Anyone catch the unrest in China?

[glazbagun]

Anyone catch Channel 4 news today? In addition to excellent footage of Israel bombing a Palestinian housing block (I didnt know they fired a warning rocket first), the last story was of civil unrest in China due to some of their mahooosive factories just closing doors and leaving hundreds with no jobs, money and nowhere to go. Not sure if it was like this during the shutdown of the mines by Thatcher, but their prospects looked pretty grim and the government didnt seem to have much response.

What really amazed me, though, was the footage of the police trying to stop filming, only to be pushed back by a mob of workers telling them where to go. Theres another shot from last year of them overturning a police van. Scary times. I'm not sure what will happen- hardcore Tianamen response and a return to quasi-communism/poverty? Thats a huge population to have sitting around angry, jobless and restless. Made Britain look a little less screwed by comparison, I guess.

[Morningside]

I did see some reports a few days back about a factory that had not paid its workers for months with some VERY angry scenes.

And this got me thinking, I believe that some companies almost control the town through major sponsorship so what will happen there?

[glazbagun]

Morningside said:

I did see some reports a few days back about a factory that had not paid its workers for months with some VERY angry scenes.

And this got me thinking, I believe that some companies almost control the town through major sponsorship so what will happen there?

The factory today had 300 workers who slept there as well as worked there. They'd basically trashed the place and stolen anything of value, but were still stuck there with no job and no wages. It must really hit them hard over there- what did the Koreans do when Daewoo collapsed?

[odyssey2200]

glazbagun said:

Morningside said:

I did see some reports a few days back about a factory that had not paid its workers for months with some VERY angry scenes.

And this got me thinking, I believe that some companies almost control the town through major sponsorship so what will happen there?

The factory today had 300 workers who slept there as well as worked there. They'd basically trashed the place and stolen anything of value, but were still stuck there with no job and no wages. It must really hit them hard over there- what did the Koreans do when Daewoo collapsed?

It was bought by GM so there was little problem.
Also South Korea is not a communist state and was prepared.

[Martial Arts Man]

I wouldn't be surprised if there was considerably more civil unrest in China than we are aware.

I know for a fact that there are serious issues in the Northern parts; the Chinese have a militant Islam problem too.

At a guess, I would think areas most likely to experience riots and the such like are the sorts of places where technology (therefore communications) is limited, meaning we don't get mobile phone shot films of the sort that come out of Chinese cities.

China is a truly huge country! It's scale always takes my breath away!

Can anyone shed any light on any of this?

MAM

[Skodaku]

Friend of mine came back from southern China before Christmas. Says the downturn there is, largely, being ignored by western media. The area he was in had 7000 shoe factories at the end of 2007. At the end of 2008 that number would be only 1000 shoe factories. The vast majority of the workers are/were migrants so they just get sent back to northern China, where there is nothing. Potential for massive unrest and revolution is enormous. The rest of the world should be deeply worried.

However, will the BBC report it properly ? Only if it involves a fall in house prices is my guess.

[Police State]

They will either delve into their massive foreign currency reserves and attempt to bolster the domestic market in the short term, or longer term will revert to type and enter a population 'lock-down' phase.

[glazbagun]

odyssey2200 said:

It was bought by GM so there was little problem.
Also South Korea is not a communist state and was prepared.

GM only bought their automotive arm. Daewoo were a huge conglomerate who made everything from cargo ships to telecoms. As far as I've been able to figure out, in the past ten mins, the government "just" swallowed hard, broke the company up, sold some off, restarted others and let others still die. I guess they were lucky in that it didnt happen at the start of a depression.

It's surprising how the entire developed world can go to st in only a couple of years- Russia energy rich and threatening its neighbours once again, China filled with disenchanted and hacked off workers... I need to buy property in Afghanistan while it's cheap.

[odyssey2200]

glazbagun said:

odyssey2200 said:

It was bought by GM so there was little problem.
Also South Korea is not a communist state and was prepared.

GM only bought their automotive arm. Daewoo were a huge conglomerate who made everything from cargo ships to telecoms. As far as I've been able to figure out, in the past ten mins, the government "just" swallowed hard, broke the company up, sold some off, restarted others and let others still die. I guess they were lucky in that it didnt happen at the start of a depression.

It's surprising how the entire developed world can go to st in only a couple of years- Russia energy rich and threatening its neighbours once again, China filled with disenchanted and hacked off workers... I need to buy property in Afghanistan while it's cheap.

Take a Geiger counter

[FarleyRusk]

Skodaku said:

Friend of mine came back from southern China before Christmas. Says the downturn there is, largely, being ignored by western media. The area he was in had 7000 shoe factories at the end of 2007. At the end of 2008 that number would be only 1000 shoe factories.

But aren't orders flooding in from the arab world?

[anonymous-user]

The Chinese factory model is a bit like the old mill town model we used to have in the 19th century, where the mill/factory owner housed all the workers that came from the country. It all went seriously tits up for us, with severe poverty, when the mill towns and factories closed down on a big scale. China could be much worse due to the speed of development and then decline being experienced there, with little alternatives for work on a large scale for a huge number of people. Of the people that did have the money, most of it was invested in stocks which have since tanked, so even the rich are going to be in big trouble, it could get very messy out there.