My overall experience

Concluding on my cultural experience with China, I have this to say” America’s society is totally different from China’s society.” My cultural encounter with China has been an informative and transformative experience. In my cultural encounter, I wanted to find out information on child labor in China. Before searching for information, what I been doing was relating China’s norms to America’s norms and trying to make sense of it, I now know that was not an effective and correct way to go about it. I understand China have their own cultural relativistic norms. As stated in my first blog, I first thought that because America and China shared the same ideology with children working at a young age, any other way would seem wrong. This was false, I feel as though now I understand China’s situation and how it is different from the society I was raised. I now know that one of the main reasons why children work early is because their families are poor and cannot afford to go to school, unlike the United States where public schooling is available for children in similar conditions. Then, just like the two interviewees, I thought it was the government fault because in the United States, such lack of action would not be tolerated and go unrecognized. Unlike the United States, China makes up a large portion of the world population. It is going to be more difficult for China to enforce rules upon their citizens, than if the United States tried to. A great number of children were reported using counterfeit ID to do labor. Most of these children were under 16 years old. In the United States, this is not allowed. It is to my understanding that one has to be 16 years old to work; otherwise, one has to do side jobs like wash a car, rake leaves, ect. Those who are 16 or older in America who attains a job, is most likely going to spend the money earned on him or herself because American are known to be very individualistic. However, in China, children work mainly in order to help provide for their families because they are more giving towards family. This is how I see the difference in society in China from the United States. Besides contrasting the differences, I learned a lot of interesting information I would not have if I did not choose to do this cultural encounter. I learned that some children in China are not always chosen to work because they are poor, but rather some children are abducted and fooled into working. Also, I learned that some American companies just want to benefit off products made from child labor, instead of get rid of the issue. Also, one of the major things that I notice while I was doing the cultural encounter is the effect of the media has on an individual. Prior to doing this research the media played a major role in me deciding what China’s way of living was like. The interview with the Wheaton and Curry college students only farther supported my point about the media influencing people’s perceptions. Even though this cultural blog was only about 4 months long and I have not explored everything there is know about China’s child labor, I feel as though now I can tell fact from fiction when questions regarding about China’s child labor is raised.

Other people perspective on Child labor in China pt. 2

In this blog, I will again be interviewing an individual about China’s labor laws. Instead of interviewing a Wheaton college student, I will be interviewing my close friend from Curry College, MA, who, unlike the Wheaton College student I interviewed in my previous blog, claims to have some general knowledge about China’s child labor. Again, my purpose of this interview is to try and get a sense of what and how the person view China’s child labor and later help them determine fact from fiction.

Me: Do you know the activities involve with child labor in China?

Interviewee: I am familiar with what is going in China with children working with very low pay. There are no child labor laws over there.

Me: Really, can you elaborate on this subject?

Interviewee: There are no child labor laws because it is due to the government receiving American profits. We are conducive to children working under these conditions.

Me: How do you feel about China’s government towards the situation of child labor?

Interviewee: I feel as though they are not doing anything to help the matter. It’s obvious that China’s government do not care about the child labor issues.

Me: If you do mind me asking, where are you getting this information?

Interviewee: What the child labor laws or American government profiting from China’s children?

Me: In general

Interviewee: From the media of course. Basically, Newspaper and television.

Me: Do you feel confidence in your findings?

Interviewee: Yes, why would they lie? They have no reason to.

In the interview, it was clear that the interviewee had some knowledge in some areas and made assumptions in others areas. When the interviewee talked about American government being conductive towards China situation, he/she was on the right track. In my previous blogs, I talked about how American companies were against a bill that was to help Chinese laborers. The article suggested that American companies only wanted to reap the benefits. This is along the lines of the interviewee was talking about. To go as far to say America is only adding to the issue is doubtful and more opinion based. Also in the interview when he/she stated that China did not have any child labor laws, this information was false according to my findings. In my previous blogs according to the Bureau of International Labor Affairs, new child labor laws were put in effect on January 1^st, 1995 for those 16 years and older. It is easy to see how he/she got confuse with this claim. What I am learning is that the media in the United States are only presenting one side to a two side story. This is how I got the conception of China’s child labor prior upon doing research. Overall this interview was helpful for me to understand other people perspective of China. Similar to the last interview, media and assumptions seems to be the way of processing information.

Other people perspective about Child labor in China

In this blog, I will be talking about my interview with a Wheaton college student about the things I learned about China, which is why children is working at a young age, the government role in child labor, and questions of that matter. The individual that I interviewed claims that he/she has no real general knowledge about China’s child labor. My purpose of this interview is to find out what the person understanding of China’s child labor and then later try to distinguish fact from misunderstandings or ignorance. The person that I interviewed wish to remain anonymous.

Me: Do you know what’s been going on in China, regarding the issue of children? Interviewee: Yeah, don’t they have to do force labor with no pay?

