Asia Trip Day 9: Stay in School Kids

June 4, 2007

Today we spent a LOT of time on a bus! Fairly early on we headed across the border of Hong Kong and back into China. On the way out we had to go through the entire customs process both for leaving Hong Kong and entering China. Apparently there is a middle ground of No-Man’s land in-between the two.

Once into China the views of the countryside from the bus were great. The landscape was very beautiful and we were able to see a lot of homes and farmlands. I really enjoyed it for the first while; however, given the amount of travel we have had the last little while, by the 2nd and 3rd hours of driving I was ready to get off the bus! I was able to get some reading done, but not a lot as if I read too much on those buses I tend to get a little car sick.

After our three hour journey finally ended we were treated to lunch at a pretty nice restaurant. We had what is called (in Cantonese I’m assuming) Dim Sum. It was basically a lot of different types of dumplings and ManTou’s (not sure how to describe those). I’ve always loved the Chinese breakfast foods and this was basically what we had for lunch. Although we also had a few really good seafood dishes as well. We literally ate until we could eat no more.

After lunch we visited PerfectTech Toy factory where they make toys for Japanese toy distributors. Today they were making Power Ranger toys that also transform. The toy factory employs over 2000 factory workers and another 250 office staff. The factory was very hot and very humid. However, all of the employees that we watched seemed pretty happy on the job. The young girls from the office staff that toured us around were also very nice and seemed to really enjoy having us visit. Granted the office staff all looked about 12, when I talked to them most of them had worked there for at least 3-4 years. In fact, the average employee (including line workers) had been working at PerfectTech for over 2 years.

The factory has 60 sets of injection machines and over 400 seats for paint spraying. The production line can make up to 15 types of toys. The thing I was most impressed with was the amount of quality control at every stop. Each worker had a clear picture right in front of them that showed how the toy was supposed to work after it was done with their station. I was surprised by how much of the process was manual labor and how little of the process was automated.

The factory workers make about 86 cents an hour. However, because housing is provided most of the workers are sending money home to their families out in the farmlands. I think the most astounding thing for me was seeing how satisfied the workers appeared. In the states it seems that a lot of our minimum wage workers don’t seem to be the type of person who would be so willing to work hard with a smile. I definitely think that with great wealth has come a certain sense of entitlement. I think that in America we could really take a lesson in gratitude from what we see here. I know that I have felt an increased need to be more grateful for all I have. I certainly feel fortunate for the educational opportunities I've been given.

In my undergrad I remember learning about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. This trip has really shown me how accurate that hierarchy seems to be. In the United States most people are at least to the level where their physiological and safety needs are met and thus have moved up to the need for belonging or the esteem of others. It is actually really refreshing seeing people who are able to gain satisfaction just from meeting the needs of food, shelter and safety. On other legs of this trip its been interesting seeing other areas (like Beijing) where they are somewhere between today’s factory workers and the business people we visited in Japan. I’m not sure if this paragraph made any sense at all…but my point is just that it is interesting to study Maslow’s hierarchy of needs in this setting. (For those not too familiar I recommend using Wikipedia.org and typing in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs for more information and a far better explanation of what I am trying to say here).

At PerfectTech (which by the way is in a town called ZhongShan near ShenZhen in GuangDong province) I think I lost at least a liter of sweat. It reminded me of the mission in Taiwan. Sometimes I am still amazed that I was able to work all day in the heat and humidity over there. That is one part of my mission I don’t miss very often.

As we were leaving the toy factory they gave each of us a Power Ranger toy to take home. Regan was great and let me have his (given that he has two girls) and I just know that Tyler and Marcus are gonna love them (at least Tyler will for now). In fact, I’m guessing that these will be a greater hit than anything else I could hope to pick up on the trip.

The ride back was similar to the ride in…it was LONG! Again, I enjoyed parts of it as I was able to see the farmlands etc. However, I was good and ready to get off when we finally got back to the Hotel.

This evening we once again followed Jason Bell and took the Subway to another part of Hong Kong where we had dinner, saw a night market and sort of just experienced what we could. I got a pretty good kick out of watching some of the locals play basketball and would have loved to join in if I wasn’t wearing sandals.

The evening didn’t bring about too much to talk about, but it was kind of fun just seeing more of Hong Kong.