[ice5nake]

We all support the Chinese way every time we buy a product made in China. A business supports these methods every time they sign a contract with a company that produces its goods in China. It's implicit. I am not sure how you can feign having your head in the sand. Apple is absolutely part of the problem. We are absolutely part of the problem. Yes, even myself. To say otherwise is foolish. Apple should hold Foxconn to high standards not only in protecting its secrets but how to properly treat human beings.

[emmett]

Claiming this is the "Chinese way" is stereotyping a country of 1 billion people from the actions of a very few. Going further and suggesting we boycott/avoid Chinese products is protectionism motivated by misguided xenophobia, rather than any rational standard.

[nailer]

My wife was a producer for fashion labels for many years, and has many friends who still are. Head to Shenyen sometime, and try and get 'off the rails' to see some of the conditions at the factories they're not willing to show you up front. Then try and find an alternative where that doesn't happen.

[netsp]

Boycotting China wholesale is counter productive if you want to achieve better working conditions for Chinese workers.

[redcap]

I don't see how - if more people stop buying Chinese goods (e.g. shitty plastic toys that you don't need), then they might do something different than feed the West's desire to spend and consume.

[MisterMerkin]

Why don't you enlighten us then.

[netsp]

There are a few ideas that at least won't hurt, but the possibility exists that the working conditions of Chinese factory workers is not within your sphere of influence.

The obvious way to achieve minimum working conditions is legislation. Many believe this would be counter productive. I'm not certain.

In any case, refusing to purchase from them and 'buying local' instead denies those workers that job. Doing this does not improve their situation.

[kingsley_20]

There is such a thing as an American way. When I moved here, I knew I would be supporting it, and all that it entails. I haven't been to China, but I can speak for my home country and say that there is, indeed, an Indian way. Large and diverse as our nations might be, there are subtle but long-lasting cultural threads that bind nations together. These are not stereotypes - merely cultural markers and pre-dispositions. While they shouldn't guide our conduct towards individuals much, they are definitely useful in dealing with cultures/ nations as a whole.

[ice5nake]

@emmett I am disappointed by your comment. Xenophobia? Really? I am merely hoping for consumer and corporate accountability. I am using decades of observation that have brought me to a completely rational conclusion. I suspect you are reading things between the lines from my statement that aren't there. Stereotyping? Yes I grouped people together. And Yes I made a statement about that group. Trying to denigrate my point because of this is I hope seen as it should be, a superficial criticism.

[Tichy]

People kill themselves in "the West" over losing jobs or pressure at school, too. I've heard that students in Cambridge have a high suicide rate, for example.

Also the question is would the people be better off without the jobs from foreign companies? Surely they put up with pressure at their jobs because they don't have a better alternative?

[nailer]

The pressure people are under to work in the West is generally smaller than the pressure to work in second world countries including China.

And the Cambridge students chose to be under that pressure.

[adw]

Or were pressured to be under that pressure - we're talking about seventeen-year-old kids here. But, still, it's nothing like this – and, flawed thought it is, there is support for students.

[Tichy]

Not saying that I'd rather live in China, just thought that particular example was a bit off.

[dkokelley]

I know a western family that lives in China working in import/export. They came to visit and said something that stuck with me. "China is a very big place. If you ever hear of something that happens in China, it's probably true somewhere."

I'm sure I've butchered their words, but the point is that because of how big China is, it is difficult to correctly assume that what you may believe is true for all or even most of China. I'm not saying that what you say isn't true, but I ask that we clarify and quantify our use of "the Chinese way" when making claims about it.

[electromagnetic]

Agreed, the work ethic of Silicon Valley is definitely not representative of "the American way". Work ethic can vary vastly between states/provinces, cities and even companies. The work ethic I grew up with in the north of England is rather different than the one here in the Greater Toronto Area. However the work ethic of my wives family again is completely different, they come from the east coast where the work is either fishing or farming.

I can work like a dog from 9-5, once it's quitting time I'm done. I don't need lunch or breaks, that's how I was taught to work. I can't even approach office culture because from my point of view everyone is a slackass doing nothing because there's always some people who appear not to be working.

Perhaps my view of working is similar to those of the Chinese where the industry grew out of manual labour. In fact this so called "Chinese way" is indicative of Japan and South Korea (as mentioned elsewhere), where all of the money grew out of steel and ships. When you deal with extreme hazards like red-hot steel (the process of building ships included a lot of manually placed red-hot rivets, and in China still does) so I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of the CEO's and directors grew up from these industries and inherited the work ethic. In the west we turned to the service industries quite early, we're not agricultural or industry any more, so the 100% focus needed for work has likely diminished too.

One thing I was taught early, 'Never assume, just find out and then you'll know.' This advice has served me well from measuring cuts with materials to dealing with people. It's very ignorant to assume when it's simple to find out. Assumptions can easily kill and I've been witness to that; I saw a guy shot across the room because he assumed the power was turned off when we were working, finding out was merely asking a sentence (to us or his boss who was a foot away) but he didn't and he ended up in hospital (it wasn't negligence on our part, his boss asked us to turn a circuit on so they could run their power tools and the kid decided to run a jump off the live line at the same time).

[omouse]

It's extremely difficult to avoid Chinese-made products when you buy electronics...

[joe_adk]

It's actually hard to avoid them no matter what you buy.