kaixinguo

This is a very good article about Shenzhen, thank you!  I am an American, and have lived in Shenzhen for 8 years.  This is an exciting city, and good life.

 

A few notes:

 

While the official telecom stores may require ID to get a SIM card these days, many convenience stores and small shops will sell you a pre-paid SIM card, with no ID or contract required.   I have never been asked for ID to get a SIM card. Good luck getting a pre-paid phone in the USA without an ID.

 

I am an engineering manager in a factory, and in the past worked at the Foxconn factory.  I get so frustrated by ignorant comments about China, especially biased articles from western journalists with an agenda.  I am pleased your article is more objective.  

 

Foxconn is far from a dirty hell-hole.  It is a clean and modern factory campus, and the workers are quite well paid (relative to their age, education, and in comparison to alternatives like farm work or waitress).  Yes, factory work is tedious, but that is the nature of the beast.  The Foxconn factory has nice facilities for the workers, including restaurants, book store, swimming pools, internet cafes, and movie theaters.  The minimum wage at Foxconn has increased significantly over the past few years, to the point where other factories are struggling to compete with the pay, and pushing some factories to move from Shenzhen to smaller Chinese cities with lower wages.    I have many friends that work at Foxconn, and they are mostly unhappy that the overtime has been cut (less pay!!), due to meddling interference from "do-gooder" Westerners....     Even the "suicide epidemic" from 2010 was overblown by the media.  Statistically, Foxconn had fewer suicides than the Chinese population at large, and less than the US population for that matter.  In any population of 280,000 people you will have some suicides.  Many of the workers are young, and far away from home , so it is not unexpected some will be lonely.  Some of the suicides appeared to be motivated by to the payment Foxconn would make to their families upon death.  

 

The air in Shenzhen is relatively clean, partly because of the ocean air, but also because most factories in this area have moved to the outskirts of the city (e.g. BaoAn, DongGuan, PingShan, and HuiZhou), and are relatively clean industries (e.g. electronics).  Pollution problems are more severe in the North, due to heavy industry and burning of coal during the winter.

 

Life in China has some downsides, but no place is perfect.  Overall Shenzhen is very safe (I can walk anywhere any time of day or night with no fear, except for crazy car drivers!)  The food is good, the people are friendly, and cost of living is reasonable (albeit increasing faster than wages).  There are beautiful mountains, and even some beaches that are clean and quiet if you are willing to drive a bit outside the city (e.g. XiChong and HuiDong) and avoid the crowded ones near the city (e.g. DaMeiSha).

 

Thanks again for the fair and interesting article.