Contemporary China

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

China continues to impress and shock me; its totalitarian government makes what seem to be quick decisions that they implement with absolute control.

An example: In the Los Angeles Times, Friday, August 4, "The World" section, we see an article titled "Rabies Outbreak Prompts Chinese County to Kill Its Dogs." Three humans have died and 360 have been bitten in the Beijing area this summer, and a total of 16 have died in the past 8 months. Therefore, the government decided to kill every dog in the county within five days. More than 50,000 were killed last week, even 4,000 dogs that have already been vacinated against rabies. (Military and police canines are spared.)

Dog killers make noise, listen for the barking of dogs, find the dog, and beat it with a wooden mop handle. If a person is walking his/her dog, the dog is beaten on the sidewalk and thrown into a trashbag or truck. The government warned all dog owners that if they didn't want their dog buried alive, they could kill it themselves, and many did.

The newspaper didn't report that anyone was fighting this situation. One Chiinese woman was described, "She grieved over the loss but was realistic."

Once again, I am surprised at the swift, non-debatable action of the government and at the resigned and trusting attitude of China's citizens. It is certainly a different country from the U.S.!

[Anonymous]

An article in the Los Angeles Times, August 9, 2006, describes the steps China is taking to clean up the skies before the 2008 Olympics.

Those of us who went on a study tour of China this summer noticed that the air quality throughout most of the region we toured is bad. Most of the time the sky is a hazy gray. China wants/needs to clean the air the athletes will breathe and to have a healthful environment for the attendees.

However, improving the situation seems a Herculean task. The country uses coal as it's primary source of fuel, there are more and more cars on the roads (growing 10% per year), and the Olympics themselves have contributed to a massive building boom. (Beijing has more than 9,000 construction sites right now.) This is certainly not going to slow down prior to 2008.

A couple of measures the government has proposed: get the old cars and buses off the roads prior to the Olympics, and possibly ban private vehicular traffic during the games, effectively giving most residents a holiday. Of course, these are temporary measures, designed to improve conditions for the athletes, tourists, and media who will be analyzing Beijing during the Olympics.

The residents of China? They will continue to burn coal, buy cars and breathe bad air...until the government can come up with a mandated solution. And, while this government is effective at making and implementing decisions quickly, it should be interesting to see if this is a problem they can solve.

[Anonymous]

Every journey begins with but a single step. Los Angeles had similar problems and it has taken a very long time time to begin addressing them. The city of angels has partially succeeded. maybe Beijing will avoid some of the pitfalls L.A. succumbed to.

[Anonymous]

I read the article in Daily News on August 10th and I too am shocked and still can't get over it. It really got me sick over the Chinese officials' mentality. The article said that over 54,000 dogs were killed during the campaign. Most of those dogs were taken to a public square and hanged from a tree. Can anyone imagine? There was no reason to kill those dogs since they had been vaccinated and couldn't have been spread rabies. They were pets for people!!! After reading the article, I have changed my view of China and Chinese government forever. China has been always a strange country to me. The government allows their citizens to have much more freedom for their social mobilization and it has been percieved to become a somewhat democratic society. Then they do this!!! Not that I have ever did understand the Chinese government, but I can never trust them after learning about their inhumane and their brutal behavior in this contemporary world. In my opinion, those officials that ordered them killed diserve less respect than any dogs. It is so bad that it makes the impression of whole country a brutal, crazy, undeveloped and uncivilized barbarians. I'm glad I was not there; I might have shot them to death. I truly hope something will be done about it.

[Anonymous]

This appeared on the Apple Computer web site on August 17, 2006. Seems to be proactive about possible exploitation of labor issues. What do you think?

"Report on iPod Manufacturing
August 17, 2006

Like many of you, we were concerned by reports in the press a few weeks ago alleging poor working and living conditions at a manufacturing facility in China where iPods are assembled. Our Supplier Code of Conduct mandates that suppliers of Apple products follow specific rules designed to safeguard human rights, worker health and safety, and the environment. We take any deviation from these rules very seriously.

In response to the allegations, we immediately dispatched an audit team comprised of members from our human resources, legal and operations groups to carry out a thorough investigation of the conditions at the manufacturing site. The audit covered the areas of labor standards, working and living environment, compensation, overtime and worker treatment. The team interviewed over 100 randomly selected employees representing a cross-section of line workers (83%), supervisors (9%), executives (5%), and other support personnel (3%) including security guards and custodians. They visited and inspected factory floors, dormitories, dining halls, and recreation areas. The team also reviewed thousands of documents including personnel files, payroll data, time cards, and security logs. In total, the audit spanned over 1200 person-hours and covered over one million square feet of facilities.

