Labor Conditions in Chinese Factories

In this blog, I am going to focus my attention on the labor conditions in Chinese factories, not with force labor, but with regular employees. Prior to discussing what I found in my research of this question, I will explain what I imagined the working conditions to be like. Before my findings, I thought the working condition for Chinese workers, especially those who worked in factories, were relatively worst than the conditions compared to the United States, but was a cleaner and more organize environment than those conditions of force labor. Again, at this time period, I did not have a complete understanding of the Chinese culture and went by what I heard in the media and what other people would comment. I imagined a life as a Chinese worker was very fast-pace, so they can make deadlines, strict so the workers would not slack off, and organize so it will make their work much easier. Strangely, I never thought about the working conditions in great detail up until this point. I know now the conditions that they went through were more extreme than what I imagined. According to Carol Divjak’s article “Appalling conditions continue in China’s toy factories” published by the International Committee of the Fourth International, Divjak describes thirteen toy factories surveyed in China as grueling. There was reports that children 16 years and under were employed under these factories. There was an estimate about 300 to 4,000 employees working in the 13 factories that were surveyed. He describes their day as hot and crowded working in a small work area for long hours with dangerous equipments such as, toxics glues, and paints. They would work for 13 to 15 hour a day to get a pay less than China’s minimum wage. According to China’s Labors Law Chapter IV Section 36 “The State shall practice a working hour system under which labourers shall work for no more than eight hours a day and or more than 44 hours a week on average.” And according to Divjak report, Out of the thirteen factories, one out of thirteen followed this law. After reading both the article and China’s labor laws I feel as though I learned a lot about China. The conditions at a “regular” company sound just as bad as if a person was forced into working. Of course, this is not present everywhere in China, just some areas. My purpose of this blog was just to present the working conditions in a “regular” factory and reflecting upon my research, I see that child labor is a major problem that needs to be address.

Divjak, Carol March 2006 Appalling conditions continue in China’s toy factories. Electric document, http://www.wsws.org/articles/2006/mar2006/toys-m25.shtml accessed March 20, 2008

China Labor Watch July 1994 China Labor Law. Electric document, http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/1994chinalaborlaw.htm accessed March 20, 2008

How are children forced into working in China?

In this blog, I am going to talk about the conditions of forced child slave labor in China. Up until this point, I was focusing on the question on why children in China work at a young age, now I am focusing my attention on why and how children are forced to work. Prior to my research findings, I pretty much understood the conditions of forced child slavery. I thought the basic concept was children working in a dangerous and unhealthy environment. I thought children who were forced into working would work long hours and receive pay next to nothing. For the most part, I was correct. However, what I did not know was how children are forced into working. An article in the International Herald Tribute titled “Child slave labor revelations sweeping China” is an example of force labor amongst children happening in China’s society today. The article describes two stranded siblings buying a bus ticket back home from Chinese New Years from a woman, who offer the children food and shelter. The original agreement was that the two siblings would work off the debt by selling fruit; however, they were tricked into getting inside a minibus with other children that took then to a factory where they were making bricks. There was hundreds of children found working in the unstable factory, some being as young as 10 years old and deprive of a normal meal according to Simon Elegant from Time Magazine. I found this information shocking. I was stunned to believe that some children are basically fooled and are adducted like nothing happened. But after, taking into consideration of the enormous population China holds, I can start to see why this is common. After seeing some disturbing pictures of those children that the article presented, I would like to know more about the conditions and environment of children who are not forced into working because I never really heard anything about that lifestyle before.

Elegant, Simon June 2007 Slave Labor in China Sparks Outrage. Time magazine. http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1635144,00.html accessed March 18, 2008

French, Howard June 2007 Child slave labor revelations sweeping China. International Herald Tribute. http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/06/15/news/china.php accessed March 18, 2008

Why doesn’t the government enforce child labor laws upon their citizens?

In my previous blog towards the end, I talked about how I wanted to learn more about China’s government policy about child labor. In this blog, I am going to discuss what I learnt about China’s government policy on child labor and how it is still affecting children, but first I want restate my thoughts and beliefs on what I learned to accept from other people and from the media. As I described in my first entry, I thought the Chinese government was at fault for the uncontrollable number of underage workers because the government was not attentive to protect children from working at a young age because of the demand in supplies they wanted to fulfill. Another reason why I thought the Chinese government did not prohibit children from working was because they would have a lot of problems enforcing the laws due to their population. Now acquiring new information, I now know that is not necessarily the case. What I failed to understand when I was younger that on January 1^st, 1995 there was a new child labor law put in effect that did not allow children under 16 years old to be employed, according to the Bureau of International Labor Affairs. I was surprised when I discovered this information. My earlier belief on how the government was not attentive to protect children was dismissed. But if all this time the government had laws to protect children then, why is there still an increasing amount of underage workers? I would later find out through the Bureau of International Labor Affairs that there is a great amount of difficulty enforcing the child labor laws because most children use counterfeit identification cards to get employed. There have been several reports of counterfeit ID used frequently in China. According to Bureau of International Labor Affairs, some employees confessed that they lied on their ID cards claiming to be 16, but was actually three or four years younger. Now I feel as though I have a brighter picture on the question on why children work at an early age. I am now convinced that it is not the government fault a hundred percent because they have been trying to put an end to the child labor in the past, but just are having difficulty enforcing the law because of the over-whelming numbers of false identification. This makes sense because China contributes greatly to the world’s population. However, I think the government should be more conscious of this issue and make it require that teenagers show another form of identification or pass a new law protecting workers. I feel as though I am learning a lot about China and starting to figure out things for myself as oppose of listening to other people.

