College Dormitories in China: A Brief Methods Section

Before sharing the examples of college dormitories in China (introduction here; my relevant research experience here), an informal post on some of the "methods" I used may prove useful in interpreting what will soon follow. Although the methods varied, there are some commonalities worth mentioning:

1. None of these visits were arranged in any way by the universities. I visited all of the dorms at the invitation of students.

2. The students and the dorms were not selected by the universities in any way.

3. The choice of the specific dorms was not planned in advance. When the students woke up that morning, they had no idea I would be visiting their dorm room. The photos are all of "natural" conditions, and the students had no opportunity to prepare for my visit.

4. I made no effort to view any specific type of dorm.

Finally, I want to thank the many students who guided me around their schools, allowed me into their dorms, and opened up to me about a variety of topics. It reminds of the many other people in China who were friendly to me.

Now that those formalities are out of the way, on to the main posts...

College freshman in Dalian, Liaoning province, participating in their mandatory military training

UPDATE: See here for the first post of views inside a dorm room, this one at Dalian Maritime University.

College Dormitories in China: The Research

In the previous post I mentioned that I will share examples of living conditions in a variety of student dormitories in China. And as I wrote before, I would like to provide some background on why and how I became familiar with this topic.

While working as a user experience (UX) researcher at Microsoft China, I helped to inspire and guide the design of useful, usable, and desirable technologies for global and China-specific markets. What I learned on a daily basis through a variety of projects ranging from the usability testing of new applications for mobile phones to participatory design sessions with amazingly creative Shanghai high school students never ceased to amaze me -- both in terms of what seemed so familiar, and what seemed so different. And often, what I discovered not only surprised me, but my teammates as well.

One set of projects I led focused on the life of youth, 18 to 25 years old, in China. Based on what I was permitted to earlier share for an international conference in Germany, I can say that one of the projects covered five provincial capital cities in China: Changsha, Hunan province; Guiyang, Guizhou province; Xi'an, Shaanxi province; Ji'nan, Shangdong province; Changchun, Jilin province. They are cities in very different regions of China -- important since we well recognized China's diversity. Our specific recruitment requirements ensured that the Chinese participants whose lives we delved into came from a range of income levels, backgrounds, and environments. Since half of the participants were students and interviews began in participants' place of residence, I visited a number of college dormitories. I am not able to share the specific goals of this research study, even the participants didn't know the details (and sometimes they expressed confusion about what they could be). I am also not able to share the findings nor their impact other than to say I presented them to a wide range of teams at Microsoft both in China and the U.S.

But I mention this project because combined with others I conducted in China for Microsoft and similar technology companies, it serves as a background which implicitly guides some of my recent independent research. And as part of that recent research, I have visited many more universities in China.

Since beginning this blog, I have shared a variety of individual examples or stories that capture key themes in China: a migrant worker's first payday in Shanghai, a Guizhou woman's thoughts about Google's challenges in China, a Sichuanese waitress's surprise about the lack of censorship in Taiwan, or the "Sansumg" computer I found in a Nanning college classroom. Like the examples in those posts, I do not necessarily claim that on their own the upcoming examples serve as definitive proof for any particular "big" claim. But based on previous experiences, I am confident they are representative and significant examples. Most importantly, I hope they can provide a new perspective and stimulate further thought about the many topics they touch on--many do not only relate to China, but elsewhere as well.

College student in Changsha, Hunan province, displaying her map of the world

UPDATE: See here for the following post.

College Dormitories in China: An Introduction

Yesterday an American reader wrote to me:

I recently found your blog and just wanted to say how much I enjoy the pictures you post. They really show a different side of China than the image I have had in my mind.

I asked if he could say more and he replied:

My mental image was of a much more dismal place. I never thought much beyond the image of huge factories full of underpaid workers, but your pictures show that there is more than that in China (which I knew on some level, but never really thought about).

I'd really like to visit China if I am ever financially able to at some point.

