Have you ever wondered what it's like in a Chinese toy factory?? Here's your chance to check it out. These people live in the same building they work.
They're getting paid about $240 a month. If they work 10 hours a day like the Japanese/Chinese that work for Apple, then they're making $1.20/hour. That is INSANE!!! Sure, these toys are cheaper, but only because the corporations that are hiring the Chinese are so damned cheap, they want their profit margin as high as possible. They don't care about the worker.
I, on the other hand, pay myself just a bit over minimum wage, and yet I provide you with more quality, but less quantity. It's the quality of the product that matters, right, and not the exploitation of another race just because we can.
Please share this link with your friends and families who are part of the world that shops at stores like Wal-Mart or Toys R US. Tell them, encourage them to shop HANDMADE because in doing so, we can hopefully make a difference. That, and you are helping your local artists to make a living from their art.
You can read about Chinese labour here: http://imgur.com/a/wrIds
SACOM is a Hong Kong-based NGO which highlights abusive working conditions in the mainland and fights for labour rights in Chinese factories: http://sacom.hk/two-journal-articles-on-apples-foxconn-factories-in-china/
Thank you for posting this. I am always very conscious of where I purchase and what I purchase and I always read labels. If more people did the same we could really make an impact!
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