Field Reports: Factory workers describe lonely life in Dongguan, China

posted by field worker, on November 28th, 2011

Factory workers in Dongguan, China

By Susie Rain

Ling Chu*, new factory worker

Hissing steam escapes from the edges of the mold. Ling Chu* wipes the sweat from his brow. The factory floor is always hot around the molding machines, despite the cooling fans.

Chu is new to Dongguan. He admits that life in a factory is not easy living. The pay is low and the hours are long. It’s also easy to get lost in the crowd, where there are hundreds with identical backgrounds: born in the village, badly educated and poor.

This factory isn’t as big as some, but larger than others. FoxConn across town employs 300,000, roughly the same population as Pittsburgh, Penn. The vast majority of workers live on the factory grounds in dormitories, often 12 to a room. They are away from home for the first time and learning to deal with co-workers, roommates and bosses. They are adjusting to a world of material and sexual freedom, fleeting relationships and crushing loneliness.

The 18-year-old says he expected long hours and hard work. What he didn’t expect was periods of extreme loneliness.

“It’s lonely here. There’s no one from your village,” the new worker confesses. Factory society divides along provincial lines. Workers from the same province stick together. “The language is different in the factory. If you want to talk to someone, you have to speak standard Mandarin and not your village language. Everyone is lonely.”

If a new worker doesn’t make a close friend, they’ll pack up and move to another factory. Some change jobs every three to four months, searching for a better opportunity — a place to fit in.

Fa Hsing*, tentmaker

Everything about Fa Hsing* is quiet: His voice. His countenance. His strength. He is a man of few words. His actions speak for him.

He puts in no less than 12-hours a day, six days a week, on the factory floor in Dongguan, China. It’s physically and emotionally draining work, yet he perseveres so he can accomplish his real task — sharing Christ with fellow workers.

Hsing is a “tentmaker.” He lives and works among the people God called him to serve.

“The idea is to work inside the factory and witness by example and lifestyle,” Hsing quietly explains.

Sharing the gospel “cold turkey” in this environment doesn’t always work. Most have never even heard the name of Jesus. Sometimes, it’s better to slowly introduce the Gospel. Hsing does this by gaining trust and respect through experiencing the same daily challenges.

Right now, he is working 10 to 12 hour days six days a week. In the world of Dongguan manufacturing, this is considered slow season. In September and October, business picks up and the machines run at full-speed in anticipation of the production crunch to come. November and early December are the go-for-broke periods. Everyone clocks a lot of overtime to meet the Christmas rush.

This is when it’s hardest on Hsing’s ministry. Everyone, including the tentmaker, is so busy. There’s not time for anything but work and sleep. Often, the only time to “squeeze” in Bible study is during a 45-minute lunch break.

The tentmaker savors nights like these when he isn’t working overtime. It gives him time to visit and share — a chance to get to know people outside of work. He pushes his bicycle down the dirt road lined with shops and pool tables set out in the open air. Knots of young men in factory shirts and slippers shoot pool. Girls cluster around televisions outside the noodle stalls.

Hsing stops to chat with different groups. He never says much. He just smiles and listens. His attentiveness makes everyone feel important.

His hope is that someone in these groups will become interested in his Savior and attend the church he started inside the factory. Gaining the trust and respect of fellow workers is a slow process, one that the tentmaker willingly endures. Sharing the Gospel is not about a time schedule, but about the heart.

Ning Li*, factory worker

Ning Li* sits at a sterile, stainless steel workstation with three other women. The only noise is the “snip-snip-snip” of scissors cutting material.

They don’t talk despite the mindless work. You work faster if there are no distractions. The assembly line pays by the piece, so working faster means a bigger paycheck — sometimes as much as $175 a month.

Li fills these long stretches of silence thinking about home and her two children living back in the village. She doesn’t know how much longer she and her husband will remain at the factory. She’s in her late 20s and in the factory world that’s considered “old.”

“I’ve told my husband several times I’d like to go home,” she says, getting quiet as she thinks about their two children. “He says, ‘No, we need more money.’

“He’s driven by the money,” she continues. “It takes money to live in the city.”

The measurement for success in this city is money. Practically everyone gets wrapped up in pursuing it. Even among these rural migrants supporting family back home, they spend money freely — on clothes, hairstyles and mobile phones.

Sunday in Dongguan is the official shopping day, a grand tribute to materialism. The malls and shopping centers turn into a mass of humanity as millions of workers dressed in the latest styles pour out of the factories. The young adults parade around all afternoon, carrying shopping bags with their latest purchase.

“Money drives everyone here,” Li explains. “You need it to make your life better.”

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Dongguan (dong-gwahn) is a featured city for the IMB’s Week of Prayer for International Missions that begins on December 4, 2011. Learn more about Dongguan, a factory city in south China, at AsiaStories.com.

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