TIHZ_HO says:

#80 “the fact that they (China) exploit their workers is not an opinion it is a fact. While in America it does occur, it is the exception rather than the rule. In China I wouldn’t go as far as saying it’s the rule but it’s not exactly rare either.”

I don’t want to get hung up on semantics but this is an important point. When you say “China exploits their workers” you should say “Chinese and some foreign owned businesses exploit their workers.”

When you state that China exploits their workers and it’s the norm this implies China has little or no labour laws when in fact China does have good labour laws. The problem is their enforcement which the Chinese government freely admits is a problem!

So please tell me – as you know all about the problems China has so finding the solution should be simple. Can’t fix something until you know what is wrong – right? You live in Japan which puts you close to China and your wife does business with China and you hear all the stories.

So how to correct China’s labour problem from your point of view being close to China ?

What is the best way to turn around the attitudes of 1.3 billion people who have been previously mind fucked by Mao all their lives.

What is the 12 step reform program and what’s its schedule?

Here again my perspective. My wife is Chinese and involved with manufacturing for about 15 years – I hear all the stories too. I managed Chinese factories for many years – the first in 1993 – and currently we have two manufacturing businesses. However I have seen real changes in workers conditions first hand – but I am blind.

You state: “your blind denial of all of the facts concerning China’s disrespect for human life makes you quite the fool as well.”

I am not blind at all. What I know and obviously you do not is that Chinese have little regard for life and others. Why? Well Mao’s Cultural Revolution for one – this was the one of darkest times in China’s recent history. Mao’s Red Guard – the cultural police had the power of life and death over people if they could not quote from Mao’s little red book – or was even accused of saying something critical about Mao. People could not even trust family members for fear of being turned in to the Red Guard.

If that was not bad enough wait there is more! Chinese were taught that there life has no value other then to serve Mao so he as the great helmsman can make China great. Mao’s ‘Great Leap Forward’ to industrialize China caused the death of an estimated 25 million people who just staved to death! People resorted to eating their dead staved children. Through it all Mao drummed into the heads that these ‘sacrifices’ are expected of them for a great China and it was their duty and honour to be called upon by Mao even to die – from the moment they were born. This became a part of Chinese life to think less of life – its cheap and to think only about one’s own well being so it’s perfectly ok to screw everyone else.

My father in law was one those who was imprisoned and tortured by Mao’s Red Guard – he was so brainwashed that if I were to say anything bad about Mao he gets extremely angry. He believes that Mao had to do what he had to do and if people had to die it is their duty and honour so China can be great. So tell me how to change his mind? What is the best way to do this because my wife and I don’t have a clue of how to.

So, NO I am not the fool, thank you, as I know why Chinese have this disregard to life and others and I know that this terrible attitude IS slowly changing with Chinese growing up in a POST Mao China.

You must have a different take on why ‘China’ has this disrespect for life? You must know something I don’t know – that is why you can say I am the fool. So what is it?

I would say the fools are the people who cannot you accept that to radically change how 1.3 billion people think of life, themselves and others from the total Mao mind fuck takes time. It cannot happen overnight.

But if you still believe that China should have done better tell my why the KKK and other ‘white’ attitudes are still strong in America – like damn, how much time do you need to free the slaves already? SHIT! The US can take all the time it wants to effect any change of attitude to others – Blacks and minorities. It’s ok for the US to take over 140 years to do something but if China can’t get its shit together on ALL LEVELS in 20 – well damn you all!

You think I am blind to worker exploitation. Do you know that many workers complain if they only work 40 hours a week? In our factory 5 hours north of Shanghai if we try to reduce the working hours we lose workers. They want to work 12 hours a day and 6 or 7 days a week – that means more money to them. The fact is we are breaking the law – too much overtime. Where the factory is located is in a growing industrial area and there is a distinct shortage of workers.

We pay the staff good wages so if they only work 8 hours they will want to work more for more money. It’s hard for anyone who has not worked with Chinese workers to understand this. We have to closely watch how many hours the workers are working as they will always try to find reasons to work more hours. So you explain this to me.

I am not saying that in many rural areas there are not real exploitations but again this is not within the law. There are what amounts to slave labour in some rural areas with corrupt government officials and businesses profiting together. When these people are caught quite often if the scope of the corruption is high enough the first to be executed are the government officials as they are expected to follow the law. Recently an ex-mayor of Shanghai was executed for corruption.

Has your wife talked to these exploited workers? Have you or your wife ever worked in or managed any factories in China? Japan has many factories in China – are the workers exploited in those? I am sure your wife must have seen those Japanese factories in China.

Here is a story for you. One company my wife knows well had an industrial accident – a worker lost most of his arm in a press. There were little of no safety systems in place – normal. The company reluctantly paid this worker what amounted to only $1,200 after a lot of fighting and time. The owner of the factory was good friends with the local government officials (Guanxi) so nothing happened until it reached the news. The factory owner and government officials were fined. The business goes on.

That story is real tragedy and it is not an isolated case as there are many more stories like this everyday, usually in the more rural areas of China. In Shanghai and surrounding areas it would have been another story.

So what would you suggest China does to stop these stories from occurring? Again I say China was turned around on a dime from Mao to now and change filters slowly down from the larger cities. The important point to understand is there is reform and there is change. I see it happening so it is not government bullshit.

I do try to give my view NOT though blind eyes as you put it, or following some hidden agenda as a Chinese government stooge as I have been called but from the perspective of being the ‘man on the street’ working closely with Chinese workers in factories.

Why I do bother? I had a shock when I returned to the US for 11 months after 22 years and found not only was the US I knew a distant memory, but I was so tired of hearing nonsense and shit about China and the world. So I was thinking – wait a minute, I was there, this didn’t happen that way.

Then I am bombarded with the US government rhetoric about freedom and the war on terrorists yadda yadda yadda. And I am thinking why are the terrorists picking on the US and the UK? Ok any foreigner in Iraq is fair game but what about attacks against a country? I don’t hear anything about shit happening in Germany or France – or even China – what about Japan? WTF? So I think there must be another side to any story – don’t believe the popular story as it might just be a load of…POOP!

Cheers