To ensure the accuracy of the investigation, the team cross-referenced multiple sources of information from employees, management and personnel records. For example, working hours and overtime reported in the interviews were corroborated with line-shift reports, badge reader logs, and payroll records of those specific individuals to confirm that they were paid appropriately.

We found the supplier to be in compliance in the majority of the areas audited. However, we did find violations to our Code of Conduct, as well as other areas for improvement that we are working with the supplier to address. What follows is a summary of what we’ve learned, what’s already being done in response, and our commitment to future diligence and action.

Labor Standards
The team reviewed personnel files and hiring practices and found no evidence whatsoever of the use of child labor or any form of forced labor. This review included examining security records targeted at discovering false identification papers — an important check for companies serious about preventing illegal employment of any kind.

Working and Living Environment
The manufacturing facility supports over 200,000 employees (Apple uses less than 15% of that capacity) and has the services you’d expect in a medium city. The campus includes factories, employee housing, banks, a post office, a hospital, supermarkets, and a variety of recreational facilities including soccer fields, a swimming pool, TV lounges and Internet cafes. Ten cafeterias are also located throughout the campus offering a variety of menu choices such as fresh vegetables, beef, seafood, rice, poultry, and stir-fry noodles. In addition, employees have access to 13 different restaurants on campus. Employees were pleased with the variety and quality of food offerings.

The supplier owns and leases dormitories that are offered at no charge to employees, provided they help in cleaning common areas to maintain the facility. Workers are not required to live in these dormitories, although the majority do. Our team randomly selected and inspected a wide range of dormitories (both supplier-owned on-campus and off-site leased facilities) that collectively house over 32,000 people. Buildings are separated by gender, with female dorms containing a private bathroom/shower for each room and male dorm rooms typically sharing bathroom/shower facilities. The dorms have TV rooms, potable water, private lockers, free laundry service, and public telephones. Many also have ping-pong and snooker tables, and sitting/reading areas. All of the on-campus dorms have air conditioning. Visitors are permitted in the dorms, although a sign-in process is used for security purposes.

Our audit of on-site dormitories found no violations of our Code of Conduct. We were not satisfied, however, with the living conditions of three of the off-site leased dorms that we visited. These buildings were converted by the supplier during a period of rapid growth and have served as interim housing. Two of the dormitories, originally built as factories, now contain a large number of beds and lockers in an open space, and from our perspective, felt too impersonal. The third contained triple-bunks, which in our opinion didn’t provide reasonable personal space.

To address this interim housing situation, the supplier acquired additional land and is currently building new dormitories. These plans were in place prior to our audit, and will increase the total living space by 46% during the next four months.

Compensation
Our investigation confirmed that all workers earn at least the local minimum wage, and our sample audit of payroll records showed that more than half were earning above minimum wage. Employees also have the opportunity to earn bonuses. In addition, the supplier provides a comprehensive medical plan including free annual checkups.

We did find, however, that the pay structure was unnecessarily complex. An employee’s wage was comprised of several elements (base pay, skill bonus, attendance bonus, housing allowance, meal allowance, overtime), making it difficult to understand and communicate to employees. This structure effectively failed to meet our Code of Conduct requirement that how workers are paid must be clearly conveyed. The supplier has since implemented a simplified pay structure that meets the Code of Conduct.

We also discovered that the process for reporting overtime was manual and monthly, and while not a violation of the Code of Conduct, it was subject to human error and relied too much on memory for dispute resolution. To address this issue, the supplier will link the payroll system and electronic badge system, which will automate the recording of hours worked and pay calculations. This update will be completed by October 1.

Overtime
We found no instances of forced overtime and employees confirmed in interviews that they could decline overtime requests without penalty. We did, however, find that employees worked longer hours than permitted by our Code of Conduct, which limits normal workweeks to 60 hours and requires at least one day off each week. We reviewed seven months of records from multiple shifts of different productions lines and found that the weekly limit was exceeded 35% of the time and employees worked more than six consecutive days 25% of the time. Although our Code of Conduct allows overtime limit exceptions in unusual circumstances, we believe in the importance of a healthy work-life balance and found these percentages to be excessive.

