A young girl from Sichuan province cries on Monday after being rescued by security guards from a factory in Dongguan, Guangdong province, where she had been forced to work. Southern Metropolis Daily

A citywide drive has been launched to rescue children working in Dongguan, a manufacturing base in Guangdong province.

The action follows a newspaper report on Monday that said hundreds of underage workers were being employed by factories.

More than 1,000 children, aged between 9 and 16 from poor families in Liangshan, Sichuan province, have been lured to Dongguan, Shenzhen and Huizhou in the Pearl River Delta area, to work as cheap labor in factories, Southern Metropolis Daily reported.

In the town of Shipai, Dongguan, which the report identified as a major center for cheap labor, a special team led by the town's chief has been set up to crack down on the practice.

"Our labor enforcement and trade union will investigate all companies in the town, the labor market and agencies," Wang Yongquan, a spokesman, said.

So far, police have rescued more than 100 youngsters from rented houses in the town and arrested several people, Wang said.

Liu Zhigeng, Party secretary of Dongguan, has instructed the police and labor departments to rescue all youngsters as soon as possible and punish the people responsible.

An underground organization has been luring the youngsters from Liangshan to Dongguan and forcing them to work in the factories directly or through employment agencies, the newspaper reported.