A man who was locked up and tortured in a Chinese cotton mill for 18 years has finally been rescued . Xie Shisheng , who was just 16 years old when was imprisoned by the mill owner , was found in a small dark room by authorities earlier this week . Now 34 , a very gaunt Xie , who did not know what year it was when he was rescued because he was so isolated from the outside world , said he was hit with a hammer , never fed properly and beaten daily . Rescued : Xie Shisheng , who was just 16 years old when was imprisoned by the mill owner , was found by police in small dark room by police . Government authorities in the city of Qingyuan in the north west Guangdong province were tipped off about an illegal cotton mill . When they arrived at the mill in Qing Cheng District on Wednesday , they found large quantities of fake cotton goods and another more unexpected discovery . Inside a locked room officials found Xie making cotton products . Speaking with a stammer , he said that in 1997 , aged 16 , he voluntarily went to Qingyuan with the mill owner , but was locked away in cramped living quarters and treated like a slave . Each day he was given a huge workload and was beaten . 'They would often force feed me horrible things and when I would struggle they would hit me in the head with a hammer , ' Xie said . 'The female owner would often urinate on me . ' Tortured : Now 34 , a very gaunt Xie said he was hit with a hammer , never fed properly and beaten daily . When government officials arrived in the Qing Cheng District on Wednesday , they found large quantities of fake cotton goods . Xie , originally from Jiangxi in the south east of the country , said that every few years the owners would change the place of work but that he was always imprisoned in a dark room without any natural light . In fact neighbours said they always had an inkling someone was being held illegally in the building . Neighbour Mr Xie said he could hear cries of pain every night which he initially thought were from a child being punished . Over time he knew there was someone held inside the building , but because the doors were always locked he couldn ’ t be sure . 'When the police arrived we helped the guy to leave the building , ' Mr Xie said . 'He was shaking all over saying that if he left the building the owner would beat him to death . ' When police arrived at the mill , the couple fled the scene .
Xie Shisheng Shisheng was just 16 when he was imprisoned in a Chinese cotton mill . He 's been rescued after 18 years and says he was beaten daily and tortured . Xie Shisheng 's captors fled the scene when police arrived at the mill on Wednesday .