I met who builds mine and your phones, VCRs, TVs, Computers

I spend all day today talking to a few 17, 18 year old kids that work in factories in Xiamen building products that we all use every day. They invited me and my coworker to their home; we went out for a walk and had lunch and dinner together. It was a great day and I learned a lot.
Xiamen if one of the manufacturing centers in China. Just across the water from Taiwan, it is an ideal place for Taiwanese companies to setup their manufacturing center on the mainland. Your phones, TVs, and other household appliances are very likely have been produced here in Xiamen or in Shenzen which is to the west of Xiamen and is the closest mainland city from Hong Kong.

I am here in Xiamen for the 3rd time; I am working closely with an OEM a product. On my first visit to Xiamen I noticed a lot of people walking in the city in groups wearing the same uniforms and I discovered that they were factory workers and had just finished their shift. That reminded me of Bangalore in India were at 6 PM the city springs up to life as thousands of people start their daily work in the call centers. They work the night shift which corresponds to the day time in US.

I could not contain my curiosity I wanted to meet these factory workers and talk to them. My first few attempts were not very successful but eventually on my 3rd trip I made a few friends and they invited me to their house and answered all the questions I had.

I met the kids that I went out today with on my 2nd visit to Xiamen. One day at lunch break my coworker Stanley and I went to a little village center beside the factory we were visiting. There were several grocery stores and a lot of restaurants and other shops in that neighborhood. The little village center is a few minutes walking distance away from several large OEM factories and it is the place the factory workers buy food and other necessities. The best way that I can describe the atmosphere of this place is "university campus". The place is full of 18-24 year old kids laughing, walking in groups of 3 to 4. They are all the same age, wear basically the same kind of clouds and work at the same factories. Most girls walk in small groups and they tightly hold each other's hand and laugh and giggle constantly.

The second time I was in Xiamen I really wanted to talk to people but most of kids are very shy and would only look at me though the corner of their eyes. Occasionally someone would say "Hello" as they walked by me and Stanley. Before I had a chance to say anything they would turn away and giggle with their friends and pass by. Finally at one of these occasions I managed to corner them and with the help of Stanley talk to them for a few minutes asking their age and where they were from, and eventually their phone numbers.

This time, on my 3rd visit, we called the kids up and arranged to meet them for dinner. That led to an invitation to a party in our honor in their house the next day.

In course of several meetings we all learned a lot about each other and became friends. I hope in the future I could find a chance to go with them to back to their home town and see where they came from.

I will write more about the life of the kids here in Xiamen. Here is a short summary:

An assembly line worker here in Xiamen makes about 800-1000RMB ($100-$125) per month. After food and housing and cell phone and internet café charges they are left with about 200RMB ($25) which they save or send home. On average they will work here for about 2 years before returning to their hometown. They are very mobile both mentally and physically and can change their job easily so the factories can't take too much advantage of them. In general I would say that they have a happy life. The factory assembly job is monotonous and boring for their them but they are independent, relatively free and will return home a bit richer than before. Their standard of living is probably is at the high end of the scale for factory workers because they work in high tech companies and they are considered specialized workers.
One of the girls today said talking to a foreigner and having dinner with him is the most exciting thing she has done so far in her life. I had a great experience as well. :-)