Southern China: The unemployed have not become violent. What else is new?
A post on the Financial Times “Dragonbeat” blog helps to rectify the “migrant workers gone wild” media fest of the past few months. These guys are getting it right. Anyone interested in this topic should read the FT article. (h/t to Danwei)
My comment on the post:
[There] was never an apparent trend toward violence on the part of unemployed workers in Southern China. There were a few protests, and very little violence, by workers who were abandoned without severance pay. As these few anecdotes echoed between blog and newspaper and back again, it seemed as if the trend toward worker violence was growing. Actually, it was the same few recycled anecdotes over and over again.
Those of us who live and work here in Southern China (I run a factory in Dongguan) could see first hand how distorted and repetitive the media story was.
Yes there are many unemployed. No, they are not threatening anyone and never were. Not news to anyone living here.
The real news here is how so many of the media outlets, new and old alike, have lazily copied and amplified one another’s inaccuracies.
Newspapers complain about free content on the internet pushing them out of business. Maybe it’s just poor quality ruining their business.
Ah, yes, the blame the media strategy. You have now qualified to work for Xinhua, I think–a true friend of China.
Your comparison of changing a factory to potty training shows just what you think of the Chinese people.
Another China expert–live in China, add computer and blog, and presto, you get to tell people how “things are really done”.
I never blamed the media, except to say that many news outlets, including large mainstream outlets, got the story wrong. This happens to be the truth– there was very little social disruption caused by unemployed workers in the Pearl River Delta, and the newspapers kept telling us otherwise. They didn’t do their homework. If they had, they’d have known the truth, which was apparent to those of us living and working here.
I had to search to find the reference to potty training. I think you have misread. I was NOT comparing my work in factories to potty training. I was referring to myself (or those like me) who in talking about their work are like grandparents talking about things which are boring for other people (like the intimate details of their grandkids’ lives– first steps, first words, potty training status, etc.). I think you need to reread. If it is not clear, I will re-write to leave NO DOUBT that I respect individuals, whether they be Chinese or otherwise.
For reference, you can read other posts which state rather clearly that the Chinese are in equal to any other group of people in their ability to grasp new concepts, and to find and implement creative solutions. This blog labels as racists those who denigrate the Chinese and deny their ability.