First, I appreciate the comments, and I hope the reader someday has the opportunity to visit China.

Second, the reader's comments about his image of China are a great setup for some posts I have been planning to provide more context about working and living conditions in China. In another coincidental but perfect setup for what I will soon post, James Fallows is now sharing photos from his recent tour of a Foxconn site in Shenzhen, China. As Fallows writes, Foxconn:

is the hyper-secretive, highly controversial company that makes so many of the smartphones, computers, tablets, and other devices that you use.

At the moment, Fallows has four "Inside Foxconn" posts, all including photos. You can find them here: One; Two; Three; Four.

The third post includes photos inside a dorm room. In commenting on the dorms Fallows writes:

...I've seen enough other Chinese factories, rural schools, villages and so on to recognize that these are on the higher end of the spectrum.

Based on the many dorms I have seen in different regions of China, the photos shared by Fallows left me with a similar impression.

On that note, I will post series of photos from a range of dorms not at factories, but at universities I have visited across China. They will provide points of comparison for the dorms photographed by Fallows and also some perspective on the living conditions common for students in China. But before that, I want to provide a brief overview of why and how I became familiar with university dorm conditions in China as part of my research. That's coming soon.

In the meantime, I recommend checking out the Foxconn posts by Fallows if you haven't already. Newer posts may already be available on his blog at The Atlantic here.

UPDATE: Here is a current (as of Oct 27) list of links to posts on this topic in the order they were published:

• College Dormitories in China: The Research -- a brief overview of my most relavent background, including research at Microsoft China

• College Dormitories in China: A Brief Methods Section -- issues that could impact interpreting what I share

• College Dormitories in China: Dalian Maritime University -- a four bed male dorm room

• College Dormitories in China: Guangxi Normal University for Nationalities in Longzhou -- an eight bed male dorm room

• Still Able to Dream in Guangxi: Studying at School and Working at the Factory -- challenges faced by many of the students at the school in Longzhou

• The Faces of Students in Longzhou -- a photo of some of the students

• College Dormitories in China: Central South University of Forestry and Technology in Changsha -- a four bed female dorm room

More is on the way.

UPDATE 2: Here is a list of links to later relevant posts:

• Hanging Clothing at Dormitories in China -- hanging clothing is a common sight at universities

• College Dormitories in China: Zhaotong Teacher's College -- an eight bed male dorm room

• Hard Beds in China -- context for considering the thin mattress on the beds in the dorm rooms

• Stools in China -- context for considering the stools in the dorm roooms

College students outside their dorm rooms in Longzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China

Mitt Romney and Counterfeit Valves from China

I previously shared this quote of Romney from the second U.S. presidential debate (full transcript here):

We can compete with anyone in the world as long as the playing field is level. China's been cheating over the years. One by holding down the value of their currency. Number two, by stealing our intellectual property; our designs, our patents, our technology. There's even an Apple store in China that's a counterfeit Apple store, selling counterfeit goods. They hack into our computers. We will have to have people play on a fair basis, that's number one.

I argued that even under a generous interpretation of his comment about the Apple store, it was not particularly relevant to whether the "playing field is level" for the U.S. and China. In short, most accounts and my own many experiences do not support a belief that many "fake" Apples stores in China are selling counterfeit Apple products (more about Romney's earlier comment and the many "fake" Apple stores I have seen in China here).

In the third and final U.S. presidential debate both candidates made a few comments about China. Romney again raised the issue of counterfeit products (full transcript here):

We have to say to our friend in China, look, you guys are playing aggressively. We understand it. But this can't keep on going. You can't keep on holding down the value of your currency, stealing our intellectual property, counterfeiting our products, selling them around the world, even to the United States.

I was with one company that makes valves and - and process industries and they said, look, we were - we were having some valves coming in that - that were broken and we had to repair them under warranty and we looked them and - and they had our serial number on them. And then we noticed that there was more than one with that same serial number. They were counterfeit products being made overseas with the same serial number as a U.S. company, the same packaging, these were being sold into our market and around the world as if they were made by the U.S. competitor. This can't go on.

