Behind The Boom - China
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 7 มิ.ย. 2024
- Feb 2007
China's economic boom is built on the backs of migrant workers, who flock to the cities in search of work. What are their lives like and are they getting their share of China's new prosperity?
Zou Heyen arrived in Shanghai less than a week ago. "I'm not used to life here yet. I feel like jelly after a day's work and I'm not used to the climate", she complains. She shares a cramped room with seven other girls and probably won't see her family, who live four days away, for months. But already, she has no regrets. "At home we didn't have enough to eat. I've experienced hardship so I can bear a lot". Xu Chuanruo is also grateful for the opportunities in Shanghai. He works 12 hours a days, 7 days a week, sweeping streets and rarely sees his wife and children. However, the job pays double what he earned breaking stones in his village and at least now he can support his children through college. "It's a great joy to work hard for my child", he states. "My son won't have to work in the fields". In the cramped worker dormitories, there's a sense of comradeship and shared endeavour. The lives of migrant workers may be difficult but it seems enough for them to know their children will enjoy a better future.
Produced by SBS/Dateline
Distributed by Journeyman Pictures
What song is this in the introduction? There is zither, piano, and turntables. It is beautiful....
i enjoyed this video very much. keep it up.
THEY R POOR PEOPLE IN CHINA BUT THEY R HAPPY EVEN WORK THAT HARD COS THEY LOVE THEIR FAMILY. THEY R OUR CHINESE PEOPLE I LOVE THEM..
Very good documentary.
These migrant workers work so hard, but they don't complain. They are actually happy simply because they are doing better in Shanghai, compared to their village life and they want their kids to have a better life. Salute to these people!
uncle street sweeper is my hero!!! this humble man is talented!
Anyone know the name/artist of the opening song?
Did you ever find out the song? I love it.
Now You said Sir somthing with exac meaning as I said to a friend of my, congratulations on sharing some views with me, best regards to You and salutations
What did the narrator meant with the phrase "Mr.Xu's 'spartan' lifestyle"?
Well I'm glad someone is content and happy.Something rarely encountered in the UK.
also the fireworks. I really love them :)
It's not an American story, it's a Chinese story.
i was in beijing 2004. one setaming hot burn with meat in it was $.50, the size of steaming burn was like the size of my palm. the food and cloths were really cheap there.
@markshen1985 No offence, I am merely asking!why do you study in Germany if there are no cities as good as Shanghai? And what makes Shanghai "better" than european cities in your opinion?
So true!
I know...all these workers supporting their children seriously makes me think back about my parents and what theyve done. The kid better be grateful
I respectively agree!
Amazing calligraphy maintaining our great culture and a class of his own!
Haha we keep steaming ahead regardless of all the fucking noise!
Go China go!
I love restaurant food in China chefs fromm all provinces are so true to their work and cook the best good food
that street cleaner makes 2500 yuan a month, which is around 370 USD, not200USD, please, the exchange rate is 1 USD equals 6.7 Yuan.
amen to this.
Very touching indeed. But think of the pressure it puts on the children, there is no margin for error. I think it is one of the greatest social problems in China today.
You can barely see the building in back of the gentle standing in the beginning of the video. That air is pure smog. They might as well be filming the inside of a steel mill.
Anyone from CHS here yet?
I live across the Hudson in New Jersey and go into the city a lot. I can see the Statue of Liberty from lower Manhattan with no problem. If they held the Olympics in New York city, there would not be the same concerns with the air quality that they had in China.
We are proud of our country!
welcome to china!
As I'm watching this I am looking, more objectively, at my large bedroom, full of expensive electronics and a queen sized bed. I am so lucky to be living in America as a son of two people who worked so hard to get me to where I am. At the same time I feel so bad for the poor people who had to scrape whatever they could just to survive.
The street sweeper guy is really good at calligraphy though.
I love this documentary. I think you are doing great work here.
no one can stop!GOOD!
It's because the competition fiercer in China than US. Those who don't get into unis in China may look for opportunity overseas.
amazing what parents go through just to see their kids be educated.
life in china is becoming more and more toughl CPI is increasing crazily. and lots of family in the villages can't afford the tuition for school and colleage. acutually i am one of them. i have to get support from my brothers in order to fininsh my High education. Luckily now i can do a part-time job in a cooperation. i can support myself now.
