Made in China

Jean Yves Cauchard's Made in China (originally produced for French television) follows Fan and Zhao, a young rural couple who relocated to China's Cixi Industrial Zone with the hope of taking part in the country's economic boom. But quick success seems highly unlikely: the pair perform dreary assembly line work requiring up to 12 hours of labor, seven days a week—hunched over crude conveyor belts to package stuffed toys and toiletries destined for sale in stores in the U.S. and Europe. After deductions for rent, food, and other expenses, Fan and Zhao's combined monthly earnings come to $135. But although the pair are making money (at least by Chinese standards), the emotional cost is great: the couple had to leave their children with their parents in the village. Fan cries that her daughter refuses to speak to her during telephone calls, while Zhao grimly acknowledges that due to the long workdays, “We never get to see the sun here.” Highlighting one couple's depressing experience, Made in China offers a rare glimpse into the human side of China's economic rise to power—reminding viewers of the West's Industrial Revolution, during which the workforce was kept in a permanent state of poverty and disenfranchisement. Recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (P. Hall)