I'm a Canadian now on an extended vacation in China.

I said to my Chinese friend something to the effect of "factory hours are too long here". She routinely works jobs (non-factory) that require 6-7days a week 12-14 hours a day.

Her response:
"Why do you want us to be lazy like Canadians".

The sentiments are the same with others I talk to. So I've learned to shut up and not tell them how they should live. But I do say to most of them that if they want to move to North America so much, they should consider why it is so great. "You won't be working 72 hours a week for one reason".

But then I drop the subject with that person (forever) and I go on buying things and being served by people who, by our standards, really deserve better. And you can't tip them either, no matter how much that 1 hour $5 massage felt.

Who are we to tell them how to live? If they work on the family farm everyday for 12 hours, why not leave the farm to work in a factory just as much?

Well, I don't like it. But I now keep my opinions to myself here.

From what I understand, there are lots of struggles going on in China over labour rights, environmental conditions, corruption etc. Most tend to be somewhat localized and not particularly well reported. But that's true of just about everywhere in the world.

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Originally posted by WackAVole:
And you can't tip them either, no matter how much that 1 hour $5 massage felt.

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