As a 12-year-old, Tuxujiang followed his father, a migrant worker, to Turpan in Xinjiang Autonomous Region. There, he was kidnapped by someone his father had met at the work site, and then taken to Dongguan, Guangdong Province.

In Dongguan, Tuxujiang thought he was getting a job at "boss" Exmedi's restaurant after being fed there for two days, especially when Exmedi asked some older children to show him "the craft."

The craft, as it turned out, was picking pockets.

Tuxujiang tried to refuse, but after two days of lashing and beating, he stopped resisting. Yet, learning the trade wasn't much less painful: the process involved trying to snatch up coins and soap from buckets of boiling water.

Now 17, Tuxujiang is one of 545 minors rescued this year from criminal gangs – but not before becoming a veteran thief who brings in thousands of yuan daily for Exmedi.

Including Exmedi's gang, the crackdown in Xinjiang Autonomous Region rooted out 100 criminal organizations and arrested 553 suspects, said Zhao Peixin, vice chief of the criminal investigation department under the region's public security bureau. The job now shifts to rehabilitating the rescued minors and assimilating them back into society.

Tuxujiang said he often thought of his mom and home while working for Exmedi's, but ideas of escaping only briefly flashed through his mind. Exmedi formed teams of pickpockets and paired the youngsters with older foremen, who kept a close watch. Tuxujiang also heard horror stories of runaways being chased down and having their limbs broken.

"Boss" Exmedi had the cunning to also hang a carrot: those who exceeded the daily quota would be rewarded – although keeping a personal saving was strictly forbidden. The teenagers would spend the money on video games and buy the more expensive cigarettes. Some lose themselves in karaoke bars and night clubs.

Over time, concerns over the boss's cruelty, distant parents' tears, the public's contempt and whatever sense of morality and honor faded into the background in the face of materialistic and bodily pleasures.

Statistics from Xinjiang's ministry of civil affairs show that, since 2003, the region has offered aid to more than 28,000 drifting minors, many of whom with similar stories as Tuxujiang.

A number of these minors went back to their criminal lifestyles after being released from custody. Local police say one teenager began stealing his neighbor's livestock after being returned to his home village. Some of the village's younger children even started to follow his lead and commit petty theft.

For Tuxujiang, leaving his past life behind is about coming to grips with the true nature of "boss" Exmedi. Gang boss often let children go when they reach the age of 16 because they would then be fully responsible for their crimes and much more difficult to bail out of police stations. But Tuxujiang had long lost contact with his family, so Exmedi accepted him back into his gang, making him a foreman to oversee younger pickpockets. Tuxujiang had thought it a great kindness.

Thinking back, he remembered Exmedi would not allow him to quit working in the teams of pickpockets. For an entire month, Tuxujiang washed dishes in one of Exmedi’s restaurants in hope that he could stop stealing and become a chef. The "boss" did not pay him a penny, and instead patted him on the shoulder and told him he was "meant for greater things." Because Tuxujiang was often treated cruelly, the rare complement made him forget about his complaints.

Tuxujiang said he can now see the feigned kindness cuffed him as much as the beatings did.

"After returning to my hometown, I want to try some kind of small business – earn a living through honest labor. Anything is more dignified than stealing," he said. 

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