FACTORY GIRLS by Leslie T. Chang



THE GIST:

A journalist spends a few years following young migrant workers in one of China's booming factory towns, telling the story of their lives as it happens.

THE VERDICT:

This is a fascinating chronicle of a unique generation in China. Leslie Chang explores the lives of young women who leave their rural villages to work in the big city. From as young as 16 they must learn to survive and create their own luck in a rapidly changing country. She also tells of her own family's history in China and how they became migrants to America.

Chang's research took her into the factories, dormitories and social lives of her subjects, and she even traveled home with them to their villages during Chinese New Year. These women have unprecedented indepedence, and take on leading roles when they send money home and become the highest earners in their families. They do not always stay in the factories, and Chang watched as they pursued futher education with the goal of becoming clerks, speakers of Cantonese and English, receptionists, and even health supplement saleswomen.

Chang's primary aim was to tell the real, personal stories of the Chinese industrial machine, rather than focusing on factory conditions and injustices. Her book reminded me of The Jungle in that it put a human face on factory life. She writes of the incredible drive and determination of these young women who are doing what no one else in previous generations has done before.

THE LINK:

This is my account of Leslie Chang's lecture at the Hong Kong International Literary Festival. This is her Random House profile.

THE COST:

$10.99 for the Kindle edition

THE QUESTION:

What do you think about Chang's method of writing her story in reverse?