Handbag Factory, Food - Southern China

Here I am in Southern China! I am living in Guangzhou right now with my aunt, my little cousin, and my grandma. This is what I've been doing:

1) On the way to the largest mall in southern China (Humen), our driver picked up a buddy of his near Shenzhen. His wife is a manager or something of a purse-making factory, so we got to see a glimpse of it. An open floor plan with aisles and aisles of sewing machines!!! About 5000-6000 sq ft. Along the sides are the people sorting out the materials to be sewn together, gluing things, and hammering on the hardware, and putting the final touches. A few people eating meals out of small metal tins. The first floor of the factory is where they roll out enormous sheets of plastic and fabrics and punch out the shapes they need to make the panels and straps of the purses. HUGE rolls, and very synthetic smelling (can't be that healthy). Nice people, no one's treated badly. It's ventilated, but the sanitation's not great, but sanitation's not great anywhere around here. But it's monotonous work. At least you get to sit with your friends. The workers are mostly younger women, with a few young guys who look like they're in their teens. They work from 7 AM to 10 PM with small eating breaks in between, but I guess it's timed so that the factory doesnt ever stop production. Their pay is between 700-800 RMB (around 100 USD) per month including a dorm room and meals. A lot of workers are uneducated. They send money back to their families from other parts of China. Compared to the incomes there, they make a lot of money. They probably see it as decent, hard-earned wages, so there's nothing to complain about. (This is how we get our goods cheap, right?) They get designs from Japan, produce them, and export exclusively to Japan (and a few orders to the US). (Out of this, I got two waist bags; I have to admit, they are quite cute). On the way to and from, the highway is just lined and lined with these anonymous factories, concrete mid-rise structures with colorful tiles pasted on.

2) Next, we went to Humen, the city near Guangzhou with the largest number of clothing/fashion producing factories in the entire nation. We went to this enormous 9 story mall and wandered around a bit. Incredible lots of cheap cheap clothing and shoes and bags. ENORMOUS selection. For example, I must have seen at least 60-70 varieties of converses and vans. Lots of factory extras and (hm i dont know what the technical word for it is ... post-production? the illegally produced extras after a factory finishes a shipment, sold to the local market). I got a very pretty sweater and black military-like shoes for a total of 163 kuai (about 20 USD).

3) The food here is exceptional!! I mean, I haven't been totally impressed with the food in Shanghai (yeah, I've been disappointed a number of times). But people care about their food here, and you can really tell. Every dish is find tuned. I've been thoroughly satisfied--Dongbei, Shaanxi, Hunan, Guangdong, every region's cuisine is treated better. (Don't go to Shanghai for delicious Chinese food...yet. Also, the service sector is far better).

4) My uncle is an officer in the military so we get a fancy car to drive us around. He is a really really charismatic guy. He talks about the Chinese-Vietnamese War (in the 90's). He's always talking about the "big countries," and what it would be like to make a living in the States. (I keep thinking that immigration brings a whole new set of problems). Material wealth seems so uncomplicated ...

5) I was talking with my gramma at night about how I was as a kid. She told me I stopped drinking milk at 1.5 years, and started talking at 2 years and had a "sweet mouth." Didn't stop talking. When my cousins (5 and 7 years older than me) were sitting at the desk doing their homework, I would get a piece of paper and sit at the bed drawing circles and lines over and over and over. She also told me what it was like for my mom to enter university in the 70's (how ridiculously hard it was to get in, and she got in because some manager's son dropped out). How food was still a tough thing for everyone to get their hands on. How my dad's mom treated him badly because he was her ugliest child. (!!!) How after coming to the US, my mom had so much hardship and scarcity. Lots more ...

6) Went to the biggest Buddha statue in Guangdong. Yes, it was big! Burned incense at three different alters, pounded a huge bell three times. Walked up and down an enormous staircase overlooking an immense banana tree field. My gramma waved her hands at the alters, and I asked her what do these statues and hand gestures mean, she said "Beats me, who knows what it's all about. I just figure I'll bow anyway." So funny. There's this one Buddha statue with a baby in the hall of Buddha statues. It had the biggest sum of money thrown at its feet out of all the little Buddhas (I guess there are some people out there who really really want to have a kid).