Fwiw, the suicide rate at the factory is on par for all of China, last I saw any data on it. I don't spend much time looking at suicide data though...

 

Chinese made or American made running shoes?

 

Another Foxconn worker dies in China; 9th in 2010

GUANGZHOU, China (AP) -- A worker at Foxconn Technology Group, which makes iPhones and iPads, jumped to his death Friday from a building in the southern Chinese boomtown of Shenzhen -- the ninth suicide this year at the world's largest contract maker of electronics, state-run media reported.

The latest victim, logistics worker Nan Gang, 21, leapt from a four-story factory building about a half hour after finishing his shift at 4 a.m., reported the Xinhua News Agency, quoting a city police spokesman, Huang Jianwei. Nan, a migrant from central Hubei province, landed on his head and died at the scene, Xinhua said, without providing further details.

A total 11 Foxconn workers have jumped off buildings this year, and two of them survived.

 

Stupid chinese! Even idiots know if your serious you go headfirst!

 

Stupid liberal garbage.

Here is the truth.

1)China is overpopulated.
2)Jobs are scarce.
3)The people working at that factory are there by choice.
4)The people working at that factory feed their kids because of this job.

I can write the same bullsh!t about the Mexicans picking oranges in 100 degree heat.

 

disagree, and it's obvious you've never been to a single Chinese factory.

1) Ever been anywhere outside of the coastal cities? Overpopulated my butt. In many places it's like driving through New Mexico.

2) At a break-neck pace of growth, there is a shortage for labor - skilled or otherwise. When I started going to China to audit factories in '01, typical worker wage was 400RMB/month. In 2008 the typical worker wage in southern China was 1200RMB/month and they had severe shortages. It's almost impossible to hire & retain good college educated talents in the big cities these days because the competition is so fierce.

3) If they had a choice they would be doing something else.

4) Most working at the factory are too young to be married or have kids. They are typically first borns with the responsibility for putting their younger siblings through primary school, and if they're lucky, secondary school.

Typical stupid conservative generalization.

 

It's true wages are rising in the coastal areas as it's getting more difficult to secure labor from rural areas. One of the main objectives of the government over the last 20 years is to push/pull as many rural citizens as possible into the coastal/industrial areas to support economic expansion with low cost labor and to integrate more citizens into the overall economic engine.

That being said, some of what you said is miss leading. Most Chinese live in the relatively compact area from a little north of Beijing to Shanghai/HK extended out roughly the same distance (like a square). You I'm sure are already aware of this. People don't live outside this area because of the terrain. It's almost inhospitable and beyond Lanzhou and a few other western areas, no one lives there because it can't support large stable populations. This has been true for the last 6,000 years. If you match population against potential population support, you could argue the non coastal regions are at their natural population limits. Just like New Mexico, no one lives there because there aren't enough resources to support it.

There are large portions of the study of economics (much of it simply historical analysis and reviewed testing by nation states) that is not political; which is why I like the subject. Those without a strong back ground in it usually follow a 'liberal' or a 'conservative' model which is a bit laughable. These are politically created and have about as much in common with economics as abortion does with anti-big oil.

The bottom line is yes I've been to China and two Chinese factories, I speak Mandarin, and I have several native Chinese and American friends that work in China. The factories are a necessary stage in China's economic development. It's not right or wrong, it simply is. There is no substitute and while individuals may be able to transition to other portions of the economy, as a whole there will be factories like this and some people will have to work there. When better opportunities exist, a liquid labor market (like China's) will move labor to those sectors and the factories will have to raise wages until they can no longer compete in the global market. Then Africa or some other region will take over.

 

"most" Chinese don't live on the coast. Just because the coastal metropolis like Shanghai, Shenzhen, Xiamen, Tianjin, etc. seem overcrowded, development anywhere east of Sichuan has been slow. How is what I say "misleading" when it's obvious there are plenty of habitable areas in the middle of this country aren't developed? Ever been to Hubei, Hunan, Shanxi, Guanxi, and other inner provinces and visit OUTSIDE the cities? When I sat down and had lunch with the chairman of CSR (China South Railway) a while back, it's clear that they're under-serving the vast majority of the population that are outside of the coasts.

My point was to refute the BS "conservative" claims on China - and like every other conservative marketing slogans, it's overly simplified and takes a well informed person to really understand the underlying complexity to call it BS.

拾人牙慧非強詞奪理之道

 

I tend to not get into this topic since there are way too many bias people, ignorant people an stupid people. When those three team up, it is an unstoppable force.

 

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142405...=wsj_india_main

Apple investigating suicides, and Foxconn says they have a manufacturing staff of over 800,000!