{"id":11101,"date":"2015-05-04T09:00:06","date_gmt":"2015-05-04T13:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/?p=11101"},"modified":"2016-11-28T17:40:54","modified_gmt":"2016-11-28T21:40:54","slug":"working-in-china","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/chinese\/working-in-china\/","title":{"rendered":"What’s it Really Like Working in China?"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the last post, we looked at the workforce in China – past, present, and future. Since the late 1970s, China has been undergoing one of the greatest transformations in the history of the world, going from a predominantly rural, agricultural, state-owned economy to a more urban, privatized economy focused on manufacturing and infrastructure. Thanks to the successes of the one child policy and the decades of economic growth, the country also now faces a greying population and labor shortage. While there are certainly issues that will need to be confronted moving forward, there are still hundreds of millions of people currently working in China. So, what exactly is it like working in China?<\/p>\n

Two Extremes<\/h1>\n
\"Factory<\/a>

Factory workers in Dongguan earning $2 an hour.
Image by Edwin Lee from www.flickr.com<\/p><\/div>\n

Many Westerners believe the vast majority of Chinese people work in factories with a grueling schedule and little pay. This makes sense, as those who have no experience in China simply know what they see on TV, which in recent years has included many news reports detailing grim conditions in factories. The images of the “suicide nets” outside of Foxconn factories are hard to forget once you’ve seen them.<\/p>\n