The surreal, freakshow world of China's Foxcomm maunfacturing

Some of you may recall Foxcomm, which has been discussed on ATS before in conjunction with its shockingly high suicide rate. In fact, the company has even installed anti-suicide nets to foil jumpers.

The above is tragic and no laughing matter, but even beyond this, the company has a distinctly bizzare corporate culture, as described below:

On a crushingly hot mid-August day at Foxconn's Longhua factory campus in Shenzhen—where a dutiful army of 300,000 employees eats, sleeps, and churns out iPhones, Sony (SNE) PlayStations, and Dell (DELL) computers—workers indulged in a rare moment of celebration. First, there was a parade, an Alice in Wonderland spectacle of floats, blaring vuvuzelas, and workers dressed up as Victorian ladies, geishas, cheerleaders, and Spider-Men. This was followed by a two-hour rally inside a vast sports stadium featuring acrobats, musical performances, fireworks, and life-affirming testimonials punctuated by chants of "treasure your life" and "care for each other to build a wonderful future."

More at source:
www.businessweek.com...

Would one of you geniuses like to explain to me what the %$&# is going on over there?

The rest of the article provides an interesting portrait of a decidedly strange and disconcerting world few outsiders are aware of.

A suicide rate of 4 per 100,000 so far isn't so bad considering the annual rate in the U.S. was about 11.1 per 100,000 total in 2005, and for China it was 13.9 per 100,000 in 1999.

According to:
List of countries by suicide rate

Seems they're quite happy and spunky making those iPhones. (*)




* I'm uncertain if I misinterpreted everything due to lack of rest.

Wow. Never realized powerful & influential Foxconn really is. Its scary. I can forsee companies like Dell, Apple & HP becoming more and more dependable on Foxconn...who knows where it can go from there.

Forced labor will become something that isn't an option anymore. Well, thats my pessimistic view anyway.

Most computer motherboards use their connectors for at least one or two ports, I can almost gurantee you that your computer/device currently does. Amazing how powerful that company really is.

reply to post by EnlightenUp

Seems they're quite happy and spunky making those iPhones.

Or those safety nets placed outside the iPhone manufacturing plant are doing a super job at keeping the slaves alive.

Originally posted by john124
Or those safety nets placed outside the iPhone manufacturing plant are doing a super job at keeping the slaves alive.

You removed the "(*)". If I was right, I had a brilliant insight. If I was wrong, I was being sarcastic.

I wonder if they had to make the nets theselves.

reply to post by silent thunder





For all of you that say communism is great take a good hard look at this company. Communism is a prison that you are locked inside of. It is a failed system and if China wants to keep any sort of peace in it's country it will have to leave it far behind and fast.

Originally posted by Subjective Truth
reply to post by silent thunder

 

For all of you that say communism is great take a good hard look at this company. Communism is a prison that you are locked inside of. It is a failed system and if China wants to keep any sort of peace in it's country it will have to leave it far behind and fast.

Sorry mate but Chinas economy is not communist, it's capitalist just like the USA. Communism and capitalism are both economic systems and cannot operate together. Communism has nothing to do with how their government operates as communism is an economic system and needs no government, or state system.

Pop Quiz! One question, and it seems simple. Q) Is China Communist? A) Yes, there are more than a billion commies living the Marxist utopian ideal in the East. B) No, they’re unforgiving, shrewd, money-hungry capitalists like the rest of us.

Correct answer: B.

China’s no more red than Michael Moore telling his accountant to buy low and sell high.

“China is only communist in the most limited sense,” Suzanne Ogden, a China scholar and professor at Northeastern University told The Inquirer. “There is a one-party system of rule. Apart from that, there’s no pursuit of communist ideology or serious pursuit of Marxism. There are a lot of wealthy people in China.”

www.nyinquirer.com...

There are no communist countries, they were nationalist dictatorships at best, the whole world has a capitalist economy, where the means of production is privately owned. The difference you see in others countries is cultural.

So it's quit possible for the USA to be in the same position as Chinese workers. America could become just like China depending on how your economy goes.

Originally posted by silent thunder

Would one of you geniuses like to explain to me what the %$&# is going on over there?

i know it is a serious and dire topic, but that is hilarious.

No, i cannot explain it. Nor can i explain any of the other VERY strange things i see come out of Japan or China. Did you not watch that surreal spectacle at the opening of the Olympics?

People laugh at "Engrish". But it is more a difference in culture, not poor translation. Many concepts just don't translate when that concept is percieved differently by another person.

Ahh yes........one more compliant step towards the Hive Mind.....fall in line........

MUAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAAAAAA!