#404 Factory Girls

Preparation:

• Leslie T. Chang, Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China, (New York: Spiegal & Graw, 2008), 97-119.​​

Documentary selections:
View selections from:

• ​Manufacturing Landscapes (from beginning for about 2-3 minutes)
• Mardi Gras (5:45-15:15; 20:26-24:10; 35:41-36:11)

As you watch, make notes of what you observe. Note, specifically:

• What is similar or different in these scenes than what you might have expected after reading Chang?
• How do the working conditions vary in each of the two films?

Journal write:

• Identify 1-2 pressure(s) faced by the young women profiled by Chang that are like those you face at Hotchkiss. Please provide specific examples with page numbers.
• Identify 1-2 pressure(s) faced by the young women profiled by Chang that are not like those you face at Hotchkiss. Please provide specific examples with page numbers.
• Identify important questions from Chang you would like to discuss as a class.

Discussion questions:

• What do we know about the author of this selection?
• At the beginning of the semester, we discussed “insider knowledge” and “outsider knowledge.” How is Chang able to leverage her “outsider knowledge” to make sense of her subjects?
• Before today, what had you heard either about workers in Dongguan, the Pearl River Delta area, or China more generally? Did Chang expand on or challenge any of your preconceptions?
• Which elements of Chang’s account stood out most to you?
• What do you make of the contradictions that appear on page 107? (“The girls all claimed in front of one another that they didn’t approve of finding a boyfriend in the city, although many of them already had one; they disparaged further education as useless even as some quietly took classes in an effort to improve themselves.”)
• Our recent readings (Deng, Harvey, and Lin) have taken a macro (“big picture”) focus on China’s development. Where do you see their ideas, arguments, and concerns addressed by Chang?
• Are the conditions described by Chang “fair”? Why or why not? Describe the role of outsiders – companies like Nike and Adidas and consumers – in shaping those conditions.