Inside China's 'Christmas Factory' Town, Yiwu

jones_supa writes China's manufacturing industry continues booming, which has led to the the town of Yiwu (a city of about 1.2m people in central Zhejiang province) being christened "China's Christmas village." The town has become the home of 600 factories that collectively churn out over 60% of all the world's Christmas decorations and accessories. The "elves" that staff these factories are mainly migrant labourers, working 12 hours a day for a maximum of £200 to £300 a month – and it turns out that all of them are not even entirely sure what Christmas is. Nevertheless, there are corridors lined with nothing but tinsel, streets throbbing with competing LED light shows, stockings of every size, plastic Christmas trees in blue and yellow and fluorescent pink, plastic pine cones in gold and silver. The complex of Yiwu International Trade Market was declared by the United Nations to be the "largest small commodity wholesale market in the world" and the scale of the operation necessitates a kind of urban plan, with this festival of commerce organised into five different districts, of which District Two is solely dedicated for Christmas stuff.

Comments

That's good money

[Anonymous Coward]

At 200 to 300 pounds month that is good money. Realize one must adjust for local economies. That isn't London. Living expenses are far lower in Christmas Town.

Re:That's good money

[Anonymous Coward]

agreed, when your total expenses a week are like 10 pounds, and your food, transportation, and housing are paid for while at the factory, your just bringing in some bank for being a totally unskilled ignorant farm fuck

Mandatory reading

[Anonymous Coward]

Before any uninformed comments start blossoming... mandatory reading about the chinese migrants workers: 'Factory Girls' by Leslie T. Chang.

She also gave a great TED speech, The voice of Chinese Factory Workers' , which is a nice introduction to her book.

These jobs represent an exit for most of these workers, the opportunity to build their life as they wish - or try. Like anywhere.

Re:Mandatory reading

[DerekLyons]

These jobs represent an exit for most of these workers, the opportunity to build their life as they wish - or try.

Yeah. She's one of the lucky ones, she got out. Most don't. You'll never hear from them though.
 

Before any uninformed comments start blossoming

The crappy living conditions, the crappy hours, the lack of industrial safety, the crappy pay... all these things are well documented. Commenting on them is far from uninformed.

TFA is a big bullshit !

[Taco Cowboy]

I am from China, although I am an American now, I do run businesses and some of them are in China

When I read the " ... for a maximum of £200 to £300 a month" I know that TFA is a big bullshit !

The minimum salary for even an unskilled labor in the China's eastern shore is at least £500 a month

While that figure is still minuscule by Western standard, nevertheless that figure is still much more than that " ... a maximum of £200 to £300 a month" bullshit !

Re:TFA is a big bullshit !

[ShanghaiBill]

The minimum salary for even an unskilled labor in the China's eastern shore is at least £500 a month

It is likely that they are using data from a few years ago. Salaries have risen dramatically in the last few years. I lived in Shanghai ten years ago, and was able to hire unskilled workers for $100 / month, and degreed engineers for $400. Today, it would cost at least five times that. Shanghai is more expensive than many other areas, but Zhejiang is not cheap. It is just south of Shanghai, and a lot of high end manufacturing is done there.

I have been to Yiwu several times, and the place is amazing. There is block after block of buildings filled with product displays and sales offices. There is often an entire building devoted to just a single product, like, say, hair pins. Most major retailers, including Walmart, Target, Sears, etc. have permanent offices there. But most of the stuff sold there is not manufactured in Yiwu. Most of the goods are shipped in from manufacturing hubs in Shenzhen, Pudong, etc.

Re:TFA is a big bullshit !

[Anonymous Coward]

You are overshooting and the article is undershooting.

Some useful numbers, current as of today:
BP200 ~ RMB1900
BP300 ~ RMB2900
BP500 ~ RMB4800

Looking at the income levels in China, you start with the legal minimum wage, which is under RMB2,000/month for anywhere (Shanghai is near that, Beijing is a little lower, and everywhere else falls lower). So it is *possible* for a factory worker in Zhejiang to make BP200/month, especially since factory workers tend to live in company dorms (non-cash compensation) and may have other company benefits (e.g. the company canteen can be cheap).

However, we can expect most low-skilled workers to make *above* minimum wage. Still, at BP300/month you can get low-skilled labor in the wealthiest urban areas. E.g. right now, you can hire restaurant staff for BP300/month in Beijing (they also live in a company dorm); the same with most of the hospitality industry, security guards, etc. So it is *very* possible to find low-skilled labor at BP300/month, even in an expensive city. (Total benefits definitely raises this though to your GP500/month figure.)

Then we come to China's official data (via the NBS), which reports that *average* manufacturing sector wages are ~RMB4300/month (GB445) (see: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/china/wages) . That's *average* and yet below your GB500/month. Let's remember what averages mean in a labor market. Creating plastic Christmas paraphernalia does not fall on the high-end of the manufacturing sector and labor sectors tend to have extreme incomes at the high-end (a few workers make a lot more than most). Thus RMB3000-4000/month is a conservative guess at the *median*.

So BP300 (RMB2900) to BP400 (RMB3900) seems reasonable for a factory worker making seasonal low-value-added Christmas merchandise, even if they are in the East.

See confirmation of this range in a recent China Labor Watch report on the Toy Industry (http://www.chinalaborwatch.org/report/104). They deplore the low wages in some toy factories, compared to what they cite as the *higher* wages in manufacturing at RMB3500/month (working at about 80 hours week).

Re:TFA is a big bullshit !

[Charliemopps]

No, the AC that posted that is just an idiot. The minimum wage in China is different from region to region, even city to city. In most of the factory regions it's around $200/month.

Re:TFA is a big bullshit !

