A few nice source china products images I found:
Made In China – Consumed All Over The World and the meaning of the Ningbo/宁波 port town protests against air pollution…
Image by Imaginary Museum Projects: News Tableaus
"MADE IN CHINA" – "CONSUMED ALL OVER THE WORLD"
Made In China – Consumed All Over The World and the meaning of the Ningbo/宁波 port town protests against air pollution…
My tableau for the upcoming 18th. National Congress of the Communist Party of China (中国共产党第十八次全国代表大会) beginning November 8th. 2012 in Beijing.
Last weeks there have been protests in Ningbo a city close to the East Chinese Sea (160 km south of Shanghai) against one more polluting industrial expansion in their town, already infamous for its air pollution.
This is symptomatic for the state of affairs in China and the world. Yes THE WORLD as – if we want it or not – we are daily consuming Made In China products that are produced under often appalling conditions in what is called ‘The Peoples Republic of China’. I am not saying this to induce any kind of guilt with us non-Chinese consumers, but we need to face better the consequences of global interrelated economies.
This tableau is to honour the struggle of ‘the people’ that fight for better working and living conditions and expresses also hope that – even at the top level of the Communist Party of China – it will be recognised that social and environmental conditions must be taken in account much more. Revolting populations need support instead of being suppressed. The level of personal enrichment and corruption practiced now in China are counterproductive. Criminal gained personal fortunes fleeing the country often with the economic criminals following later. Wealth produced by labour that is sold too cheap, lost also to the Chinese economy as a whole.
Below the text of the newspaper article on the Ningbo protest, that inspired this tableau. The photograph of the happy stage performance, with the party communist flag, appeared a few days ago in the Neue Zürcher Zeitung as an illustration for a news item on the upcoming 18th Party Conference in China. It shows one of those party top gala performances, idealising the accomplishments of the People’s Republic of China.
NB The text and signs on the masks worn by the demonstrators refer to "PX No Way" in reference to the chemical paraxylene (used for the making polyester plastics; p-Xylene is produced by catalytic reforming of petroleum naphtha as part of the BTX aromatics; It is harmful to people’s health. It can be breathed in, ingested and absorbed through skin. It has a stimulating effect on the respiratory tract and eyes, while high concentrations have a narcotic effect on the central nervous system.)
——————————————————
Contextual information below this line….
—————————————————–
"Thousands of pro-testers who marched through an eastern Chinese city on Sunday against the expansion of a petrochemical factory won a pledge from the local government that the project would be halted.
The protest, which comes at a sensitive time in China’s political calendar, had swelled over the weekend and led to clashes between citizens and police. The Ningbo city government said in a statement Sunday evening that they and the project’s investor had "resolutely" agreed not to go ahead with the expansion.
Outside the government offices where crowds of protesters remained, an official tried to read the statement on a loudspeaker but was drowned out by shouts demanding the mayor step down.
On the third attempt, the crowd briefly cheered but then turned back to demanding that authorities release protesters being held inside.
Liu Li, 24, a Ningbo resident, said the crowd did not believe the government’s statement.
"There is very little public confidence in the government," she said. "Who knows if they are saying this just to make us leave and then keep on doing the project."
The Ningbo government was likely under great pressure to defuse the protest with China’s leadership wanting calm for a party congress next month at which the country’s new leaders will be named. It was unclear whether local authorities will ultimately cancel the project or continue it when the pressure is lower.
The demonstration in wealthy Zhejiang province is the latest this year over fears of health risks from industrial projects, as Chinese who have seen their living standards improve become more outspoken against environmentally risky projects in their areas."
