Bollinger's Blog
Made in China? / May 1, 10:12 AM
So a couple days ago I did an employment intake for a new refugee from China. Because he lives in the same apartment complex as we do, I offered to give him a ride home after work (also, he was really enjoyable to talk to and I wanted Annie to meet him). You see, he’s faced a lot of persecution, but is an intellectual who has taught English and Chinese to Chinese and American university students (respectively) as a professor in China for several years.
That being said, he and I sat down for tea in our living room when we got home and had a great and humorous conversation about my apparently striking semblance to a famous actor in China (I’ll try to find more out about that one!), the cuisine of his region in China (nothing like you will find at any restaurant here), the cost of living and food here (the cost of living is way more expensive here but foods like meat are WAY cheaper here?!).
Well before long we reached the subject of his several years spent in a Chinese prison, in a labor camp. He has such a pleasant and energetic manner that you would think he was telling you about his big backpacking trip up north! Anyway, he said, “Yes, we had to make lamps” (and he looked over at our little WalMart special and said) “Just like this one, (slight pause of inspection) even with this little thing sticking out the side!” “And we also made plastic flowers. You know ‘bouquets’?” I asked, “Like this?” pointing to the diverse little bouquet of Walmart flowers I’d bought for Annie to suffice for the three seasons I’d be missing out on while I was studying in Spain. He looked at them excitedly and laughed, “Yes, actually, they looked just like this kind.” So I decided to bravely turn over the lamp and there in big bold letters, taunting my consumer innocence was just what you would expect (hint: it didn’t say “Made in the USA”). He laughed, awkwardly, (I couldn’t summon any response) and said something to the effect of, “Ah, perhaps I made this one?”
And that was about it for the day’s really awkward international moments. But anyway, I thought it was still funny that I found an article in the newspaper later that day about the topic of work in prisons. It said that, in reality, the US imprisons more sheer numbers of people and employs more of those prisoners to manufacture things than even China (in spite of the size gap). Notably however, US prisoners generally work by CHOICE! Then I didn’t feel quite as awkward about the manufacturing part, but I still was frustrated by the thought that, while I know that MOST of those prisoners in US factories are getting something resembling a fair trial, people like my client and literally MILLIONS of others in China’s factory/prisons are there without even having been charged with anything resembling a crime (particularly religious prisoners) and certainly aren’t getting a fair trial.
Hope that proves more than cafeteria food for thought the next time you’re mulling over your purchases at your local store, whether it’s a big box store cutting costs or a mom and pop store trying to stay afloat with international wholesale. As always, I don’t have ultimate answers here for justice, but I hope it makes you think a bit.
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