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http://www.insanely-great.com/news.php?id=1158
Where international capital meets cheap labor
By ron carlson, Insanely Great Mac
October 23rd 2002
When profit is the only object, little things like quality of life take a back seat
Wired.com has a very informative and, frankly, depressing feature about the
"wild-west" environment that's currently flourishing in the Chinese city of Dongguan.
Loosely described as a place where mobile international capital -- mostly from
Taiwanese businessmen -- and cheap labor meet, Dongguan literally didn't exist 20
years ago and is actually an amalgamation of 27 townships that pulled their resources
together to attract foreign investment.
>From the sleaze of local politics to a lesson in just how desperate Chinese peasants
>are, the article details the components, business practices and social/environmental
>pratfalls the gifts under your X'mas embody.
Needless to say, if it wasn't happening in China, Vietnam, the Philippines or any of a
dozen developing nations (think third-world) would happily be hosting their own
version of Dongguan. Also, the participants in this "Dodge City" of capitalism (with
Chinese Communist characteristics) are there by choice and readily admit their current
lot, no matter how sordid or tedious, is better than where they came from.
For some, that means a living wages that supports their family. For the mostly
Taiwanese businessmen, there isn't anyplace on earth right now where they could make
money.
As a consumer of the goods (i.e. Apple's Taiwanese OEMs all have major precenses in
China) produced in Dongguan and a hundred other industrial ghettos in China and around
Asia, you owe it to yourself to read Wired's report. It's a compelling story and
perhaps not unlike the American experience not all that many years ago...
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