The China Price is a landmark eyewitness exposé about the consequences of China’s ceaseless pursuit of economic growth, from unethical business practices to pollution to an epidemic of occupational diseases. Author Alexandra Harney takes readers into Chinese factories and their dormitories to show youths who have flocked from the countryside to take dangerous manufacturing jobs. She visits model factories, where rules on working hours and product safety are followed, as well as “shadow” factories (often operated under contract to the same owners) where anything goes in the drive to produce cheaper products. Harney also finds stirrings of change; aided by regional labor shortages, rising wages and intrepid activists. Chinese workers are demanding—and gradually winning—more rights.
Alexandra Harney worked as a reporter and editor at the Financial Times from 1998 to 2007. She has been reporting on Asia for most of the past decade and currently lives in Hong Kong.
Thursday, April 17, 2008
12:00 PM to 1:00 PM
Center for Labor Research and Education, 2521 Channing Way