Inside China's 'Christmas Factory' Town, Yiwu 32
jones_supa writes China's manufacturing industry continues booming, which has led to the the town of Yiwu (a city of about 1.2m people in central Zhejiang province) being christened "China's Christmas village." The town has become the home of 600 factories that collectively churn out over 60% of all the world's Christmas decorations and accessories. The "elves" that staff these factories are mainly migrant labourers, working 12 hours a day for a maximum of £200 to £300 a month – and it turns out that all of them are not even entirely sure what Christmas is. Nevertheless, there are corridors lined with nothing but tinsel, streets throbbing with competing LED light shows, stockings of every size, plastic Christmas trees in blue and yellow and fluorescent pink, plastic pine cones in gold and silver. The complex of Yiwu International Trade Market was declared by the United Nations to be the "largest small commodity wholesale market in the world" and the scale of the operation necessitates a kind of urban plan, with this festival of commerce organised into five different districts, of which District Two is solely dedicated for Christmas stuff.
TFA is a big bullshit ! (Score:3, Informative)
I am from China, although I am an American now, I do run businesses and some of them are in China
When I read the " ... for a maximum of £200 to £300 a month" I know that TFA is a big bullshit !
The minimum salary for even an unskilled labor in the China's eastern shore is at least £500 a month
While that figure is still minuscule by Western standard, nevertheless that figure is still much more than that " ... a maximum of £200 to £300 a month" bullsh
Re:TFA is a big bullshit ! (Score:4, Informative)
The minimum salary for even an unskilled labor in the China's eastern shore is at least £500 a month
It is likely that they are using data from a few years ago. Salaries have risen dramatically in the last few years. I lived in Shanghai ten years ago, and was able to hire unskilled workers for $100 / month, and degreed engineers for $400. Today, it would cost at least five times that. Shanghai is more expensive than many other areas, but Zhejiang is not cheap. It is just south of Shanghai, and a lot of high end manufacturing is done there.
I have been to Yiwu several times, and the place is amazing. There is block after block of buildings filled with product displays and sales offices. There is often an entire building devoted to just a single product, like, say, hair pins. Most major retailers, including Walmart, Target, Sears, etc. have permanent offices there. But most of the stuff sold there is not manufactured in Yiwu. Most of the goods are shipped in from manufacturing hubs in Shenzhen, Pudong, etc.
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No, the AC that posted that is just an idiot. The minimum wage in China is different from region to region, even city to city. In most of the factory regions it's around $200/month.
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Re:TFA is a big bullshit ! (Score:4, Informative)
I am from China, although I am an American now, I do run businesses and some of them are in China
When I read the " ... for a maximum of £200 to £300 a month" I know that TFA is a big bullshit !
Really? I think you don't know China, nor do you do any business there. Zhejiang has the highest minimum wage, and it peaks in Ningbo at 1550 RMB per month (this information is out of date a bit, but pretty close to current conditions [china-briefing.com]). That's 160 pounds sterling. Given that only inexperienced/brand new workers will earn minimum wage, the range of 200 to 300 pounds sterling is completely understandable and expected (that's about 2000 to 3000 RMB per month).
Additionally, new sales staff/office trainees in places like Shanghai run about 3500 RMB per month (low-level white collar) and a fresh acoustical engineering grad from the University of Nanjing (top Chinese school) in the top 10% of his class earns 4500 RMB (about 450 pounds sterling) per month. A very experienced (8 year) office manager with excellent English skills and 5 years experience working for Western companies earns 8000 RMB per month. How do I know? I just returned 4 days ago from Shanghai, where I signed contracts for all those positions.
Factory workers in China in the East rarely start at more than minimum wage. 1500 to 2000 RMB is a very good starting wage, and line bosses/leads may earn double that amount. Well below your 5000 RMB per month minimum salary.
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£200 to £300 is 2,000 to 3,000 Yuan RMB.
In Beijing, where salaries are amongst the highest in China, I know plenty of professionals, like teachers with masters degrees (from BJ's top tier schools) and three or four years experience working for 4,000-5,000. At my company, which does game development, which is seen as a lucrative career, we pay graduates about 3,000.
I don't know about Yiwu, but at least in Ningbo, which is a bigger and wealthier city nearby, where my previous company has got manuf
why why why why why? (Score:2)
That's good money (Score:2, Insightful)
At 200 to 300 pounds month that is good money. Realize one must adjust for local economies. That isn't London. Living expenses are far lower in Christmas Town.
Mandatory reading (Score:2, Interesting)
Before any uninformed comments start blossoming... mandatory reading about the chinese migrants workers: 'Factory Girls' by Leslie T. Chang. [leslietchang.com]
She also gave a great TED speech, The voice of Chinese Factory Workers' [ted.com], which is a nice introduction to her book.
These jobs represent an exit for most of these workers, the opportunity to build their life as they wish - or try. Like anywhere.
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Yeah. She's one of the lucky ones, she got out. Most don't. You'll never hear from them though.
The crappy living conditions, the crappy hours, the lack of industrial safety, the crappy pay... all these things are well documented. Commenting on them is far from uninformed.
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Anyway, I'm sick of returning LED strings for that obvious tint.
#FirstWorldProblems
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I'll have to try that next time my boss complains about something I don't feel like fixing.
Pity the archeologists (Score:4, Funny)
From thousands of years in the future (assuming we get that far). Walking through post apocalyptic sand dunes and finding some ancient city on the (new) coast line. Excitedly digging into years and years of old civilization.
To discover this?
They'd be scarred for life.
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I don't know, there's plenty of archeologists interested in Monte Testaccio. It's simply a large mountain of broken clay pots, mostly alike.
Christmas Capital? (Score:1)
And all this time I thought it was Frankenmuth.