Meet The Chinese Workers Building Your Cheap Christmas Toys

19 responses to “Meet The Chinese Workers Building Your Cheap Christmas Toys”

1. 

   rowjack

   December 10, 2012 at 9:51 pm

   OMG its santa’s elves

   Reply
   1. 

      Bobs your Aunty

      December 10, 2012 at 10:18 pm

      So Santa IS using slave labor…

      Darn that’s why my toys always broke….

      Reply
2. 

   mawmon

   December 10, 2012 at 10:23 pm

   They do look a happy lot don’t they?

   Reply
   1. 

      jwb11981

      December 10, 2012 at 11:14 pm

      A perfect match

      Reply
3. 

   exe.

   December 10, 2012 at 11:21 pm

   seriously this is the stuff that makes me want to smash through uni so I can get a ridiculously high paying job so I can go around and just help people. The world sucks in this way, it really does. Someone does have to go through and do certain things, don’t get me wrong there’s always going to be tedious mundane jobs but stuff like this makes me mad…..

   Reply
   1. 

      Gonzo

      December 11, 2012 at 9:14 am

      The problem exe. is that once you reach that pinnacle, you would have forgotten this pledge.

      Reply
4. 

   Bob

   December 11, 2012 at 12:41 am

   Sleeping on the job, this isn’t as bad as sweatshops sound.

   Reply
   1. 

      me

      December 11, 2012 at 1:09 am

      meanwhile in Australia, union bludgers are complaining about working 70 hours spread out over 2 weeks.

      Reply
      1. 

         scruffy

         December 11, 2012 at 1:24 am

         Maybe you would prefer to live and work in a union-free country? Feel free to move to China, where you can be just as happy and fulfilled as the people in the above photos.

         Reply
      2. 

         plmko

         December 11, 2012 at 5:40 am

         Nah, they just want their blank cheques back.

         Reply
      3. 

         finaldelerium

         December 11, 2012 at 11:26 am

         Sooo, you’d rather work more hours for less pay, is that what you’re saying?

         Reply
5. 

   Joe

   December 11, 2012 at 1:46 am

   What’s the moral here. Would you rather they have no jobs? Would you rather we buy local? Is there a point to this? I don think anyone was under the impression people in china are thrilled to make our cheap crap

   Reply
   1. 

      ash

      December 11, 2012 at 9:48 am

      I think ‘buy local’ could be a good message to take away. Or simply a reminder that our ‘cheap’ things have an often unseen human cost (i.e. poor working conditions for others).

      Reply
6. 

   Invid

   December 11, 2012 at 9:06 am

   It actually doesn’t look too bad, I wouldn’t want to do it, but then I’m fortunate enough to live in a country where I have options. Maybe the ones after the link are worse, but these scream boring assembly line work to me not “OMG slave labour”. That said there is no context for the pictures (we don’t know what there paid, what their conditions are like).
   If you look at the photos you can actually see:
   a) Safety equipment is provided (Masks and coveralls)
   b) Cooked lunch provided
   c) not one shot of a security gaurd or the like keeping them in line (heck there is someone sleeping on the job)
   Sure they don’t look happy, but do you look perpetually happy at work? (and you’re not an assembly line worker)
   All in all this seems reasonable, if you want BAD go read up on Foxcon (who make all those smart phones and tablets we all need).

   Like Joe (above) said crappy job, or no job? (and keep in mind even if their pay seems increadibly low by our standards, most of the day to day expenses are also increadibly low by comparison)

   This may not be the best job in the world but it certainly doesn’t appear to be the travesty some (I’m looking at you “exe”) think it is.

   Reply
7. 

   finalizer

   December 11, 2012 at 11:55 am

   Kotaku – the one-stop website for pictures of sad Asians!

   Reply
8. 

   roaringarse

   December 11, 2012 at 12:06 pm

   Ignorance must be bliss.. if you’d done any research into how these places work, I think you’d see things differently.. the ones “sleeping on the job” have no doubt finished their 11 hour daily shift (including weekends since they only have 1 day off per month) and are too tired to return to the tiny room they share with 8 to 12 other workers for sleep… nobody gets to sleep DURING their shift..

   Reply
9. 

   zinger

   December 11, 2012 at 2:47 pm

   so by “meet” you meant have a look at pictures of? pictures from 2006?

   Reply
10. 

    sprite

    December 11, 2012 at 3:19 pm

    Wasn’t this on a couple of weeks ago? Or was this Reddit? – Honestly confused.

    Reply
11. 

    Franz

    December 11, 2012 at 5:40 pm

    Since when does everyone walk around streets in China beaming a great smile? Put those same people in a factory and suddenly we’re supposed to think they are super miserable?

    Reply