Nanjing
pinyin: Nánjīng
This weekend we were lucky to receive an invitation to tour an electronics factory in Nanjing, about 1 hr. 45 minutes west of Shanghai on the bullet train. Considering this a unique chance to have a window into the new world we all inhabit, we skipped school friday and headed to the Honqiao rail station. Despite having been here before, it just doesn't get old to experience the vastness of Shanghai's public transit stations. We continue to feel awed by the sheer numbers of people around us everywhere we go.
Nanjing - home to a population roughly the size of New York City (but still just a fraction of the population of Shanghai) - is famous for having been the capitol of China at various times in history - including 6 different empires. It's name means Southern capital (as opposed to Beijing - Northern capital). Nan (South)/Bei (North). With the founding of the Republic of China in 1912 with Dr. Sun Yat-sen as the first provisional President, and again in 1927 under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and the Kuomintang, Nanjing was established as the capital of the Republic of China. Sadly, it's also famous for the brutal atrocities committed there during the second Sino-Japanese war which began in 1937. It is estimated that between 300,000 - 350,000 people lost their lives brutally during the Nanjing Massacre.
Friday afternoon we arrived at a factory owned by a Taiwanese company that runs operations in Shanghai and Nanjing, employing over 11,000 workers. At this one factory, they employ approximately 3,000 people who sleep in dorms onsite and work 10 hour shifts. The factory itself is open 24 hours a day and produces notebook computers, tablets, smart phones and other electronic devices. The company was founded in the 70s and was the first manufacturer of the original Texas Instruments calculator.
First we were lead through many areas devoted to testing - equipment, sound, camera, etc. They are put into devices meant to simulate dropping, crashing, bumping and anything else you can think of. There are machines that do nothing but repeatedly push the on/off and other buttons to ensure that they can stand up to use...clam shell phones are clicked into devices that open and shut endlessly for hours...we all think Madeline would be a good worker here, given her various accidents with electronics gear.
And devices are checked and rechecked for radioactive emissions...the testing equipment was very sophisticated and housed in special chambers to record activity.
After putting on special clothing to combat static electricity on the factory floor, we were able to walk along the assembly line to watch smartphones being manufactured piece by piece in an endless assembly line with workers and quality control checkers hunched and performing their tasks over and over and over again, endlessly performing the same motion as the phone made its way down the line toward completion.
The factory floor was clean and bright with workers sitting pressed next to and opposite each on stools along the line. Everyone wears either a white or pink work coat -- pink coats signify the quality checkers and white is worn by the assembly workers. Some of the workers (most are women in their 20s who are considered the best workers) peeked up shyly to smile at us, but most kept their heads down and their eyes on their work. These are people - migrant workers - who have left farms and villages all over rural china, traveling to cities where factory jobs can pay them wages that far exceed earning potential at home. The price of one phone - about $300 - equals the monthly pay of the typical worker. It's interesting that in this age of automation the work is so labor intensive. The explanation, we were told, is that to invest in custom engineered robotics is simply too expensive given the rapid pace of change in the electronics industry. (Interesting, compared to an auto manufacturing plant, for example, where robotics rule the production cycle.)
These are the touch screens being prepped for installation on top of the smart phone glass. The touch screens are only .03 to .04 mm thick and they are one of the costliest components of the phone.
We spent one night in Nanjing and the next day set out to visit the mausoleum of Dr. Sun Yat-Sen, the father of the Republic of China. We lucked into one of the first sunny days in almost a month, so the crowds were out. We saw only two other westerners among the hordes visiting his memorial, and once again the kids were like pop stars being pressed for photo opps at every turn.
February was a very long and rainy month...weeks and weeks with no break from the gloomy weather..finally, a sunny day at last! Everyone is out to enjoy it....