It is notable that Romney mentioned counterfeits, but did not mention any counterfeit Apple stores this time. I'll admit, I am pleased to know that Romney must have read this blog. It is worth noting that he did not use the tech-related examples involving either Google or Microsoft that I thought could be useful for his uneven playing field claim. As I mentioned before, this may be because it would not be beneficial for such companies to be publicly mentioned by a leading political figure in the U.S. If they were, it could increase perceptions in China that they are arms of the U.S. government.

Instead, Romney used an example of counterfeit valves. I have no familiarity with the valve trade nor do I have any experience with fake valve stores in China. I will just say there is nothing in his account that strikes me as peculiar or especially unlikely. In fact, it reminded me of a wholesale counterfeit toy store I saw in Guangzhou which had several customers in the U.S. I can only assume Romney chose an example of valves instead of my example of cuddly stuffed toys because most of the toys in the store I highlighted were of animated characters from Japanese games, TV shows, and movies. If only the store had sold counterfeit stuffed Disney toys my post might have made it into a presidential debate. Oh well.

That's all for U.S. politics here for now. Like before, I doubt this particular comment in the debate will be what matters most to American voters as they consider their vote in the upcoming election. But I assume many Americans would agree that China selling counterfeit goods is not good for the U.S.

After all, someone could seriously hurt themselves using a counterfeit bayonet.

Chairs, Blankets, and Broken Mannequins

In the Changsha neighborhood marked for demolition where I spoke with the man mentioned in my post about forced evictions in China, I saw these items on the ground:

Feel free to consider what, if any, symbolism can be found here.

More soon.

Stimulating Forced Evictions in China

The report "Standing Their Ground" by Amnesty International covers an issue familiar to many people in China:

The forced eviction of people from their homes and farmland has become a routine occurrence in China and represents a gross violation of China’s international human rights obligations on an enormous scale. Despite international scrutiny and censure of such abuses amid preparations for the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the pace of forced evictions has only accelerated over the past three years, with millions of people across the country forced from their residences without appropriate legal protection and safeguards. These evictions are often marked by violence, committed both by state and private actors in pursuit of economic gain and, less commonly, by frustrated residents in desperate acts of protest and resistance.

Chinese who lose their homes or land in forced evictions often find themselves living in poorly constructed dwellings far away from jobs, schools and public transport. Because there is not yet a comprehensive social welfare safety net in the countryside, rural residents are particularly vulnerable to severe economic hardship after evictions. Farmers who lose their land often end up in poverty. The problem of forced evictions represents the single most significant source of popular discontent in China and a serious threat to social and political stability.

Premier Wen Jiabao and other members of the Chinese leadership have publicly acknowledged the gravity of the situation, with Wen recently saying in a meeting: “What is the widespread problem right now? It’s the arbitrary seizure of peasants’ land, and the peasants have complaints, so much so that it’s triggering mass incidents [protests].” But other Chinese officials have sought to minimize the problem and defended abuses in the eviction process as a necessary cost of modernization.

In the China Real Time Report, Chuin-Wei Yap's overview of Amnesty International's findings explains the connection between a recent increase in evictions and a nationwide stimulus intended to help China's economy:

Forced evictions have long been a problem in China, in large part because the country’s chronically underfunded local governments rely heavily on land sales for revenue. As part of the 2008 stimulus, initially set at 4 trillion yuan (roughly $640 billion), local governments went on a building binge financed by loans from state-run banks. The need to service those loans drove local governments to sell even greater quantities of land than before, which in turn drove an increase in evictions, according to Amnesty International.

The non-profit says there are no reliable estimates on the number of people forcibly evicted in China since the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but it claims development-linked evictions have risen “significantly” in the last two years. “China’s response to the global recession has exacerbated the problem, with local governments borrowing huge amounts from state banks to finance stimulus projects and relying on land sales to cover interest payments,” it says.

