Poverty forced them to go to Iraq to earn a living, but the kidnapping brought back their families great pain and the exclusive wish of the safe returning of their beloved.

Eight Chinese, kidnapped in Iraq, Tuesday, are all from poor villages in Pingtan County in east China's Fujian Province. Many members of the villages went overseas to work, because at home most lived on an annual income less than 1,000 yuan (120.48 US dollars) earned by farming, said Lin Xinqing, a cadre in Aodong Town.

The Chinese workers applied for passports as tourists to Thailand on November 23, 2003, Jan. 12, 2004, and April 6, 2004, according to the publicity department in Pingtan County.

The families of the kidnapped workers, who remained in China, are, of course, distressed over the news of the kidnappings.

Mother of hostage 39-year-old Lin Bin cried silently in her stone house in Hushan Village in Zhonglou Town, with her dinner, some boiled potatoes, in pan. The room contained only a simple bed.

Lin Qiang and Lin Xiong are two brothers from the village of Canghai in Aodong Town.

"I would not have allowed him to go abroad, but he completed the procedures without telling me, " said Lin's wife Gao Yun, "I don't want anything now, just his safe returning."

Families of 20-year-old Wei Wu could not be reached in Aowang Village in Aodong Town.

"He has one brother and one sister. The family led a poor living, just like the other families in the village. Each family has a meager acreage of farming land, which could grow nothing but sweet potatoes and peanuts, " said Chen Shangmei, a cadre in the village.

The call to the home of 37-year-old Chen Qin'ai was answered by his daughter, 14-year-old Chen Mei.

"It's painful to see father under the guns of the kidnappers on TV," she said, "my father risked his life to go abroad because he wanted to make money and support my and two brothers' education."

But now, she said, they are no jobs because of the war and no money for phone calls.

The kidnapped Chinese workers are 40-year-old Lin Qiang, 20-year-old Wei Wu, 19-year-old Zhou Sunlin, 39-year-old Lin Bin, 38-year-old Lin Zhong, 37-year-old Chen Qin'ai, 18-year-old Zhou Sunqin and 35-year-old Lin Xiong.