The supplier has enacted a policy change to enforce the weekly overtime limits set by our Code of Conduct. The policy change has been communicated to supervisors and employees and a management system has been implemented to track compliance with the Code of Conduct. Supervisors must receive approval from upper level management for any deviation.

Worker Treatment
Employees work in factories that are generally bright, clean and modern with air-conditioned assembly line areas, and are provided with protective gear. There’s an employee grievance process in place, including a telephone hotline, a CEO mailbox for complaints and employee suggestion boxes.

Our interviews with employees revealed areas of both satisfaction and dissatisfaction. A majority of employees interviewed were pleased with the work environment and specifically noted the opportunity for advancement, widespread year-end bonuses, and the reputation of the supplier in the industry. Additionally, employees consistently mentioned that they felt safe and secure in both the workplace and the dormitories.

Employees expressed dissatisfaction with some aspects of the workplace. The single largest complaint (approximately 20% of interviewed workers) was the lack of overtime during non-peak periods. The second largest complaint (less than 10%) was the transportation schedule for employees living in off-campus dorms, which they felt was inadequate outside of working hours. Results of the interviews have been shared with management, and will be addressed where appropriate. For example, the transportation schedule is being reviewed for adjustment.

During our interviews with employees, we explicitly asked every line worker whether they had ever been subjected to or witnessed objectionable disciplinary punishment. Two employees reported that they had been disciplined by being made to stand at attention. While we did not find this practice to be widespread, Apple has a zero tolerance policy for any instance, isolated or not, of any treatment of workers that could be interpreted as harsh. The supplier has launched an aggressive manager and employee training program to ensure such behavior does not occur in the future.

The Future
Recognizing that some aspects of workplace auditing (such as health and safety) lie beyond our current expertise, we’ve engaged the services of Verité, an internationally recognized leader in workplace standards dedicated to ensuring that people around the world work under safe, fair and legal conditions. We are committed to ensuring compliance with our Code of Conduct and will complete audits of all final assembly suppliers of Mac and iPod products in 2006.

We recognize that monitoring compliance is an ongoing process requiring continual progress reviews. When violations are discovered in any supplier, we will require corrective action plans, with a focus on prevention and systemic solutions. We will also ensure that action plans are implemented and in cases where a supplier’s efforts in this area do not meet our expectations, their contracts will be terminated.

We are encouraged with the actions to date in response to our audit. However, we realize that auditing compliance is only one step in the journey toward driving change. We have also joined the Electronic Industry Code of Conduct (EICC) Implementation Group, which has established industry-wide standards and offers valuable resources for evaluating suppliers. The EICC was a key benchmark when our own Code of Conduct was created and as an industry leader, Apple will make important contributions to this group.

Apple is committed to the highest standard of social responsibility in everything we do and will always take necessary action accordingly. We are dedicated to ensuring that working conditions are safe and employees are treated with respect and dignity wherever Apple products are made.

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Copyright © 2006 Apple Computer, Inc. All rights reserved."[Edit by="losa on Aug 17, 6:21:23 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

The latest National Geographic (September 2006) has an interesting article about Manchuria. It is named "The Manchurian Mandate". It is about the decay and possible revival of the Maoist industrial heartland of China. Specifically, it is about northeast China. It is an interesting and easy read.[Edit by="losa on Aug 18, 3:59:35 PM"][/Edit]
[Edit by="losa on Aug 18, 4:00:15 PM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

Your post made me envision trees with dogs hanging from them like Christmas tinsel. Not a pretty site.

Ignoring the brutality of this move, I am continually impressed with the efficiency of China's government. There are no organizations like SPCA or Save the Dogs; there are no actresses chaining themselves to dog kennels; there are no permits to be pulled or residential groups to meet with. The government sees a problem, makes a decision, and the people have to go along with it.

On the other side of the world, in Los Angeles, the police are complaining that they can't move the homeless off the downtown streets because the ACLU has sued the city for infringing on the rights of the homeless. If this were China, there would be no homeless on the streets. (We saw no homeless evident in China on the tour in June/July.)

I'm not saying that a totalitarian government is better, but it certainly can make decisions more rapidly. They aren't mired in red-tape and held back by frivolous and non-frivolous lawsuits.

On the part of the residents of China, anything is better than the days of the Cultural Revolution and Land Reform, so they all see the improvement and progress. We heard several times, "It's not perfect, but it's getting better." The Chinese people can't fight government, so they turn their attentions elsewhere and accept the problems as a necessary step in the road to progress.