A few weeks ago in Changsha, Hunan province, I was walking through a neighborhood marked for demolition. While there I encountered a man who seemed curious about my presence. After he expressed his happiness in meeting an American, he had one parting message for me: the people who lived there received far too little compensation for their homes.

Read Yap's post and the Amnesty International report for more details on an issue that can raise so many emotions in China. And see here for an earlier post where I discussed the possible links between forced evictions and corruption not only in China but in the U.S. as well.

Harmonious Mobile Phone Stores in Changsha, China

To improve the experience of viewing two photos I will share in this post, I highly recommend playing a particular video for some background music to set the mood (video also here on YouTube):

If you are located in a country such as China, Iran, Syria, and Turkmenistan where YouTube is blocked to prevent you from hearing and seeing its nefarious content, then maybe you can play this Youku copy which may include an advertisement at the beginning (the video does not appear in some readers; not sure why, but it is also here on Youku):

If you are not able to play music at the moment, then I recommend simply singing the song "Ebony and Ivory" to yourself. Make sure to try your best to imitate Paul McCartney's and Stevie Wonder's different voices. And ignore any strange looks from people around you. This is really worth it.

Now that an appropriate theme is in the air, here are two mobile phone stores I saw today in downtown Changsha, Hunan province:

The stores complement the "fake" Android store and many "fake" Apple stores I have seen in China. Not surprisingly, both stores sold Apple and Android mobile phones. The second store also had an extensive selection of Nokia phones, including several which run the Windows Phone 7 operating system.

I will avoid delving into any possible deeper points so you can immerse yourself in this touching moment of blissful harmony. You may even want to play the video multiple times.

Three Artists Photographing the Diverse People of China

Several articles recently caught my eye not only because they highlight how photographs can bring better understanding to often overlooked or misunderstood sides of China, but also because they touch on themes I plan to further delve into. I recommend reading the following articles and taking some time to consider the people and scenes captured in the photographs. There are so many stories in these stories.

1. One method I have used in my research is to ask people to empty their bag or pocketbook. Not only can it provide important insights into their everyday lives, but it can also stimulate revealing discussions. Didi Kirsten Tadlow wrote about one of Huang Qingjun’s projects that takes this concept to a grander level than I have ever attempted. Huang asked people to move the entire contents of their home to an outdoor area:

“I wanted to show ordinary people. Show them in their environment and at home, the connection,” says Mr. Huang, a tall 40-year-old from Heilongjiang Province on the border with Russia. “Because China is a place that is changing.”

The link between people and their possessions is apt, because above all, China is getting richer — though that’s perhaps not the first thing a viewer sees in the photographs, which focus on ordinary people who don’t seem to own much.

Read more of Tadlow's article and explore the details in Huang's photographs here.

2. Claire O'Neill writes about Japanese photographer Go Takayama's desire to understand the impact of China's rapidly expanding infrastructure on remote regions:

While some focus on what these roads will bring to China's economy, Japanese photographer Go Takayama is more interested in what that means to people — especially those in some of China's most remote western regions, like the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region. Many ethnic minorities there, such as the Kyrgyz, have sustained a traditional nomadic way of life — until now.

Takayama had read an article about plans for a highway that would stretch through western China into Kyrgyzstan. A few months later, he was driving toward Kyrgyzstan and picked up a hitchhiker "on the terms that I could follow him to his destination," he says.

Tokayama's project reminds me of the several cities and villages I may have never otherwise visited or even heard of if they were not stops on China's new high speed rail lines. Read more of O'Neill's article and gaze at Takayama's photographs's here.

3. Last and definitely not least, Kerri MacDonald wrote about a project by Lucas Schifres that relates to a topic receiving significant attention in the U.S.:

In “Faces of Made in China,” a series of typological portraits looking at workers inside six Chinese factories, the photographer Lucas Schifres seeks to consider the otherwise anonymous people who produce our essential possessions by looking directly into their eyes...

