Fast production with "Factory Girls"

Finished this thick book in record time of seven days! I’ve finally managed to regain my usual free time to read my books. Hopefully I can finish reading more before the coming BBW sale.

This book mainly follows the stories of two factory girls in Dongguan. Like many before them, they migrated from their villages to work in factories hoping for a better life for themselves and their families back home. They worked long hours with little pay and virtually no benefits. Those with desires have to find ways to improve themselves. They would switch jobs to other factories with higher pay, taking various classes (many not legitimate), lie during their job interviews, etc. Making decent friends were never easy, losing touch with them completely proved otherwise by simply changing jobs or losing their mobile phones.

While there were migrant workers for decades, things have changed a lot. For example, in the past, female workers would work in the cities for several years, then move back to their villages to get married and stayed there. Aside from the festive seasons, they would also leave for home during the planting and harvesting seasons, as villages still rely on farming. In the present, they would only return during for the festivities and even that may not happen every year. Having tasted the city life, staying home was boring to them and they would return to the cities as soon as possible. Many of them were better educated than their predecessors and never worked in a farm, so they don’t return as often.

Aside from her research on these workers, the author was also embarking on a journey of discovery. She was born in the US, but her family originated from China. She was reluctant as first, but after knowing so much about the workers and about families, she decided to find out more about her own family.

I’ve always been familiar with villagers working in factories in China, and I’ve always been amazed at train and bus stations packed with huge crowds, highways congested with cars and buses returning home during festive seasons, especially Chinese New Year and National Day. While being aware that these people were not city folks in the first place and were returning home from their place of employment, I was curious every now and then about these people and their stories. I was lucky to find this book and bought it at a cheap price.