[LynnwoodRooster]

I am from China, although I am an American now, I do run businesses and some of them are in China

When I read the " ... for a maximum of £200 to £300 a month" I know that TFA is a big bullshit !

Really? I think you don't know China, nor do you do any business there. Zhejiang has the highest minimum wage, and it peaks in Ningbo at 1550 RMB per month (this information is out of date a bit, but pretty close to current conditions). That's 160 pounds sterling. Given that only inexperienced/brand new workers will earn minimum wage, the range of 200 to 300 pounds sterling is completely understandable and expected (that's about 2000 to 3000 RMB per month).

Additionally, new sales staff/office trainees in places like Shanghai run about 3500 RMB per month (low-level white collar) and a fresh acoustical engineering grad from the University of Nanjing (top Chinese school) in the top 10% of his class earns 4500 RMB (about 450 pounds sterling) per month. A very experienced (8 year) office manager with excellent English skills and 5 years experience working for Western companies earns 8000 RMB per month. How do I know? I just returned 4 days ago from Shanghai, where I signed contracts for all those positions.

Factory workers in China in the East rarely start at more than minimum wage. 1500 to 2000 RMB is a very good starting wage, and line bosses/leads may earn double that amount. Well below your 5000 RMB per month minimum salary.

Re:TFA is a big bullshit !

[LynnwoodRooster]

Note that $500 is about 300 pounds - right in line with the story. And smaller cities in Zhejiang typically are 20-30% less than the Shanghai area. I know in Suzhou my factories tend to pay around 2500 RMB for a 1-2 year experienced worker, with performance bonuses adding up to 1000 RMB on top of that.

Re:TFA is a big bullshit !

[donscarletti]

£200 to £300 is 2,000 to 3,000 Yuan RMB.

In Beijing, where salaries are amongst the highest in China, I know plenty of professionals, like teachers with masters degrees (from BJ's top tier schools) and three or four years experience working for 4,000-5,000. At my company, which does game development, which is seen as a lucrative career, we pay graduates about 3,000.

I don't know about Yiwu, but at least in Ningbo, which is a bigger and wealthier city nearby, where my previous company has got manufacturing operations, salary for factory workers did not reach 1,500 three years ago when I was last there and could not have doubled in these years. Zhejiang people are the most tight, miserly people in China, if not the world, which is why they can create these decorations so cheaply, and they do not do so by paying their workers well.

You cannot make 5,000 doing factory labour anywhere in China, not in Tianjin, not in Shenzhen and especially not in any city in Zhejiang or Jiangsu. Hell, you probably wouldn't get more than 5,000 managing an entire assembly line in Yiwu.

Someone give them a color calibration sensor

[Anonymous Coward]

Whatever it is that they're comparing their "warm-white" LEDs to has a greenish tint. Or maybe they just need to use better lighting in the factories because that's their reference? Anyway, I'm sick of returning LED strings for that obvious tint.

Re:Someone give them a color calibration sensor

[Deep Esophagus]

Anyway, I'm sick of returning LED strings for that obvious tint.

#FirstWorldProblems

Re:Someone give them a color calibration sensor

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't you just hate it when your Christmas lights have a greenish tint? Completely ruins your holiday!.

Re:Someone give them a color calibration sensor

[CODiNE]

I'll have to try that next time my boss complains about something I don't feel like fixing.

Attention Walmart (and ASDA) shoppers

[Anonymous Coward]

Price drop in aisle five.

Pity the archeologists

[ColdWetDog]

From thousands of years in the future (assuming we get that far). Walking through post apocalyptic sand dunes and finding some ancient city on the (new) coast line. Excitedly digging into years and years of old civilization.

To discover this?

They'd be scarred for life.

Re:Pity the archeologists

[Anonymous Coward]

I don't know, there's plenty of archeologists interested in Monte Testaccio. It's simply a large mountain of broken clay pots, mostly alike.

Christmas Capital?

[wb8nbs]

And all this time I thought it was Frankenmuth.

Looks like we'll be hearing a lot about Yiwu.

[Anonymous Coward]

The Silk Railway: freight train from China pulls up in Madrid
The First Yiwu-Madrid Train Starts In Jinhua
Yiwu to Madrid cargo train could touch 3 billion lives
China flags train to Madrid to revive Silk Route

cost of living

[Anonymous Coward]

The cost of living must be low because they make $244.490 - $366.729 USD a month. I assume that rent and food is cheap. Most people ride bikes. I'm not trying to stereotype but I am just asking.

Re:cost of living

[Anonymous Coward]

like most chineese industrial centers its all paid for and provided to the worker, they get almost pure profit outside the booze, toys like phones, and gambling they do

Reminds me of the 1988 US Presidential election

[Anonymous Coward]

The Republicans insinuated that the Democrat candidate (Dukakis) wasn't patriotic or "tough enough" on military affairs, so both campaigns organized ridiculous photo-ops with patriotic and/or military themes. Dukakis was filmed riding around in a tank. George HW Bush was shown touring an American flag factory.

Since "holiday political correctness" is a staple for criticism on conservative talk radio, maybe one of the 2016 GOP candidates will fly over to Christmastown for a TV ad.

why why why why why?

[k6mfw]

this kind of stuff posted that distracts from engaging comments on a subject that needs discussion i.e. where all the christmas stuff comes from.

Re:why why why why why?

[Anonymous Coward]

this kind of stuff posted that distracts from engaging comments on a subject that needs discussion i.e. where all the christmas stuff comes from.

... and by replying to it, you drawing even more attention, and increasing the number of mod points needed to get it off the page.

NEVER RESPOND TO TROLLS.

Crossed the line

[Anonymous Coward]

Nut crackers made from the same material used by macbooks...