Me: Yeah, that’s true some kids are capture and forced into working. Who do you feel is responsible for forced child labor?

Interviewee: The government, they may not directly, but it relates to the government at some point. It’s the government fault.

Me: How do you know that it is the government fault?

Interviewee: I don’t know, but in most cultures for things like that the government is usually held responsible.

Me: Do you think the government is doing the best that they can?

Interviewee: No, because if they were they would be spending all the money they had to fix the problem.

Me. Do you think they have child labor laws in China?

Interviewee: If they do have laws it’s not enforced, so, no they do not have child labors laws.

Me: What suggestions do you have for China?

Interviewee: There should be more groups helping the matter and spreading the word.

In this interview, the interviewee was aware of some of the issues in China. There was one case where he/she made a true remark about some children in China are forced to work. There were other cases where the interviewee just assumed a lot of information. When the question was raised about the Chinese government involvement, he/she stated that the government is responsible and should have made more attempts to do something because they are doing nothing. This is not necessarily the case. One can feel a certain way about governmental issues, but one cannot assume what the government is doing based off his or her feelings. In order to know this information, one has to do research about the topic. The Chinese government currently has child labors laws, but is having a difficult time enforcing it. Also, I asked where he/she received the information and he/she passed it off as common knowledge. The question giving is not common knowledge because most people do not know this information. Overall, I think this interview was helpful because I am starting to understand assumptions, rather than facts, are the methods used when discussing China’s child labor issue.

Suggestions for China

In my last blog, I talked about how some Americans companies did not approve of a law that the Chinese government was trying to pass. This was strange to me because I suspected the United States to help a country in need. After hours of researching I discovered a journal dated back to June of 2004 by Kristi Ellis titled “U.S and China in accord on Labor, Safety Issues” that said China and the United States were agreeing to improve working conditions such as employment, child labor, and safety conditions in China. One of my biggest questions in my cross cultural encounter next to the question why are children working at a young age in China, was what are the actions being taken by the government to prevent harsh child labor. In my previous blogs, I started to understand the actions being taken. I discovered in January 1^st, 1995 there was a new child labor law ratified that said children under16 years old could not be employed according to the Bureau of International Labor Affairs. There has been efforts in passing new laws to better the lifestyles of Chinese workers and now the United States are stepping in to try to improve labor conditions. According to the journal, China and the United States want to focus on China’s minimum wages, hours issued, and safe workplaces. Another important piece of the agreement was that the United States agreed to help keep the rules the same as more people are employed. My earlier beliefs that China’s government was more concern about goods than the labor issues are no longer imprinted in mind. I now know China’s government is making several attempts to solve this issue, even making attempts outside their country.

Ellis, Kristi. "U.S. AND CHINA IN ACCORD ON LABOR, SAFETY ISSUES." WWD (June 22, 2004): 8. Academic OneFile. Gale. Wheaton College. 28 Mar. 2008
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Why is the U.S companies against a bill to help China laborers?

In this blog, I am going to talk about my discovery in attempt to find out why are other countries not giving China a helping hand. I came across a journal by Sarah Schafer titled “Now They Speak Out; If U.S. business is a quiet force for progress in China, as it claims, why is it protesting against labor reform?” that was basically about how big U.S companies are discouraging the new Chinese labor law proposed. This information struck me as strange because I suspected America to be one of the first countries in insisting China with their labor issues. According to Schafer, the proposed law would give the employees some power, for example, it would be hard for a manger to fire an older employee who worked at that place for years. Employers be would require to sign a contract agreeing that they would pay unemployed workers unemployment and the law would put an end to long hours and unpaid wages. The question is now why would some American companies deny such a bill? According to several critics in China, American companies do not want this law passed because they cherish profits over China’s principles. This came as shocking news. Of course, not all American firms will put profits before the importance of Chinese labor. Microsoft, General Electric, and other companies of these types are the companies disapproving the law according to Schafer. Representatives for these companies say they are better off enforcing the laws that already exist because too much power are going to be invested in the official union. I do not necessarily agree with the American firms. As I talked about in my older blogs, China has a difficult time enforcing labors laws in their country. One might argue that if there are laws in China that are in effect and is not being enforced, then, there is no point in creating a new law. This is true, if the government is not going to enforce the laws that they already have then they should do away with the proposed law. However, if the government is serious about the proposed law, they should do both. They should enforce the proposed law and existing laws by employing more inspectors in these factories and companies. I gave a suggestion earlier saying that China should pass a law protecting their workers and that is what they are doing. This is becoming a learning experience because prior to this cultural encounter, I thought that the government was at fault for not trying. I now see that they are making attempts.

Schafer, Sarah. "Now They Speak Out; If U.S. business is a quiet force for progress in China, as it claims, why is it protesting against labor reform?" Newsweek International (May 28, 2007): NA. Academic OneFile. Gale. Wheaton College. 27 Mar. 2008
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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