Factory Girls Book Reflection

The book Factory Girls by Leslie T. Chang gave me insights about China that I have never known before. After reading this book, I was shocked to find out the conditions of the factories and workers. The girls that work in these factories have fourteen or fifteen hours a day and have poor meals and living conditions. Pride is also another important topic within this book. The girls move to the cities to make money for their family and do well for their family name.

            My favorite part of the book was the personal diary entries of both of the girls. It was an eye-opening experience to have tangible evidence of the horrible conditions these girls have to work in. If the experiences were made up or fabricated, they might not have had the same impact on me as a reader. I was surprised to find out how much the girls switched factories. They knew that if they kept jumping from job to job they might be able to find something that is manageable. Also, I was sad to hear about the girls having no real friends to talk to or depend on while working in the factories. I would feel so alone in the world if I did not have anyone to lean on.

            One of the most surprising topics the book discussed was the fact that men were expected to stay at home and women were expected to go find work in the city. This is completely opposite than most western cultures, especially the United States. Also their standard workdays are nearly fifteen hours, whereas a long week to someone in our culture would be a 60 hour work week. I feel terrible for the girls because they have no free time to themselves. In the book one of the girls talked about having free time but it was only an hour or two. In college, I have felt like I have less free time to myself than I did in high school but compared to their life I have all the time in the world.

            In our class discussion last week we discussed how Min lost her cell phone and lost all contact with all of her friends and family. Because of this discussion it made me realize how dependent we are on technology to keep us connected with the world. It does make me feel better about western society, because we are not the only people who are so heavily dependent on technology. We also discussed the value of the items that they make in the factory. One of the girls explained that if they met their quota for the day they were sometimes allowed to take items off the line. In the United States we pay hundreds of dollars for a small Coach purse that she just gave away for free.

            Overall, I really enjoyed reading Factory Girls. I was glad that the author used real girls stories because it was easier to relate to them and go through their life stories. I was disheartened to know the working conditions for these girls to make items that we buy. I hope that because of this book people are trying to make a difference for these girls.