Visiting China's factories.

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to follow my uncle and aunt to visit their company's suppliers in the mainland!


It was an unexpected and perfect chance to see for myself what Leslie Chang writes about in her book, Factory Girls. Even though I only read about 1/3 of the book on my flight to HK, I was mesmerized. My curiosity to see Dongguan for myself, to see the factories from the outside and put into context what the people in the book have gone through - was uncontainable.


We got up early and took the train to Lok Ma Chau, a newer and quieter border crossing. I am so lucky for my parents to have planned ahead to get my HK ID card and china visa. It was easy breezy and so quick to cross. Everything was electronic.


My uncle has a car in China that was parked near the station, and once the GPS was set, we were off to the first factory!


Interestingly, HK and China cars are opposite, in that, the roads go opposite ways, and the driver seat is also on the other side. For improving business, my uncle learned to drive the other way, "just always drive on the wrong side of the road!" and readjust his perceptions completely to be able to drive in China.


I have trouble J-walking in HK, never mind DRIVING!


I will write more later, but our general trek was Dongguan city --> Zhongshan --> Zhuhai. We met the bosses, we met the workers. We ate two amazing, delicious feasts at seafood restaurants. The picking of the ingredients was the most eye-opening. I will post pictures later, but selections included snakes, large fish heads, wild ducks, and all sorts of other animals that I have never seen before, nor had the guts to taste!


We started at 7:00 am and got back at 11 pm. It was a long day, but it was so much fun for me, and a rich learning experience. I am so thankful to have had the chance to see this side of China, and the roots of all the products that feed our materialistic hunger.