Three hard months in China

Just recently renewed the visa in Hong Kong. Three full months in China. We've seen it all. Solid black clouds of engine smoke so thick you can cut them with a knife. Mold growing copiously even in the most expensive residential complexes in the area. Cow intestines sold liberally on the streets, boiled and re-boiled day after day in the same blackened pot of vegetable oil. Broken watercoolers, hot water limited to 10 minutes, broken faucets, aircon so broken the light goes out when you turn it on.

We have visited factories where the most abject and destitute people on the planet work in the most appalling conditions for under 300$ a month. Underage kids hacking away at batteries touching dangerous chemicals with their bare hands in dark corners of warehouses that seem never to have been cleaned. Machine workers with missing fingers working in poorly ventilated factories at 30 degree temperature and 99% humidity. Other kids wasting away amidst toxic fumes, giving their health to spray paint electronic housings that will go in the trash can within 1 year in our consumption economy.

People selling literally anything by the muddy street sides, sitting on a curb covered by the ever present layer of concrete powder typical of many Chinese cities. Cheap socks, lighters, super knives, second hand books, pens. Some have nothing to sell and sit there with cardboard signs, hand written with permanent markers and cut without too much care, ready to remove the layer of concrete from your shoes, read your future according to a variety of techniques, or fix stuff. There's a big "fixing stuff" economy. Huge. Because everything's broken all the time. What is conspicuously absent: people asking for free money. As destitute and hopeless as people can be in an average developing Chinese city, everyone's scraping up the resources they have and trying to earn some money by providing some good or service. You won't read a sign that reads "I lost my job and I need to feed 3 children" or any other appeals to compassion.

Everyone is saving. Putting money in the bank first, then starting a little shop, a factory, a business. Everyone has a side activity, sometimes carried out at the same time as one's regular job. Taxi drivers wait by key spots and try to overcharge you by 400% to get to other parts of town. Everyone can refer you to a friend or family member who is in a specific field or profession. There aren't many rules. Contracts are signed but can't be enforced. Subletting apartments is forbidden by the contract but everyone does it. Pets are always allowed. The elevator's test date has expired weeks ago, but no one cares. One day the elevator's buttons were missing and people were almost sticking their fingers into the hole risking electrocution. It's all good.

And as long as you're not buying armaments or challenging the establishment the government is out of your way. Is this communism?

As bad as the situation may seem to an outsider, on the average Chinese people have two great assets. First, an extremely strong social network. Families and friendship matter a lot. You help each other. Second, despite what you may read on the news about factory workers suicide, a very large segment of the people here have hope. You will find a lot more hopelessness among the young in western societies than here. Here, there is real upward mobility. Everyone's got at least one friend who became rich in the past few years.

This is not our first time in China but it's been the hardest, because we're actually trying to get stuff done, which causes headaches on a daily basis. Very soon we'll give the go ahead on the plastic mold and should be able to leave for 2-3 weeks... then perhaps come back to sort out some final things like PCB assembly, colors, and leave again. That's probably wishful thinking, because there are still many challenges ahead even after we launch.

It's been very hard staying here especially due to noise, pollution and lack of sleep, but we got a whole lot done.

If the business is successful and we can get enough cashflow to do things in a more relaxed way in the future (and pay our guys a bit more, and waste a little less time trying to find the absolute best deals and spend a little more time focus on the technology) then it will all have been worth it.

Comments

By Slave_guy at 2010-06-15 07:35:06 Reply

Keep at it guys. I don't know if I'm excited or just plain scared that you're nearing (somewhat) completion!