[Anonymous]

I have not been to China for many years. Are people still smoking cigarettes incessantly? If the smog does not kill them, the smoking habit might. I am so glad to live in CA where smoking laws are enforced and am glad that car smog/air pollution has declined considerably over the last several years.
When I visited China, there were no private vehicles! It will be such a culture shock for me to see the modernization and capitalism compared to my visit three decades ago.
Cathy Chaparral High, Temecula

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the tip.........I wonder if my subscription expired, as I have not received it. Not only do I appreciate your posting, I realize I better contact NG!! I have hundreds of old copies; I think I will ask my students to use them to create a time line of articles by country.
I never thought of disassembling the magazines, but can see a real benefit to having the articles more categorized and getting the kids more involved in reading the articles, some of which are very old. In the case of China, anything a few years old is already passe'!
Cathy Chaparral High Temecula

[Anonymous]

As the adoptive parent of a three year old girl in China, I am not surprised with the resignation that you see there over the things that the Chinese government does. Things like that are so commonplace that the people just seem to accept it. Unfortunately they are also slow in other areas to come to terms with some of the problems caused by short-sighted policies such as the One-child policy that is estimating that there will be a differential of 40 million men and women of marriageable age by 2020. The Chinese government is just now starting to come to terms with it. We are in the process of trying to adopt our second child from China and things are progressing much more slowly than in 2003-2004. Some people have surmised (although the Chinese government is tight-lipped about it) that China is encouraging in-country adfoptions and that they are also monitoring pregnancies more closely beginning in 2006. Even so, American adoptions of Chinese children rose by nearly a thousand adoptions in 2005 over 2004 and many expect that number to rise this year. More Americans are simply looking to China to adopt than ever before and so there is probably also a supply and demand issue.

[Anonymous]

They are smoking as incessantly as ever and there are plenty of private vehicles. China sold twice as many new cars in 2005 as in 2004 and they expect that number to double this year. The high rises will also surprise you. We went to Guangzhou and were told by one of the people we traveled with that she had been there twenty years before and had seen no buildings taller than three stories. It is a cosmopolitan city today, with wall to wall skyscrapers and 30 story hotels. I use photographs that I have taken and collected to show the rise of China in the classroom, along with the air and water pollution.

[Anonymous]

On National Public Radio today they were talking about a new craze in Bejing. It seems that pole dancing studios have begun to open around. They're not the sleazy or even mildly erotic dancing that we think of when we think of it, but a health fad to lose weight and stay in shape. Older people, the young, and white-collar wives seem to be enjoying the moves.

[Anonymous]

As I read the post about the mass and brutal execution of dogs in China, I found myself becoming increasingly horrified to the point of nausea. A government that is capable of this level of brutiality against defenseless animals is capable of anything. I don't know how any person living in China can feel safe. In fact, the idea that Chinese citizens accept such a brutal edict with no public outcry is so foreign to me as a person born and raised in the US that I find it nearly impossible to understand. The cultural norms that must exist in China in order for such brutal acts and dispassionate acceptance to take place are so diametrically opposed to what we experience here in the US as to be incomprehensible. Is there any protection at all in China for the more more vulnerable elements in society such as animals, the elderly, the disabled and the handicapped? The mark of any great nation is evidenced by its care and concern for the defenseless and vulnerable. In the US we may not always get it raight but somebody is always trying to get it right.

[Anonymous]

Also, I wonder about the moral outrage against this practice. Do the Chinese condone this practice, or are they afraid to speak out against their government. Surley there must be a better solution, but what advocacy is there for animals in general in China? Perhaps the lack of advocacy for animals is the reason why this practice has gone unchecked. From a cultural standpoint, do the Chinese view dogs as less important so the indiscriminate killing of dogs is acceptable? We in the west seek to protect many things and raise the importance of their existance like trees, animals, children, and the environment. Is that happening in China, or with a country of billions, can they not afford the luxury of protecting every cause or interest, human or non, and must pick and choose those with the most need or stop what causes the most problem?

I would need to know more information to make an educated critique.[Edit by="tstevenson on Feb 26, 12:21:03 AM"][/Edit]

[Anonymous]

China has been in the news recently. The U.S. now considers China a market economy...this is big change from the way it viewed China for the past few decades.

[Author]

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