In late Dec 2006 I went to a printing factory in the Southern Chinese province of Guangdong to do a press check for a photography book. Most of the young workers lived in dormitories at the plant. They worked 12 hour shifts with few breaks, seven days a week with one day off a month. For some monthly incomes were not more than $150. Many of them came from the poorer Northern provinces and sent a portion of their wages home to help their families. It made me think about all the fancy expensive coffee table books we look at in our leisure time whilst relaxing and not working. The retail cost of my book in the USA would be a weeks wages for the teenagers who were producing it.
In late Dec 2006 I went to a printing factory in the Southern Chinese province of Guangdong to do a press check for a photography book.
Most of the young workers lived in dormitories at the plant. They worked 12 hour shifts with few breaks, seven days a week with one day off a month. For some monthly incomes were not more than $150. Many of them came from the poorer Northern provinces and sent a portion of their wages home to help their families.
It made me think about all the fancy expensive coffee table books we look at in our leisure time whilst relaxing and not working. The retail cost of my book in the USA would be a weeks wages for the teenagers who were producing it.