Capitalism In China Book Report

Awakening to Reality in Red China Blues When Jan Wong first arrived in China, she was filled with the complete belief that China’s totalitarianism way of government was the best way of governing, and that no other way would do. While natives smiled behind false expressions, she failed to realize the true extent of the miserable lives under the Maoist regime until she herself experienced the injustices faced by the Chinese citizens. In Red China Blues, author Jan Wong writes of her experiences during her life in China and after, and how her whole journey led to the realization of the harsh reality that Maoism really was. As Wong learned more and more about the truth behind the totalitarian government, her own experiences helped her to transform

Li Qiang, a labor rights activist and the founder of China Labor Watch, states that “they [contractors] are encouraging the exploitation of Chinese laborers by hiring factories based on the lowest price and the fastest production” (Chu and Yun). But what happens as a result, according to an academic journal coauthored by Dara O’Rourke, Ph.D., and industrial hygienist Garrett D. Brown, is that the country becomes a magnet for socially inadequate organizations due to lax enforcement of regulations and the suppression of labor rights activists. Furthermore, the easy accessibility of cheap labor indicates a “troubling model for countries seeking to attract foreign investment and develop domestic enterprise” (O’Rourke and

Located in Eastern Asia, China is a country known for being a worldwide economic superpower that has had a communist government for several years. Beginning in 1978, China, under Deng Xiaoping’s rule, began to incorporate capitalistic ideas in the government. Deng created various reforms unlike any of the policies or reforms in prior years that began to reconstruct China’s economy through modernization and by establishment of international trade.

The political alarm in my mind went off. It is always hard to imagine inhumanity such as this happening today, as my frame of experience draws upon working at Best Buy Geek Squad and the only mistreatment I have ever dealt with is a vertically-challenged manager who nicknamed me “Brokeback” because I wore cowboy boots. The compilation of stories from China presented by Rivoli especially hit home for me because during my time trying to start a clothing company, my team never discussed any “sweatshop” issues. I view myself as an ethical entrepreneur and it was hard to stomach the fact that during my time starting Austerity Clothing last year, we talked to death about “green” products, but not once had the thought even crossed my mind that our products could have possibly been manufactured in Chinese “sweatshops”. After I took the red pill of responsibility, I found it fascinating the policies I had never heard of in communist China, such as the hukou. In the book, Rivoli translates that the "hukou is a place of household registration." (87) The way it is described seemed similar to the Indian caste system of classifying its citizens. The idea that people can be classified as simply “farm people” or “city people” and that title defines who they are as a person is so

As long as a labor force has been in America, changes have been made to determine the most productive sense of business without affecting its negligence of working conditions. Records of dangerous or fatal activities, along with a substantial amount of shameful business conditions, have been noted before during the Gilded Age and the Progressive Era. It has sadly emerged into a darker form of punishment that has scourged the workforce within most extreme productions of goods. Although there can be many bad things said about working conditions within minimum wage jobs, some families are reduced to working illegal jobs for poor wages under the administration of corrupt supervisors, and the products they collect are sold by massive corporations. Rose Schneiderman, once an employee at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory was quoted saying “… the life of men and women is so cheap and property is so sacred! There are so many of us for one job, it matters little if 140-odd are burned to death.” Her account has stayed true for over a century since the words left her lips.

Communism in China as we know has played a major role in the countries political system over the past century. Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao were the co-founders of the communist party in 1921. At the time China was in a world or turmoil ever since the end of the Qing Dynasty in 1911. For 10 years China was lost in a world with new ideas coming from all over the world. At the time, Duxiu and Dazhao saw an opportunity to bring change throughout a weakened China and they exploited it. The communist influence being brought by them and powers such as Russia influenced the Chinese way of thinking that Communism had new beliefs of the world and that all people should be seen as equal under the new government. Personally I am a very strong believer in

In recent years, China has become a worldwide superpower-seemingly out of nowhere. War-torn and sick of being trampled on by western powers, the Communist Party of China has given the almost 4,000 year old country a new lease on life. But all this newfound power and “prosperity” came at a

In her paper, “The ‘revenge of history’: China’s collective memories and labor protests in north eastern China,” Ching Kwan Lee describes how China’s market reform has led to mass unemployment and poverty among state workers in the rustbelt of China. This declining standard of living has resulted a nostalgia for Maoist socialism, in what she calls “the revenge of history,” or the idea that those who have benefited the most from socialistic policies lost the most after the market reforms. The plight of these workers is dramatized in the movie “Blind Shaft,” where Li Yang tells the story of two con artists who trick migrant workers into joining them in the coal mines, only to kill them in the mines and reap profits in the form of “hush money” from the corrupt owners of the mines. Lee’s idea of the “revenge of history” is useful for interpreting this movie, because it provides context for the events depicted, allowing the audience to gain a better understanding of the motivations of the con artists. At first glance, the con artists are just greedy men, looking to make a quick profit. Looking from the Lee’s perspective, however, shows that these men are forced into this situation because of the poverty pushed onto them by capitalistic market reforms. Lee’s metaphor of “the revenge of history” allows the audience to gain a more complex and nuanced view of the characters Song Jinming and

China is the second largest economy in the world. It has become the fastest growing economy in the world with an average rate of 10% for the last thirty years. The largest exporter and second largest importer of goods has brought China to be ranked first in the foreign exchange

The Industrial Revolution brought so many advances in the beginning of the 18th century and spread throughout the world. Even though we’ve become modernized by the cause of the Industrial Revolution, we’ve encountered so many hardships, creating instability in society around the world. This advancement at the time has created

Bremmer claims the key difference between state capitalism, like the UAB, and a free market economy, like the United States, is that political factors are more so the push factor in decisions than financial factors. A similarity between both free market economies and state capitalists, Bremmer notes is, “The use

On the other hand, her International Management class had exposed her to the harsh reality of working conditions in China: low wages, rigorous work schedule, poor safety regulations, and

By definition, Capitalism is an economic system controlled chiefly by individuals and private companies instead of by the government. In this system, individuals and companies own and direct most of the resources used to produce goods and services, including land and other natural resources labor, and “capital”. “Capital” includes

Labor Abuse in China “Inside the factory, amid clattering machinery and clouds of sawdust, men without earplugs or protective goggles feed wood into screaming electric saws, making cabinets for stereo speakers” (Goodman and Pan 1). In the article Chinese Workers Pay for Wal-Mart’s Low Prices by Peter Goodman and Philip Pan the mistreatment of the migrant workers in China is evident. These kinds of behaviors are taking place all over in China. The abuse of the Chinese work force has reached terrible proportions and created unlawful conditions because of the demanding economy of China, and other countries’ needs of the goods; however, the companies that are centered in China are working to make sure their workers are treated fairly.

Sonny Phan 5/7/12 Politics of China Second Paper In the film “China Blue”, a seventeen year old girl, Jasmine Li, works in a Chinese jeans factory. From this documentary we learn about the pay Jasmine was receiving for her hard work, half a Yuan an hour which is equal to about six US cents. We also learn about the condition of the factory and dorms, the rules that the workers have to abide to, and how important these factories are. From just these sweat shops we learn about the economic, social, and political problems that has arisen in China. It also shows us inequality and inequity of the society in China.