———–
Source for demonstrating picture and story is is the Ottawa Citizen News Paper on-line: www.ottawacitizen.com/China+halt+factory+expansion/746166…
Source for communist party flag image and it’s context is The Neue Zürcher Zeitung:
www.nzz.ch/aktuell/international/china-ruestet-sich-fuer-…
Source for the air pollution picture is a really non political web site that focusses on cargo bicycles carcocycling.org which published this high resolution recent air pollution of Ningbo City with the following comment:
"I generally try to keep this blog upbeat and focused on bicycles. But, the other day I found a picture I took a couple of years ago during a business trip to China. The photo speaks for itself… The air pollution in China is awful…
This picture was taken in Ningbo City, about three hours drive from Shanghai. In the early 1990s, most people in China were still using bicycles or mass transit. Cars were a luxury for the rich. Back then the air was clean given the size of the population. But now in many of the factory towns across China, your eyes water as soon as you step out the front door.
The sad thing is we keep blaming China for all of this, but most of those poluting factories are making products that are bound for US and European markets. Basically we’ve just exported our pollution creating factories and jobs to China. Anyway, everytime I go to Costco, I always get a sense that I’m just adding to this cycle…"
cargocycling.org/tag/air-pollution-china
More information on the petro-chemical industry that is at the origin of this conflict and it’s international role on the web site of Sinopec Corp, with this piece of information as jsut an indication:
"For export, we stepped up efforts to expand the export market. With our focus on resource and market, we enhanced coordination with Sinopec Catalyst Company, Lubricant Company, Oil Product Marketing Company, Maoming Petrochemical Co. and Yanshan Petrochemical Co. to improve cooperation and export pricing mechanism. We managed to realize a rapid development of petrochemical export business by stabilizing the supply of wax, petroleum coke, catalyst and lubricant, etc. We exported Sinopec catalysts to the US, asphalt to Africa, bulked wax to Taiwan for the first time. In 2010 we exported USD510 worth of refining and petrochemical products, 82.1% more than the USD280 in 2009. Export of catalysts increased by 78.3% y-o-y to USD96.50 million, lubricants up by 20.4% y-o-y to USD21.60 million.
We unswervingly carried out the strategy of doing business with key customers with huge demands. Targeting on markets including the Middle East, Russia, Africa, Southeast Asia as well as Sinopec’s overseas investment projects, we exported ethylene cracker of our own technology to Malaysia, natural gas compressors to Africa, high-impact tank plate to Iran and high-tech coil heat exchanger to Taiwan for the first time. We exported USD195 million worth of equipment and materials, 77.3% more than the USD110 million in 2009."
english.sinopec.com/about_sinopec/our_business/sinopec_wo…
To better understand the official view of things, this quotation from a promotion web site for the city of Ningbo; it also show a picture of the vast industrial complex:
"It has been thirty-four years since Sinopec Zhenhai Refining & Chemical Co. (ZRCC) was established in 1975. Thirty-four years may just be a blink in the long course of history, yet for ZRCC, the past thirty-four years has been extraordinary as it is thirty-four years of tireless persistence, tremendous endeavor, thriving vitality, and rapid rise.
Over the past thirty-four years, starting from nothing in a drowsy stretch of cotton field on the tidal flat, ZRCC has undergone awe-inspiring changes by turning the barren tidal flat into a dynamic industrial base, sowing seeds of hope and reaping the fruit of industrious labor.
All of these are attributed to the sound policy atmosphere given by our government, to the correct leadership and great concern shown by Sinopec, to the unselfish help and great support provided by the provincial and municipal governments, to the great assistance and deep concern offered by corporations from all circles of life, to the great efforts made by the past sessions of leadership and all the employees and their families."
www.whatsonningbo.com/ningbo-info-67.html
Two dollars to Apple for China.
Image by doneastwest
Page 2 of 5.
Miscellaneous notes on this:
– other possible notes to Apple:
I didn’t pay enough for my iPad 2. Here are two more dollars to compensate.
We are learning that if each Apple goodie cost two dollars more, the conditions in Chinese plants would be right and proper. I mean this money to help and hope you will charge more from now on.
– can you think of a good note? please add your ideas in the Comments window, below.
July 2, 2012-
This page was published in the May edition of YES! Magazine- issue 62.
