An old story took on a new twist this month as a group of Chinese migrants protested outside a real estate development to demand payment of overdue wages. The difference this time: The protesters were children and they were successful.

　　官方媒体新华社周三报道说，旅游企业新华石寨子公司已将1,400万元(合220万美元)款项交付云南省一家法院，以偿还与旅游城市大理一处房地产项目有关的债务。据新华社说，在这笔款项中，有800万元应付给参与项目建设的500名农民工。

　　Tourism company Xinhua Shizhaizi has handed over 14 million yuan ($2.2 million) to a court in southwestern China's Yunnan province to cover debts owned in connection with a real estate project in the scenic city of Dali, the state-run Xinhua news agency said Wednesday. Included in that sum is 8 million yuan in wages owed to 500 migrant workers involved in construction of the project, according to Xinhua.

　　大约一个星期以前，中国国内媒体报道说，13名年龄在五岁到20岁的儿童和少年在大理购物与旅游综合设施“南国城”外排成一排，打出手写的标语，要求“南国城”的开发商把欠款还给他们的父母。

　　The news comes roughly a week after local media reported 13 children, ranging in age from five to 20, had lined up outside a shopping and tourism complex in Dali known as Nanguo City, holding hand-written signs demanding the complex's developer pay their parents.

　　一个小女孩手里举着的标语写道：“我叫高家，我要吃饭，要上学，要吃牛奶，要吃饼干。”

　　'My name is Gao Jia,' read the sign held by one little girl. 'I want to eat, to go to school, to drink milk, to eat cookies.'

　　中国网民对讨薪这种事见多了，有时候甚至感到厌烦，但儿童的出现似乎叩动了他们的心弦。于是，一个近几年不再受到关注的话题又引起人们新的兴趣。

　　The appearance of the children appears to struck a chord with China's sometimes jaded Internet users, prompting new interest in an issue that had fallen out of the headlines in recent years.

　　农民工承担了中国城市里摩天大楼的实际建设工作，他们长期抱怨遭雇主盘剥。由于开发商没给建筑行业的农民工发工资，这些年来已经有许多起抗议事件、工人自杀事件发生。劳动法专家说，虽然法庭在薪资纠纷中有时候站在农民工一边，但它们没有多大的能力去执行自己的判决结果，特别是在开发商拥有政界人脉的时候。

　　Responsible for the actual work of building the country's shiny new urban skylines, China's migrant workers have long complained of exploitation at the hands of employers. Failure by real estate developers to pay migrant construction workers has led to a number of protests and worker suicides over the years. Though courts have sometimes sided with workers in wage disputes, labor experts say, they have little power to enforce their decision, particularly when developers are politically connected.

　　大理事件出现转机似乎应归功于公众舆论。之前，尽管一家省级法院在两个月前就下令新华石寨子还账，但这家公司一直拒绝执行。

　　Public opinion appears to have made the difference in Dali, where Xinhua Shihaizi had been refusing to pay despite being ordered to settle its bills by a provincial court two months ago.

　　虽然拖欠工资问题导致的冲突在中国已经屡见不鲜，但在整个上周五，娃娃讨薪事件一直停留在百度热门话题排行榜的前列，并引起网民的广泛同情。