A Review of Chapter 5&6

In Chapter 5, it gives a review of the development of the cotton textile industry in China. It explained the close connection between Texas and Shanghai. While Texas supplied the most cotton, China also grew to consume the most cotton in the world. Though China underwent a series of changes before 1949, it began to recover the cotton textile industry in the late 1970s. In response to the readers’ doubts, the author explained the reasons she could access to the inside of Chinese factories when she wrote her first book and the difficulties that she met after her first book was translated into Chinese. By contrast, the author addressed the different treatments in Washington and China as a Nobody and a Writer. It was indicated that China had strict policies to control various forms of secrecy at that time, particularly in the state-owned factories. Next, the author gave some details about Shanghai Number 36 Cotton Yarn Factory. It was located in outskirts of Shanghai, and the surroundings were in a mess. There was also no signs of each building. Inside the factory, noise, dust, and steam could be felt everywhere. The walls were also painted awfully. Only the sweet smell of soft cotton and yarn was comfortable. The whole production was simple and circular and under the control of the central planning of the government. Another factory the author visited was The Shanghai Brightness Number 3 Garment Factory. This plant was also built far away from the downtown and mainly produced clothing. It was found that the cutting job was still done by people while most of the cutting were done by technology in America. However, the technology made little progress on the sewing stage of the production both for Chinese and American factories. That stage could possibly result in sweatshops, which could bring threats to the workers’ life quality and environmental balance. It was argued that China’s leading position in the textile and apparel industries because of low prices was preferred by consumers and corporates, rather than the workers and the planet.

In Chapter 6, it examined the long race to the bottom from the beginning in Britain until spreading into China. Different from Chinese family’s self-sufficient style in cotton textile production, the British were more inventive. The creation and introduction of spinning jennies into cotton cloth production made the price of cotton yarn in Britain fall sharply, which started the race to the bottom. Britain’s revolution in the textile industry led to the fast growth of the world economy and also pushed many poor and helpless people into the cotton mills. Most of the workers were women and children since they were cheap, abundant and obedient. With the textile technology leaked out, Britain ended its short dominance in the textile industry and was replaced by America. After the Industrial Revolution in America, the New England cotton mills occupied American mass market and only left a smaller part of the market to Britain. They also adopted the same labor strategy like Britain that they preferred to employ the docile, hard-working women and children. After a short period, most of the textile manufacturing was transferred from New England to the South because of the lower labor cost. The Southern mills took over most of the Chinese market from Britain with its heavy and coarse cotton cloth. But by the mid-1930s, Japan rose to compete with all the other cotton textile producers. The wages in Japan were even much lower than that in America and Britain. Most of the workers were also from rural areas, poor, young, and diligent women. But by the 1970s, Hong Kong, Korea and Taiwan surpassed Japan and gained the leadership as Japan’s share fell in the textile and apparel industries. Labor cost in those areas was even much lower than that in Japan. The textile workers were still those cheap and obedient rural young women. Then the race came to China mainland because the mainland had plenty of labor but much lower cost than any of the countries or areas mentioned above.

When the race to the bottom stopped in China mainland, the question comes to us that it is temporary or permanent? I would like to say it would do no harm to the people in China whether it is a temporary or permanent leadership for textile and apparel industries. Thus, it also makes no sense to discuss whether the leadership is fleeting or not. Firstly, “made in China” is not confined to a single category of products or any industry. China has been striving for diversified economic development for many years and accomplished a lot. The social progress they made was due to the advancement of technologies in various industries. Secondly, few people are living with no alternatives in China. Though Chinese government is a one-party system, it has well-structured administration offices that can be more efficient to check and balance the well-being of every citizen. There are many policies and subsidies to help those in trouble. They don’t have to be exploited in the textile and apparel factories. Thirdly, the labor laws in China prohibited the employment of children under the age of eighteen. If anyone violates the law, he will be punished severely and be condemned by the whole society. Supervision and administration work on child laborer are conducted strictly and frequently by the relevant departments. Fourthly, women in China are also protected by laws. They enjoy almost the same salary and power as the men for the same position. They also have the same right as men to obtain enough education. Therefore, China’s economic development relies on more innovations and advancement of technologies, rather than only the cheap labor cost.