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A review by karnaconverse
Made in China: A Prisoner, an SOS Letter, and the Hidden Cost of America's Cheap Goods by Amelia Pang
4.0
Personal stories, investigative reporting, and documentation by international entities that scream "Do not buy Made-in-China!"
In 2012, Oregonian Julie Keith found herself in the national spotlight after she publicly released a letter she'd found in a package of Halloween decorations. The hand-written letter, from Unit 8, Department 2, Masanjia, asked her to forward the letter to the World Human Right (sic) Organization to alert them of the conditions of the labor camp where the decorations had been assembled. "People who work here," the letter said, "have to work 15 hours a day with out Saturday, Sunday break and any holidays, otherwise, they will suffer torturement, beat and rude remark, nearly no payment. . . . Many of them are Falun gong practitioner, who are totally innocent people only because they have different believe to CCPG, they often suffer more punishment than others."
Newspaper reporter Amelia Pang interviewed Keith and published an article in the Oregonian. Then, she spent three years interviewing labor camp survivors (including letter-writer, Sun Yi), speaking with wholesalers and sales managers at U.S. factories, and reviewing reports from international summits convened to examine China's practices. This book is the result of that work and a somber reminder that we, as consumers, are not innocent. Our desire for the latest trend, at the lowest price, and with a "need immediately" attitude plays a huge part in China's ongoing justification for laogai (reform through labor) camps.
I was especially concerned to read several chapters of Pang's book exposing evidence that China's laogai camps are also supplying organs for the transplant industry and that re-education camps in Xinjiang that are used to house Turkics are similar to the Nazi's concentration camps and that goal of eliminating a racial identity. Both are investigations I'll be looking to learn more about—just as I will be making a more conscious effort to read labels and evaluate the purchases I make thanks to Pang's work.
Made in Chain ends with a call to action—questions we can ask corporations who do business with China, the suggestion of a laogai-free label, a list of human rights organizations to support, and this hard-hitting comment for discussion: When American companies make sudden production changes to stay current with the latest fast-fashion trends, factories often do not have time to keep up with these changes in-house. They must subcontract work to forced laborers—who can work all night to meet production deadlines. As American consumers, are we complicit if we buy these goods?
In 2012, Oregonian Julie Keith found herself in the national spotlight after she publicly released a letter she'd found in a package of Halloween decorations. The hand-written letter, from Unit 8, Department 2, Masanjia, asked her to forward the letter to the World Human Right (sic) Organization to alert them of the conditions of the labor camp where the decorations had been assembled. "People who work here," the letter said, "have to work 15 hours a day with out Saturday, Sunday break and any holidays, otherwise, they will suffer torturement, beat and rude remark, nearly no payment. . . . Many of them are Falun gong practitioner, who are totally innocent people only because they have different believe to CCPG, they often suffer more punishment than others."
Newspaper reporter Amelia Pang interviewed Keith and published an article in the Oregonian. Then, she spent three years interviewing labor camp survivors (including letter-writer, Sun Yi), speaking with wholesalers and sales managers at U.S. factories, and reviewing reports from international summits convened to examine China's practices. This book is the result of that work and a somber reminder that we, as consumers, are not innocent. Our desire for the latest trend, at the lowest price, and with a "need immediately" attitude plays a huge part in China's ongoing justification for laogai (reform through labor) camps.
I was especially concerned to read several chapters of Pang's book exposing evidence that China's laogai camps are also supplying organs for the transplant industry and that re-education camps in Xinjiang that are used to house Turkics are similar to the Nazi's concentration camps and that goal of eliminating a racial identity. Both are investigations I'll be looking to learn more about—just as I will be making a more conscious effort to read labels and evaluate the purchases I make thanks to Pang's work.
Made in Chain ends with a call to action—questions we can ask corporations who do business with China, the suggestion of a laogai-free label, a list of human rights organizations to support, and this hard-hitting comment for discussion: When American companies make sudden production changes to stay current with the latest fast-fashion trends, factories often do not have time to keep up with these changes in-house. They must subcontract work to forced laborers—who can work all night to meet production deadlines. As American consumers, are we complicit if we buy these goods?