The migrant workers are such hard workers.
what if they fist melt those foam using acetone
Progress is the MOST important thing! It isn't necessary fair for everyone. In fact it will never be. For those commenter only focus on down side of China, you should look closely at your country first to judge others. China rapidly PROGRESS experience is the most value lesson for developing world.
And the bootleg DVD lol
you $200 is relative because it is converted by the currency. you have to take it in as in how much you can buy with 200 in china, and for all those bought how much it'll cost in UK. comparing simply by currency is inaccurate
that's right...^^
@wnxsilence but compare the size of china and america (considering about pollution - i certainly hope renewable energy will be more promoted and every1 will be happy :D )
There's an expression in chinese way, worked out the hardest case,you will be outstanding. I feel very pround too for chinese population. Chinese people are hard worker, furthermore we are smart race.
@felicity3kX hum Should be wo xiang xuexi zhongwen?!
It is not possible to keep up that pace. Underneath the surface workers are not happy. In few years you will see strikes and social unrest that the government cannot hide.
ohh my God
how would they be offended.
it is true that the consumer ratio is much lower to the working people.
Here in the U.S. the working people are consumers.
Absolutely not! New York and Chicago have air standards and you can see for a few miles at least. This city looks like Mexico City or the old Gary Indiana.
right and of course you would know.
Really, you could just replace the video title with 'The story of industrialization throughout the world.'
The pollution of Chinese air and rivers affects Chinese citizens much more so than other nations. For the good of ordinary Chinese people the government should do more.
@wnxsilence Umm no, the industrial revolution in the U.S. was largely depended on immigrant from Europe. Slavery was already abolished then.
$600 billion of USD treasury bills is how many Chinese Yuan? Exchange rate currently is just over 7 Yuan per 1 dollar. You do the math. Just $100 billion of those US dollars can do so much for those ordinary migrant workers.
true
These immigrant workers are better than American soldiers who fought in Iraq but live under bridges
Chinese gov't is sitting on $100's billions of US treasury bills, as well as reserves of other currencies. This money is going into the 3 Gorges Dam, into military development. Not enough is used to subsidize clean factories, to upgrade the already overflowing mass transport system, or to relieve poverty. Such is the reality of Chinese economic boom.
yas1469,In 1825, China constitute 32% of the World economy. Now,she is back on track to regain her rightful position again thru inovations and new technology.
The Industrial Western countries had been contributing vast amount of CO2 for the past 150 years & they had prosper at the expense of under developed countries who were unable to protest. No doubt,China is now emitting more CO2 because she is the workshop of the world and the country is now suffering arising from this pollution.
@TheMrShane1
the rate of extreme poverty has droped dramatically.
Before the open policy was taken, a lot of Chinese people didn't even have jobs.
many of them died of starvation.
More and more middle class people appear in China.
The urbanization can't be stoped in China.
@GuardianDemonX true
@GuardianDemonX
In the past, there were over 2000 people died of starvation EVERY DAY in China.
The number has droped overwhelmingly.
@GuanYu89
I hate to say it Mr. Guan (99 war on Romance of the Three Kingdoms II & 245 on Destiny of an Emperor) but any country that has such a worldly influence as the USA is going to have a lot of enemies. Basically what you said would apply to any country if the roles were altered.
That's because these workers worked their ass off for 200 dollars a month, you have to respect their efforts.
Bravo to Chinese workers with their great courage. Great country, great people! Don't get obese like the 40 million poor in USA.
Keeping the Yuan low also maintains the inflow of foreign capital. The CCP keeps some 4-500 billion USD's in reserve. The Chinese do not wish to spend this money on foreign imports. They want technology, they want to buy companies and factories. Chinese are all about saving up and continue building up their base.
I have a question for someone that knows more about the Chinese culture: why do they like so much to have children? Is it a matter of pride or something like that? Also, I noticed the lady said she has 4 kids (3 girls, 1 boy), however she first stated that her kid (as in just 1) has to go to school. Was she referring to the boy only? Is there some kind of discrimination between children and boys are, for some reason, more wanted than girls? Why is that?
It's not just Asian either, but found in many other races, cultures, etc. A male child has a better chance to earn more money, and also is by nature stronger and able to do more work and harder work.
I live in upstate new york. I work driving truck 12 hours a day as well. More money than China (hardly scraping by) but, it aint easy even in America.
Do you know who are the biggest winners in China's economic boom? The ordinary Chinese citizens are not biggest winners, the American investors who set up shop in China, the European businessmen, the Australians etc...At the same time Chinese Gov't keeps Chinese Yuan weak to keep people working, yet CCP is irresponsible because it does not address pollution of rivers, deforestation, it does not do enough for rural poverty.
