested her and another trade union official after they helped workers try to set up a union, on Nov. 30 2018, in the latest detentions in a nationwide crackdown on labor activists. China’s latest round of labor activism began this year when a company called Jasic International, a welding machinery manufacturer in the southern city of Huizhou, fired some workers for attempting to set up a union. The sacked workers staged weeks of protests, drawing in support from activists.The protests sparked detentions by the authorities, first of the protest organizers, then of student activists and most recently of supporters on top university campuses.