...when they interviewed the workers, the photographer and his team found that the pride was really there.

“The answer was always, ‘Oh, we’re very proud; we’re happy that the products go all around the world,’ ” Mr. Schifres said. “‘This is good for China; this is good for our generation.’”

“They have absolutely no idea about controversies around the world about the Made in China products,” he added.

From Zhang Hao, a 16-year-old who was already onto his second job as a manufacturer at a factory in Yiwu (Slide 5), to Wang Jang, a 22-year-old from Chongqing with a 3-year-old daughter (Slide 3), many of the stories followed similar threads. Most of the workers had moved from rural areas to make a better living, hoping to send money home or make a better life for their children. But Mr. Schifres was captivated by the little details.

“They’re people, too,” he said. “China is not this machine the size of a country that pops out cheap T-shirts without anybody doing it.”

The sense of pride and the unawareness about the controversies surrounding their work is very consistent with much of what I have found in China. Read more of Kerri's article and look into the eyes of the people Schifres photographed here.

A Stationary Child in Motion

In an earlier post including a photo of a young girl I asked, "What matters more, where you are or where you plan to go?"

In this particular case,

Near a shopping district in Changsha, Hunan province

it seems to be the former.

A Bench of Life in Changsha

I see so many stories to discover in this scene:

A bench with statues and real people on Changsha's Huangxing Road Pedestrian Street

And more stories are on the way...

Mitt Romney and Counterfeit Apple Stores in China

The most recent U.S. presidential debate touched on some China-related issues, and I would like to comment on at least one of them.

No, this post will not be about the single question from a Shanghainese female I know:

Binders of women. What does 'binders' mean here?

Nor will it be about the many creative answers she received from friends.

Instead, I want to focus on this statement by Mitt Romney (copied from a debate transcript here):

We can compete with anyone in the world as long as the playing field is level. China's been cheating over the years. One by holding down the value of their currency. Number two, by stealing our intellectual property; our designs, our patents, our technology. There's even an Apple store in China that's a counterfeit Apple store, selling counterfeit goods. They hack into our computers. We will have to have people play on a fair basis, that's number one.

When listening to the debate live, Romney's reference of the "counterfeit Apple store, selling counterfeit goods" struck me as peculiar. I had assumed he was talking about the widely-reported "fake Apple Store" in Kunming. But that situation has long since been resolved, and I am not aware of any evidence that the Apple products it sold were counterfeits. However, it would be easy for me to believe there exists at least one store somewhere in China that could be reasonably called a "counterfeit" Apple store and that sells counterfeit goods of some sort (even if they aren't Apple products but instead are accessories designed by other companies). Since it is not clear which exact store Romney is referencing and he does not specify which type of goods are being counterfeited, I would not consider Romney's Apple store claim to be necessarily untrue. But whether he was referencing the store in Kunming or another store in China that has somehow caught his attention, I am not convinced the example was relevant in regards to arguing that the playing field is not level in China.

As I have detailed before, what counts as a "fake" Apple store can be fuzzy. And since so many potential offenders can still be found, at least at the moment Apple may only be taking action against those that go to extremes in imitating a real Apple Store. Furthermore there exist many Apple-authorized retail stores in China that are not Apple Stores, and it is not illegal for unauthorized stores to resell genuine Apple merchandise in China (see previous two links for more about these topics and examples of both fake and authorized Apple stores in China). Although I have seen mobile phones for sale in China that appear to inappropriately use Apple's trademarks (see here and here for two of my favorite examples), I have never seen such phones for sale in what I think could reasonably be called a "counterfeit Apple store". Also, I am not aware of any evidence that many fake Apple stores are selling counterfeit products that look and function like genuine Apple products. Instead, most reports and my own experience suggest that the Apple products being sold at such stores are purchased from authorized Apple stores. The Apple Store in Hong Kong has been a particularly popular source due to differences in prices and availability of products, and it plays a role in China's extensive grey market (for other examples of grey market activities see here and here). See here for some examples of stores in Guangzhou who earlier this year openly stated that their iPhones come from Hong Kong (also includes many examples of stores in Hunan province and elsewhere in Guangzhou province). See here for a more recent example in a Reuters report from nearby Shenzhen.

