To read the summary, reviews, book excerpt and Q&A, click on Leslie T Chang's website.
Factory Girls is basically a story about the immense population of unknown women who work countless hours, often in hazardous conditions, to provide us with the material goods we take for granted.
A book of global significance, it demonstrates how the movement from rural villages to cities to power the assembly lines of the nation's export economy is transforming individual lives and the fates of families in China.
Ironically, migration has become the chief source of rural livelihood.
Factory Girls was named one of the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2008 and also received the 2009 PEN USA Literary Award for Research Nonfiction and the Asian American Literary Award for Nonfiction.
The author on her book and a Q&A session:
A book of global significance, it demonstrates how the movement from rural villages to cities to power the assembly lines of the nation's export economy is transforming individual lives and the fates of families in China.
Ironically, migration has become the chief source of rural livelihood.
This book, divided into two parts - The City and The Village - is for anyone who is interested in humanity and in China.
The City tells of migrants who are doing their best to eke out a living and to survive in a world a million miles away from home in the literal sense. After all, city life is lonely so it is no surprise that the most useful lesson they learn is to rely on oneself. It is a dog-eat-dog world out in the city and only the toughest live to tell the tale. It is a place without memory.
The Village is more reminiscent of pastoral life and this is my favourite part to read. Family, farming, the land and deep-rooted traditions are still very much a part of life in the rural areas. People are simple, poor and put up with their lot. The pace of life is so much slower. Life remains mostly stagnant but no matter what happens in the city, you can always "go home" to your village and find someone you know there. The polar opposite of The City, The Village is filled with childhood memories.
Chang has also reserved a chapter for her family history going back as far as 1700, during the reign of Emperor Kangxi (1654-1722) of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and how they all became Chinese Americans as years and years went by.
It is a compelling read.
The City tells of migrants who are doing their best to eke out a living and to survive in a world a million miles away from home in the literal sense. After all, city life is lonely so it is no surprise that the most useful lesson they learn is to rely on oneself. It is a dog-eat-dog world out in the city and only the toughest live to tell the tale. It is a place without memory.
The Village is more reminiscent of pastoral life and this is my favourite part to read. Family, farming, the land and deep-rooted traditions are still very much a part of life in the rural areas. People are simple, poor and put up with their lot. The pace of life is so much slower. Life remains mostly stagnant but no matter what happens in the city, you can always "go home" to your village and find someone you know there. The polar opposite of The City, The Village is filled with childhood memories.
Chang has also reserved a chapter for her family history going back as far as 1700, during the reign of Emperor Kangxi (1654-1722) of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), and how they all became Chinese Americans as years and years went by.
It is a compelling read.
Factory Girls was named one of the New York Times 100 Notable Books of 2008 and also received the 2009 PEN USA Literary Award for Research Nonfiction and the Asian American Literary Award for Nonfiction.
I do not rate books of this nature.
The author on her book and a Q&A session:
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