Around this time of year, the topic of social unrest in China is never far from the fore. The recent spate of strikes at the Honda plant in Foshan and slew of suicides at Foxconn's Shenzhen factory has provided recent evidence that not only disenfranchised sections of society are willing to show their defiant colours, but also the greater need for the government to address China's wealth distribution.
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Construction of China's first massive underground bunker is underway in Shanghai. It can hold up to 200,000 people, which means the rest of us get incinerated. It is connected to subway stations and office buildings, in case you need your Starbucks fix before the apocalypse. Hong Kong is vying for the first Asian David Beckham Football Academy, though if we know anything about Shanghai, it's that it will vie for one as well. A Hubei land-rights activist said he was paralyzed from the neck down after being attacked by assailants. Not so, say the authorities: He broke his own neck. From Cattlenetwork.com we have a report about the labor riots at a Dongguan toy factory. Mattel and McDonald's, two of the major companies that the factory makes products for, did an investigation and found that the riot had nothing to do with poor working conditions. Earth to McDonald's: People will riot when you serve them stale fries at the mess hall day in and day out. Shanghai's temperature reached 37 degrees over the weekendbut the surface temperature on the elevated roads was upwards of 50 degrees, which is why from 12-2 pm, they had to douse the entire road with several tons of water in order to bring down the temperature. We like the title of this article on Chinese basketball's recent loss to Spain: 63∶97再负西班牙 中国男篮挽回点颜面. The title says that China managed to regain some face, despite losing by a whopping thirty-four points. This is because in the previous game, they lost to Spain by 47 points. The rate of non-performing or bad loans in Shanghai has decreased so that they now occupy about 2.75 percent of the total amount of loans, whereas the national level is 3.82 percent. There's a new fad among people who live in big houses out in the 'burbs of Shanghai: Digging wells in their backyards. The cost? A mere 300 yuan. This blogger debates with himself the reason why Park 97 in Shanghai has lasted as long as it has, not so much in comparison with other places in Shanghai, but with popular nightlife spots in Beijing. Lupu Bridge was where the party was last night, as a bunch of Chinese and foreigners got together to celebrate Qi Xi, Chinese Valentine's Day.
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Results tagged “tradeunions”
What to make of the strikes in China?
Today's Links: Prison Break, rats and robots
"News Corporation's (NYSE: NWS.A) Fox Television denied that it has licensed Beijing based media company Zonbo Media to remake American TV series Prison Break or any related online activities in China, reports Beijing Youth Daily."
"Anheuser-Busch Inc. sued USA Bai Wei Group Inc. in Arkansas' Pulaski County Circuit Court, seeking an injunction to revoke Bai Wei's corporate charter and require a name change."
"Why are these experts, who supposedly know China better than anyone does, so eager to patronize China's leaders, and so reluctant to condemn Chinese repression of dissent?"
"This is the cover to Brutus No. 616 (1 May 2007). ... The portrait of Mao wearing Nike is apparently the product of a Chinese artist, though I can’t verify this."
"According to government figures, the overall profit margins in the textile industry are only 3.9% - the lowest of any major industry."
"Some tramcars might be able to run in the Zhangjiang area in Pudong ... Even now, many old local residents in Shanghai still remember such tramcars, which the Shanghai people called 'dang dang che', or 'clanging cars'." Trolleys.
"This first-ever tour is together presented by NBA and the world's leading express and logistics company, DHL. The two will also present other activities in China." Ripped straight from the press release, sounds like.
"The winners will represent China at the Federation of International Robot-soccer Association World Cup in San Francisco on June 13."
"Xinhua News Agency quoted animal husbandry officials in Altay prefecture in northern Xinjiang saying a warm winter had resulted in a 'baby boom' of rats in April, a month earlier than normal."
"Ms. Zhang Xiaohua, marketing director for Forbes China, attributed the cancellation to the immaturity of charity in China. 'Chinese entrepreneurs haven't reached a consensus on charity and therefore it is immature to make such a list,' she said."
"A private businessman has been fined 600,000 yuan (US$78,000; euro 58,000) for breaking China’s strict one child policy, state media reported." But is it really that strict?
"China's largest non-state-owned carmaker, which has export agreements in place in Indonesia, Russia and Ukraine, declined to give details."
"The top 10 countries in terms of number of employed foreign workers were Japan, America, Korea, Singapore, Germany, France, Canada, Malaysia, Australia and Britain." That leaves an awful lot of unemployed.
At Starbucks.
"This is the face of Shanghai these days. Not to be all mean'n shit, but how badly would you like to punch one of these Chads in the mouth?"
"One of Shanghai's "undiscovered" shopping gems is Jim Dandies, tucked away opposite IKEA in the Xuhui District. It sells chic clothes and art by painter Yurika (Eureka) Nakae from Suzhou"
"Located at Yandang Road, the Pudi Boutique Hotel Shanghai offers 52 rooms whose prices range from RMB4680 per night to RMB14000 per night." Ouch.
