Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China

Author: Leslie T. Chang
Stars: 5
Review by: patioreader

There are lots of things in your house and closet that were "Made in China" and when I think of an assembly line that produces these things I visualize the Ford production line - men and women working all week to pay bills and raise a family.
"Factory Girls" are really just that. Little girls by my standard who leave home or are pushed out by their family to go make money to send home to the farm. Kids who are 14,15,16 take a ten hour train ride to the big city 5 times the size of Manhattan. Not much education and on their own. "There was nothing to do at home, so I went out." Boys as well, but girls are easier to part with. Working 11 hour shifts 6 days a week, with our demands for fair labor practices only getting in the way of their making more overtime to send home. We know this goes on, but travel with the author as she talks to the girls and see how they grow up.