Chen Hong Xia is one of the 250 million migrants in China’s growing economy. These migrant workers are the people who support China’s whole economy, without them China will not be where it is now. Although they are crucial in China’s growth, migrant workers are treated with disrespect. Chen Hong Xia is one of the ‘luckier’ migrant workers. She was able to work her way out of poverty into a better future. There are many similarities between Chen Hong Xia and most migrants in China, but there are also many differences. These include their expectations, working environment, living environment and children.
Like many of the migrant workers in China, Chen Hong Xia wanted a better future in the city and find a job with good working conditions and high wages. Chen Hong Xia comes from a small town in Shandong province, she grew up on a farm producing rice and corn. Although there were many job opportunities in Shan Dong province, all the jobs were agricultural jobs that offered low pay and required lots of physical activity. In the movie Last Train Home directed by Lixin Fan, Qin left Sichuan Province and went to Dong Guan city because she wanted more money and be able to pursue her dreams. Many of China’s younger generation of migrant workers are abandoning agricultural production and moving permanently to the city. (Zhou Jing, China’s New Generation Of Migrant Workers) They are refusing to work under hard conditions. Unlike the previous generation they never experienced the “bitterness of life”. In the past migrant workers were thankful to just have food, today’s migrants start being picky, expecting high salary, less physical jobs, basic benefits and better working conditions. (Michelle Loyalka, Chinese Labor, Cheap No More) Zhou Ji...
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The first Chinese immigrants to arrive in America came in the early 1800s. Chinese sailors visited New York City in the 1830s (“The Chinese Experience”); others came as servants to Europeans (“Chinese Americans”). However, these immigrants were few in number, and usually didn’t even st...
And so thousands of Chinese flocked from China to America, in search for work in the gold mines. After the profits from gold mining decreased because most of the easily obtainable gold had been found, an estimated 10,000 Chinese left the mines and were in search of jobs. From independent miners who had worked for themselves, many Chinese immigrants now became wage earners who worked for bosses. A growing number of Chinese were working in businesses owned by whites. But earning wages instead of prospecting did not discourage Chinese from moving to America. A paycheck of up to $30 could be made working for the railroad, which was 10 times as much than could be earned in China.
In this paper by Scott Alan Carson, Carson writes about Chinese Sojourn Labor. Carson writes how institutional arrangements and labor market forces that interacted in the construction of America’s railroad led to the demand for Chinese Laborers. Carson writes more about these relationships and the work given to the Chinese than writing about the more personal details of the workers. For instance, Carson writes that because of land grants given by the government Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads earned more capital by completing more railway tracks. Carson also writes how the Chinese did the jobs no one else wanted to do, and they did them for lesser wages. Therefore, Carson writes specifically about the work of the Chinese and the factors that caused the hiring of Chinese more so than the personal aspects of the workers.
TheHuffingtonPost.com, 28 Dec. 2009. Web. The Web. The Web. 06 Mar. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'.
The migrant worker community in states like Florida, Texas, and California is often an ‘obscure population’ of the state. They live in isolated communities and have very little stability or permanence. According to the Florida Department of Health, 150,000 to 200,000 migrant workers work in the State of Fl...
There might be an emotional response at the tragedy of thousands of people plucked from their homes to live in a foreign place, but it is far more effective to show these struggles through the eyes of one person, rather than from an economic or or national viewpoint. Anyi does exactly this in “The Destination”. Anyi never forgets the individual hardships of each character, she demonstrates what “It was not easy to live in Shanghai” (Anyi 137) means to each person. Characterizing their hardships with compassion and understanding that, young or old, changes in China had an effect on all, and all have the right to acknowledge
The pursuit of a comfortable living or wealth caused a lot of men to venture into the West leaving behind his or her homeland and families. Chinese labors faced conflicts in their homeland;
Richburg, Keith B. & Swardson, Anne. (1996, August 5-11). Sweatshops or Economic Development? Washington Post National Weekly Edition.
Kwong, Peter. 1999 “Forbidden Workers: Illegal Chinese Immigrants and American Labor” Publisher: The New Press.
It is estimated that there are about 250 million of migrant workers in China (Browne, 2014). They come from rural areas and go to cities to earn a living, acting as the cheap labor supplies for the country’s prosperous manufacturing industry. However, because of the Household/ Hukou System in China, most of the migrant workers’ children cannot go to cities with their parents. The Hukou system is originally designed to ensure the rural population stay with their land and provide enough agriculture products for the country’s total population. Under the Hukou system, government provide healthcare, education, and other services as welfare to people only within the town/county where their Hukou are registered. In the recent decades, the higher income in the cities attracts work forces to immigrant to urban areas, but their children can only receive free 9-year education at their hometown. Most of the parents have no choice but to leave their children at the rural areas. These children are called left-behind children(留守儿童) in China. There are more than 61 million left-behind children(under 18 years old), and the number is still growing (China Labor Bulletin, 2013).
Griswold, Daniel T. (2002). Willing Workers: Fixing the Problem of Illegal Mexican Migration to the United States, Trade Policy Analysis no. 19.
Women usually worked as secretaries or on the assembly line because “bosses felt that young women were more diligent and easier to manage” (p. 56). Men, however, were either in a high managing position in the factory or worked in the lowest of jobs available, such as a security guard or driver. It was interesting to learn that about one-third of all of China’s migrants are women. These women go to the factory towns to work, but also, a majority of them leave their homes to see the world and experience life on their own for the first time. Chang makes a point that “to some extent, this deep-rooted sexism worked in a woman’s favor” (p. 57). The statement is supported by the idea that women are less treasured in their families; therefore, they had more freedom to do what they wanted with little care from the family. Shockingly, Chang noticed that no woman ever complained about unfair treatment. “They took all of these injustices in stride” (p.58). The women were grateful for the opportunity leave home and gain a sense of freedom; injustice was not a prominent
Zhu, Y., Warner, M., & Feng, T. (2011). “Employment relations “with Chinese characteristics”: The role of trade unions in China.” International Labour Review, vol. 150, no. 1-2, pp. 127-143. [03 April 2014]
Foxconn has factories in Asia, Europe, Mexico and South America why is it that only China’s Foxoconn was in highlight and not any other country? While the Chinese factories happened to be the largest factories in China, these factories are also facilitated with dormitories and other infrastructure to host the workers and provide workers to go back at end of the 12 hour shift to relax and reenergize for the next shift. A quarter of the employees live in these so called dormitories. My Case study will analyze how the various news sources revealed the global sweatshop to the world and the reactions by the companies who were using Foxconn to manufacture electronic goods. The Chinese newspaper displayed Foxconn employees having social and psychological reasons leading to suicides whereas US news showed it as human rights violation. Both of them did not acknowledge the social justice and world economy aspects and steps that were taken by the electronics giants to rectify the problems that were being faced in Wuhan, China.
The Web. 21 Apr. 2014. The 'Standard' of the 'Standard'. Hamilton, Jill, ed., pp. 113-117.