- ISBN13: 9780385520188
- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
An eye-opening and previously untold story, Factory Girls is the first look into the everyday lives of the migrant factory population in China.
China has 130 million migrant workers—the largest migration in human history. In Factory Girls, Leslie T. Chang, a former correspondent for the Wall Street Journal in Beijing, tells the story of these workers primarily through the lives of two young women, whom she follows over the course of three years as they … More >>
Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China
In summary, Factory Girls is very difficult and slow to read, and the content is highly suspect. There are too many simple sentences that make the reading choppy, making the author’s thoughts disjointed and lacking in cohesion. Complex sentences are often used at awkward places in the paragraph, contributing to the difficult reading. The writing comes across as if the author was a factory girl, which was confusing to me. I have worked and lived in China for many years and have traveled for both work and leisure to over 30 cities in China. I can tell you this: Most (as in 90%) of the girls who work in factories do so because of one primary reason – money. Secondary reasons would be for personal development or what have you, but it would be intellectually dishonest to say that money is not the only primary reason. Maybe that is true for a small number of the girls (as in 10%), who go to work in factories for personal development and “see the world,” but I can assure you, from first-hand experience and having been in the trenches, most are motivated by money as THE primary reason to migrate to the cities and work in factories. Other items (content) are also suspect. For example, on page 101, the author talked about “Love triangles and extramarital affairs are common….” and proceeded to give one example of a “young woman” who committed suicide “over a failed love affair.” Does one example make it common? In my experience and as I understand it, Chinese people make some of the most faithful spouses, relative to the rest of the world. I’m not sure how many millions of factory girls there are in China, and I’m not sure how many factory girls the author interviewed or spoke with; but it seems to me that she is making alot of generalizations based on a few encounters. Anyways, I don’t need to make this review an essay.
Rating: 1 / 5
Hello? Paperback for $10.88 and Kindle edition for $12.57?
Have we had too much party cheer, Amazon?
Rating: 3 / 5
Needed the book for a chinese history class and arrived just in time for the start of class. The books boring though, but interesting.
Rating: 5 / 5
This is really two books in one. The first is about the factory girls in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong. Although the stories are interesting, I think Ms. Chang is too gullible, especially concerning Chinese prostitutes, who are not all the happy campers that Ms. Chang seems to believe, and the Chinese gangsters she seems to have a schoolgirl crush on. At any rate, with the current worldwide economic downturn, these stories are now already out of date.
The second book is about Ms. Chang’s family history, which to me was of little interest at all.
Rating: 3 / 5
I just finished reading “Factory Girls” by Leslie T. Chang. This book is by far the most fascinating book I ever read on life in China and its’ factory workers. The author, Ms. Chang wrote an excellent thought provoking book. I literally could not put this book down, and found Mins and Chunmings lives quite unforgettable.
For people interested in Chinas’ socio-economic, cultural, and it’s history, go and buy this book. I give this book a five star rating!!
Rating: 3 / 5