"As a result, there was conflict and they beat our people," said the worker, who declined to give her name but said she works in the "quality department."

She claimed workers at the plant were beaten twice last week for similar reasons. "Our long-suppressed anger erupted and we went on strike," she said, communicating via Tencent Weibo, a Chinese Twitter-like service.

Her account is consistent with China Labor Watch's report that a fight broke out between workers and quality-control inspectors on Friday, resulting in some injuries and hospitalizations.

The IDG News Service