Industrial Manufacturing In China
Since the late 1970s, China has moved from a closed, socialist nation to a highly regulated-capitalist powerhouse that plays a major global role in manufacturing. in 2010, China became the world's largest exporter. Deng Xiaoping's reforms began with phasing out collectivized industry and opening China to foreign trade and investment from multi-national corporations.
The restructuring of the economy and resulting efficiency gains have contributed to a more than tenfold increase in GDP since 1978. China in 2013 stood as the second-largest economy in the world after the US, having surpassed Japan in 2001. The dollar values of China's agricultural and industrial output each exceed those of the US; China is second to the US in the value of services it produces. However, the wealth generated by China's economic growth is not evenly distributed amongst the Chinese people.
In terms of cell phone production, Chinese factories manufacture 70% of the world's cell phones.
The restructuring of the economy and resulting efficiency gains have contributed to a more than tenfold increase in GDP since 1978. China in 2013 stood as the second-largest economy in the world after the US, having surpassed Japan in 2001. The dollar values of China's agricultural and industrial output each exceed those of the US; China is second to the US in the value of services it produces. However, the wealth generated by China's economic growth is not evenly distributed amongst the Chinese people.
In terms of cell phone production, Chinese factories manufacture 70% of the world's cell phones.
Working Conditions in Chinese Factories
A day on the assembly line stretched from eight in the morning until midnight—thirteen hours on the job plus two breaks for meals—and workers labored every day for weeks on end. The workers made four hundred yuan a month—the equivalent of fifty U.S. dollars—and close to double that with overtime, but the pay was often late. The factory employed a thousand people, mostly women, either teenagers or married women already past thirty.
When Min imagined sitting on the assembly line every day for the next ten years, she was filled with dread. She was sixteen years old. Talking on the job was forbidden and carried a five-yuan fine. Bathroom breaks were limited to ten minutes and required a sign-up list. Min worked in quality control, checking the electronic gadgets as they moved past on the assembly line to make sure buttons worked and plastic pieces joined and batteries hooked up as they should. She was not a model worker. She chattered constantly and sang with the other women on the line. Sitting still made her feel trapped, like a bird in a cage, so she frequently ran to the bathroom just to look out the window at the green mountains that reminded her of home. Because of her, the factory passed a rule that limited workers to one bathroom break every four hours; the penalty for violators was five yuan.
Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China, Leslie Chang, 2008.
When Min imagined sitting on the assembly line every day for the next ten years, she was filled with dread. She was sixteen years old. Talking on the job was forbidden and carried a five-yuan fine. Bathroom breaks were limited to ten minutes and required a sign-up list. Min worked in quality control, checking the electronic gadgets as they moved past on the assembly line to make sure buttons worked and plastic pieces joined and batteries hooked up as they should. She was not a model worker. She chattered constantly and sang with the other women on the line. Sitting still made her feel trapped, like a bird in a cage, so she frequently ran to the bathroom just to look out the window at the green mountains that reminded her of home. Because of her, the factory passed a rule that limited workers to one bathroom break every four hours; the penalty for violators was five yuan.
Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China, Leslie Chang, 2008.
Hazardous Air
An estimated 350,000-400,000 people died prematurely from outdoor air pollution and an additional 300,000 died from indoor air pollution, such as the fumes from the coal-burning stoves. However, the World Bank was blocked by the Chinese government from publishing key data in China because it was “too sensitive and could cause social unrest.”
World Bank 2007 report, “Cost of Pollution in China”.
World Bank 2007 report, “Cost of Pollution in China”.