"It notes that in 2006, the Shanghai Federation of Trade Unions surveyed employees in 250 enterprises. The data showed that 50.6% of employees had not received a wage increase in nearly three years."
"A report in Beijing Times...has led to a remarkable photo essay on the People’s Daily society link at People.com. Beijing Times had orginally reported on an unidentifed demolition contractor that had moved in to demolish houses in the Chaoyang District."
"The two websites are Uusee.com and Zol.com.cn. They have been required to publish formal letters of apology on their front homepages. The website owners have also been ordered to remove the offending content immediately."
Does this story seem a bit late to you?
"Excited and emboldened by the wealth of information they find on the Internet, Chinese teens are breaking centuries of tradition to challenge their teachers and express their own opinions in class."
"Working 10 or more hours a day, almost no days off, no regular meals and lack of sleep - that's the life for 70 percent of the white-collar workers in four of China's big cities, Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou."
"The report is named《Analytical Report of Basic Science Literacy of County Level Officials in China 》." Explains a lot.
"Police in southern China have detained a woman after she admitted killing her four-year-old daughter because the child could not count, according to news reports."
"When the 'Chinamen' responded to 'His Excellency' with an open letter ... the result was general consternation, followed by support from a number of leading newspapers, and a consequent flurry of articles and editorials."
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Today's Links: Murderers, McD's and squid snacks
"She said the gunman 'was just a normal-looking kid, Asian, but he had on a Boy Scout-type outfit. He wore a tan button-up vest, and this black vest, maybe it was for ammo or something.'"
"The 24-year-old man arrived in San Francisco on United Airlines on Aug. 7 on a visa issued in Shanghai, the source said. Investigators have not linked him to any terrorist groups, the source said."
"The gunman who shot up a Virginia university and killed at least 33 people including himself was an Asian student who had quarrelled with his girlfriend just before the shooting spree, a Taiwanese student said Tuesday."
"The gunman found dead today by authorities from apparently self-inflicted wounds was described by an injured student to MSNBC as a college-aged Asian with a maroon hat and black leather jacket." Just because his visa was issued in Shanghai does not mean he is from Shanghai.
"No Chinese students have been found among the dozens of victims in Monday's shooting rampage on the campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech), in the eastern U.S. state of Virginia." Except for, maybe, the killer.
"Shanghai's oldest luxury hotel, Peace Hotel, has been closed for a US$65m restoration and is expected to reopen in 2010."
"McDonald's China has promised to establish trade union branches in its 40 restaurants in the eastern Zhejiang province this year, the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU) said Monday."
"Some interesting variations by Chinese sports shoe companies on one of the world’s most famous logos." Also 'borrowed' from are Diadora and Mizuno.
"The bones are used for traditional Chinese medicine and the claws are worn by some men as pendants in the hope of increasing their virility."
"The Consumer Council in Hong Kong warns that excessive consumption of dried squid snacks could result in arsenic poisoning, leading to chronic pathological liver disorder." Good thing we can't stand the stuff.
"Google may face legal action after admitting to unauthorised use of data from Chinese internet portal Sohu in its own Chinese translation software."
"The U.S. government's accusation that China's market access restrictions on films, books and audiovisual products are leading to rampant piracy does not stand up," Wang told a news conference in Beijing.
"They said the fourth-year undergraduate was an introvert who was working as an intern in a local company. She was reportedly pessimistic about over the demanding job last week." Happened in Changning District around midnight.
"Zhu Jun, owner of Shenhua soccer club, is countersuing his neighbors in a dispute about a wall that allegedly blocks sunlight." On Xingguo Road.
"After This Our Exile, which tells the story of a gambling addict who forces his son to steal to make ends meet, won best film, director and screenplay."
Photo by sheniferous found via the Shanghaiist Contribute page.
Labor Unions: Greasing the palms that oil the gears
If Saudia Arabia has oil, then China has people. Specifically, it has great quantities of unskilled labor. Unfortunately, there is no equivalent of the NYMEX crude oil futures to mark the price of labor in China, but if there were, it would advance on fears that the All-China Federation of Trade Unions (ACFTU, the "OPEC" of this story) will implement newly drafted rules that will make operating in China more expensive and difficult.
A union of convenience?
There is a Chinese business adage that goes something like, “Every company in China keeps four sets of financial books: one understated set for the government, a second set to satisfy the wife, a third set to impress the mistress, and the actual records for management." So much for GAAP compliance. Most generally, the point of this joke is that in the recent past, to put it mildly, China has been an extremely permissive operating environment, where there has neither been the will nor the means to enforce standards of accountability that are expected in the developed world.
Extra! Extra! Troubadours, unions and backyard wells
One step closer to a worker's paradise!
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