Bureau of International Labor Affairs March 2008 National Child Labor Laws. Electronic document, http://www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/sweat/china.htm accessed March 16, 2008

China Labour Bulletin association. November 2003 Child Labour in China: Causes and solutions. Electronic document, http://www.china-labour.org.hk/en/node/3304 accessed March 16, 2008

Child labor present in schools in China?

In my last blog, I was so fascinated at my research findings that the lack of education played a major role in deciding why Chinese children started to work at a young age that I decided to investigate the relations of schools and child labor. I came across an article titled “China: End Child Labor in State Schools” by the Human Rights Watch organization, that was about how some schools in China, both middle and junior high schools, were violating child labors laws because of the “work and study” program issued. As a result, the program was affecting thousands of children because it was interfering with the student’s education and placing some students in dangerous health conditions. The students worked long hours only to do work that would put their health in jeopardy. According to the Christian Science Monitor, in 1987 three million former Chinese students became apart of the other 37 million former Chinese students in dropping out of school in order to do work. This report shows how schools played a role in deciding whether a young person will become a worker at an early age or not. After reading these reports, I really started to understand one of my main concerns in my cross-cultural encounter with China, which is a child working at a very young age. To my knowledge on China’s child labor, here is how I interpret the situation of a child who participates in “work and study”. The primary reason why children start working early is because a lack of education and not being able to afford schooling. Most children, who are either middle class or lower class students, who wants an education, do not have a choice in the matter but to participate in “work and study” due to their financial situation. As I just described, “work and study” in some areas of China, can be harsh and the conditions can be compared to a time in Europe’s industrial revolution dating back to the 1800’s. What I am concluding from the article and from my latest research findings is that child labor in schools can be seen as a never ending cycle for some children because if one is poor and wants to get an education, the idea of “work and study” is attracting because he or she is receiving money, even though very little, for doing homework, but according to this article, “work and study” is the same as if one worked in a company or factory in the 1800s. If that person stays working at a factory for “X” amount of years and go on to have kids, then, most likely his or her child will go through the same thing. To elaborate on the subject matter, I am interested into looking at China’s government policy about child labor because I have no knowledge in this area. I feel as though, once I understand that half of the issue, I will have a better understanding with my cross-culture encounter with China.

Bureau of International Labor Affairs March 2008 Laws of China: Education laws. Electronic document, http://www.dol.gov/ilab/media/reports/iclp/sweat/china.htm accessed March 16, 2008

Human Rights Watch 2006 China: End Child Labor in State Schools. Electronic document, http://www.hrw.org/children/labor.htm accessed March 16, 2008

Why are children working at a young age in China?

Child labor in China is the cross-cultural encounter that I am investigating for this semester. I chose this topic because I do not know much about China’s rules and policies on children and I believe that children should not be working at a young age. In this blog, I am going to talk about why children in China are engaging in work at a young age, but before I elaborate on my research findings, I am going to talk about my knowledge about the subject prior to what I have discovered. When I was young, I thought the reason why children in China worked at a young age was because China’s ideology was similar to America, responsibility and individuality. Most American parents encourage his or her child to set up a lemonade stand, rake leaves, shovel snow, or do chores around the house; however, later in life I would discover that this is not the same case in China. Growing up, I learned to accept things from what I heard from the media and from what other people said about China. I was led to believe that China’s government was to blame for the increasing amount of young workers because the demand of supplies in China was so great that the government needed children to work for them to fulfill the quota. After doing research, I learned this is not necessarily the case. According to the China Labour Bulletin, I found out that a good potion of Chinese children do not have easy access to education like the United States because the location of schools is difficult and poor families are unable to afford to put their children in school. Also, some children are fooled into working at a young age by their family members, but one of the main reasons why children are working at a young age is because their family cannot afford the education for their children. It never came across my mind that the lack of education was one of the main causes of children working at a young age. Knowing this information now, I can start to see the picture. It is to my understanding that compared to American schooling, Chinese schools have longer days and less time off, if this is true, then it is going to be more difficult for parents who do not have enough money to put their children in school. I feel as though I learnt a lot off of this curious question because before I based my beliefs according to America’s society and what I heard, but now I am starting to see things in a new perspective.

China Labour Bulletin. November 2003 Child Labour in China: Causes and solutions. Electronic document, http://www.china-labour.org.hk/en/node/3304 accessed March 16, 2008.