___
– George mentioned a problem with this idea that would limit the response: Americans are mad at China for taking our jobs and don’t want to help them.
– fair enough, but our problem is with policy makers in China and American corporations. we’re not out to hurt Chinese workers. ( in fact, there are tent cities outside of Chinese plants, filled with people waiting to get these awful jobs. it’s a mess from both sides. )
– in fact, if conditions improve in China, some jobs will come back to the States.
– that is already happening in cases where rising shipping and labor costs are changing the equation. see next page…
___
– one of the awful policies of Chinese management is to pay low wages in order to force people to work more hours. talk about a devil-deal.
___
– i have an odd connection to this problem:
– in 1984- the first year of the little, stand-up Macintosh- i was an Apple developer.
– i made the first scanned image software for the Mac that came from outside the company. we were shipping in March. ( it was called, "Clip 1". )
– Apple liked it.
– they ordered four hundred copies as Christmas presents for their factory workers. that factory was in Silicon Valley. *
___
– you can bet that the PR department at Apple approached management a year ago- or four years ago- with the problem of working conditions in China. they advised that it would be cheap to make it right, now, and expensive to play catch-up later.
___
– [ i didn’t mail the note in the picture. saw a typo and made a text correction. the rewrite goes like this:
"Hi, Apple Folks-
I didn’t pay enough for my iPad 2. The working conditions at Foxconn make that clear.
Please apply this money to the problem and charge 2 dollars more in the future."
I think that Apple marketers will object to a price change that goes above the standard ".99" tactic. On the contrary, running the price above the standard is a plus in this case. The word will get out what the extra charge is about. Apple has an expensive PR problem. This is a cheap solution.
___
– the Foxconn factories in China make products for Mototorola, Bell, Hewlett-Packard, Apple, and others.
___
– a performing artist and journalist, Mike Daisey, went to China and stood outside of a Foxconn factory in Shen Chen and talked to workers as they came out.
– Daisey says there are two issues: wages and conditions:
– wages would be ok by local standards if they were actually paid. they often are not.
– as for conditions- given that the cost of assembling an iPhone is about – coming into compliance with [existing] Chinese labor laws, … "is going to cost A COUPLE OF DOLLARS".
Source: radio show on NPR: "Your Call" yourcallradio.org/ – search ‘apple’.
Mike Daisey speaks of this between counters 22:00 and 22:33.
– i sent the 2 Dollar pages to Rose Aguilar, the creator of the "Your Call" program on NPR.
– she sent more info back to me: "The same goes for Wal-Mart. If you add about 40 cents to your purchase, overseas workers would be paid a living wage. Thanks, Rose."
___
Feb. 18, 2012- George sent me new info from WIRED: of the two problems- wages and conditions (which includes safety), Foxconn has made a gesture to solve part of one of them- perhaps to quiet criticism:
www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2012/02/foxconn-raises-pay-of-fac…
___
Feb. 20, 2012- New York Times reporter says on NPR, this morning, that Foxconn has improved some of the wage problem and, now, some of the conditions problem in their factories. Foxconn is known for ignoring Chinese law but there may be some change coming.
___
– i have two Apple devices that were made in China, so i’m sending a second envelope:
Hi, Apple folks-
I didn’t pay enough for my wonderful Mac Mini. Please find two dollars, enclosed.
If I had paid two dollars more, the working conditions at Foxconn would be fair and honorable, and your developing PR problem would disappear.
Around 1989, I designed in-house and TIE icons- static and animated- for you. I conceived the comic Hypercard animation for ‘selling’ Space Shuttle arms- the one where the arm picked up a button on the screen and turned it to read backwards.
I have owned many Macs and have influenced at least ten other people to go the Mac route and let Windows twist in the wind.
I love Apple.
Please make this right and charge two dollars more from now on. No one will notice on our side of the Rim.
___
* – [ only a quarter of the Apple order for "Clip 1" was filled- 100 copies. but that is another story.]