LABOR in CHINA: 3 documentary films for ele.,middle, & sec sch.s

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

What is it like to work in China's factories...especially if you are a young female migrant worker? There a 3 excellent films which examine this problem: "CHINA BLUE"; "A Decent Factory: Made in China"; and "MARDI GRAS: Made in China".

"CHINA BLUE, directed by Micha Peled, is an outstanding film! I feel it is the best of the three. It can be shown to all age groups; elementary, middle, and high school...primary level elementary teachers might want to shorten it slightly.

"CHINA BLUE" has an excellent website [http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/chinablue]. The website has a tremendous amount of information about the film, the blue jeans business, human rights in China, behind-the-scenes stories,and more. Especially the website http://www.pbs.org/itvs/storewars/sweatshops.html This site documents how much U.S. companies pay their Chinese workers...$0.13 to $0.25 per hour...Wal-mart, Sears, Liz Claybourne, Kmart, J.C. Penny, etc....

Micha Peled says "...My idea from the start was to feature a new worker, a girl who has just arrived from the village on her first day at work, as the protagonist." "...Before we started filming with Jasmine , we filmed for over a year with a different girl who had just arived in the factory. When we went to film her in her village, the police arrested our crew and threatened the family because they were cooperating with foreign media. We had to throw away all the footage with[sic we] had with her. We went back to the factory and started all over with Jasmine, and fortunately the Chinese pollice never tracked us down."

"Our film is banned in China and we've decided it's better for Jasmine not to be associated with the film and the filmmakers. The factory owner [a former police chief] got into trouble with local authorities for collaborating with foreign media without a permit, but he knows who to bribe and how to navigate the system."

THIS IS A MUST SEE MOVIE...YOUR STUDENTS WILL THANK YOU!

"MARDI GRAS: Made in China" is an interesting film that juxtaposes the Mardi Gras revellers tossing beads to fellow revellers, with the workers and working conditions in the factories that produce the beads. The film was directed, produced, and edited by David Redmon. The Chinese factory is Tai Kuen Factory, Fuzhou, Fujian, China. This is also a very good film about the workers and working conditions in China.
[NOTE: There are a few brief scenes of American girls lifting their tee shirts for beads in New Orleans]
When the New Orleans revellers are shown scenes of the factories in China their mood becomes somber, BUT when the Chinese workers are shown pictures of how the beads are used they smile and broke into laughter. [I don't know how or if Katrina has impacted the factory.]

Third film, "A Decent Factory: Made in China", is about the investigation of a factory in Shenzhen, Guangdong, China, by two Corporate Ethics Specialists sent by Nokia, the Finnish cell manufacturer. The film was directed by Thomas Balmes. They found that most of the workers had no contracts [required by Chinese law], earned about $2.65 [U.S.] per day for about 12-14 hours a day, were subjected to many monetary "fines", had to pay to live 8 to a "dorm" room with cold water, were routinely forced to work overtime past legal limits, and are given little or no time off. I would recommend this film to middle and high school classes.

I have seen all three films several times...They are all good...But I think "CHINA BLUE" is the best.

[Edit by="mwhittemore on Jun 30, 3:02:10 PM"][/Edit]
[Edit by="mwhittemore on Jul 15, 10:20:09 AM"][/Edit]

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