That's exactly what's happening to the Australian education system.
You take everything for granted, these guys in the video can't even support their child being sent to college. I saw your videos and you play with your dog, birds, and peacocks. You have such a wonderful life, that you cannot even comprehend some of the miseries faced daily by most of the people on this world. Just because you are born to a great family does not mean YOU ARE ANY BETTER than anyone else. They are all people. NOT RATS, MICE, OR MAGGOT. PEOPLE WHO HAVE FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS.
Jim Rogers has said before that China and the rest of Asia is the way of the future. Oh yeah, how long do the people of China plan to keep buying American debt? If I'm not mistaken every time the government buys the debt they too have to depreciate the yuan.
Peter Schiff argues that China should just allow their currency to appreciate and maybe be backed by a precious metal standard or something.
And one more thing, America is suppose to be a republic, not a democracy.
I hope China's growth means a better life for all chinese, and not just more growth for china.
GO China ! China will be number one economy !
@markshen1985 For you and me "better" is the right word, as we favour Shanghai.However its all a matter of taste, there are some people who would never wanna come here, but thats another thing..... Do you speak german?
4:29, hmm....
There are too many people like that in this video.
come on sbs, if all the Chinese are living like Australian, we won't call China as "developing country". image 1.4 billion Chinese living and earning like Australian,China will be the top of the world.
@markshen1985 Danke, dir auch viel Erfolg wenn du wieder in Shanghai bist!Das Selbe kann man über einen Chinesen behaupten der Deutsch spricht!
boom is a two-sides sword. If these is no rich and poor conflict, there is no improvement of the country. this is philosophy.
There is no need to make comments on those ignorant people. China is rising and it looks like no one can stop it and that's enough.
you are wrong, in China, 83% of colledge students come from urban areas, only 17% come from the rural areas. while 70% of chinese people are living in the rural areas
What countries owe US money? Iraq, and a few. The money they owe the US will do no good for Americans since the US owes a lot more.
In USA, we pay taxes. Lots and lots. That way the rich will give a little to the gov. and in return will be supporting the less rich. It's gr8 that way.
1200 a month is not a good salary in China.
GO CHINA GO !!!!!!!!
@musicalidea
Yes, compared to wester countries.
People wage in China is much lower.
But, you should know that most Chinese people couldn't even feed themselves up in the past.
I swear China surpassed Japan as no. 2 economy in the world like ages ago.....
Chinese are doing a great job !!! I hope India would be able to do that for it's poor one day?
Imagine being poor L Mr Xu
There was a time when Americans would do even the most undesirable jobs for the sake of their families' welfare. Even moving out to the frontier, with all its charms and dangers.
Acctually,Chinese people are friendly.
think about this, most chinese move to the western country, in short time they bought themself house, car, own businese....while local westerner strugle to find job and depend on benefits.
what parents do for their kids...
c:
Compare with most of the country they are not bad
Reminder: Japan was once a overpopulated country too during WWII. Time will tell if your assumption will become reality, so do mine
I so regretted the trip to china that why i was wondering why the hell I did not donate that amount of money to africa to save a couple of starving kids but giving it to the CCP in China so they can build more coal plants..
To some people, dogs and cats are friends and family members, to some others, they are no difference than pigs, cows, chickens. To be fair, I am sympathetic to any animals that's been massively killed by humans, but attacking chinese for eating dogs when you eat pork and beef yourself is somehow hypocritical.
@markshen1985 Ich gehe zur Schule in Gubei lu und habe dort ein Semester Chinesisch gelernt. Ich will im nächsten Semester weiterlernen.Ja, ich habe seit einem Jahr eine chinesische Freundin, aber sie hilft mir nicht viel beim lernen...Und Ihre Eltern sprechen fast nur "Shanghainese" daher ist es schwer mich mit ihen zu unterhalten ;)
Work or go hungry.. keep that in mind americans. We spend nearly 1 trillion a year fighting
poverty and still fail.
Growth is Chinai s simple, People work harder and are now becoming more educated and skilled therefore Robust economy.
The lady at 7:35 is gorgeous. I wonder how many men's hearts she's broken ^-^
you call that a dictatorship, they don't really have criteria to necessarily be called communist. Communism is an economic system, calling china communist is like calling Mussolini's italy communist.
I dont think it really goes to the poor in the form they would need it the most ...
200 Yuan = $16????