So, although Apple certainly faces challenges in China, I don't think the "counterfeit stores" are effective for the point Romney was making. After all, those stores mostly appear to be selling genuine products purchased from Apple.

If Romney had his heart set on using a tech example to make his case, I think there would have been more suitable options. For example, an online service that is blocked by China's Great Firewall, such as Google's YouTube, could touch on the issue of fairness while also touching on another issue that can stir up American voters. Mentioning YouTube's situation could show Romney is concerned about the restrictions on free speech in China. It is also an example of where China's censorship leads to a playing field that is not level. After all, YouTube cannot expect to make much profit in China if it is blocked. China's Great Firewall is even helping Chinese companies get business from American companies (see here for one example related to YouTube). And if you think services such as YouTube are only blocked due to reasons of censorship, read here about a Chinese woman in Guizhou who thinks there are also economic reasons for Google's "problems" in China. Regardless of the reasons for the blocking, though, I think it is fair to assume that most American voters could be easily convinced (if they aren't already) that YouTube is not on a level playing field with its potential competitors in China.

However, some would largue that all is indeed fair in regards to YouTube and that Google just has to observe China's censorship laws. Well... if Romney is sensitive to such concerns, then he can mention another well known tech company. Microsoft could make a kadzillion* dollars if all the copies of its software in China were used under proper licenses and not pirated versions. The problem is so extreme that Microsoft has reportedly even had to make a formal request in China that several state-owned companies stop using pirated copies of Microsoft software (see here). And although there may be disagreements over the severity of the problem (at least in public statements), the Chinese government has openly stated it wishes to reduce software piracy. So even they appear to acknowledge (at least in their words) that there is a problem. Again, I think American voters would readily view Microsoft's situation as not fair. The only caveat that now comes to mind is any Chinese software company probably also faces issues with piracy in China. So I suppose one could say there is a level playing field in that regards. However, the problem has a much larger financial effect on American companies such as Microsoft, and no Chinese company faces a similar problem succeeding in the US.

So why did Romney mention Apple's situation instead of Google's or Microsoft's? I could speculate about reasons that relate to either Romney's interests (for example, he might think Apple is "sexier" to voters or he might have a very specific definition of "level playing field") or Google's and Microsoft's interests (for example, they may not consider it to be beneficial to resolving their China-related problems for them be publicly stated by a prominent U.S. politician) but... I think it is best to just say I really don't know.

Finally, I don't expect this critique to pose a significant setback for Romney. Although I was puzzled by his statement about a counterfeit Apple store and wanted to comment on it, American voters will likely be far more concerned about many other statements made during the debate.

Even those about binders.


*"Kadzillion" equals whatever amount Microsoft would make under such conditions.

UPDATE: Paul Mozur in the China Real Time Report writes that Jessica Angelson, the blogger who brought attention to the fake Apple Store in Kunming, "didn’t feel her find was being used properly" by Romney. Again, even though it was my first interpretation as well, at the moment I don't think it can be said that Romney's words definitely refer to the Kunming store. But even if they don't, the example would not seem to be highly relevant to his point. Maybe Romney will shed more light on this issue.


Disclosure: I previously worked as a user experience researcher at Microsoft China. All of the information and claims about Microsoft in this post are based solely on public sources (except for my newly-created word "kadzillion") and in no way represent "inside knowledge" on my part. The rampant pirating of Microsoft's products in China is well-known and easy to see.

A College Student's Part-time Job on a Street in Changsha

Yesterday afternoon, the above college freshman in Changsha, Hunan province, handed out printed advertisements--a form of street marketing common in Chinese cities. During this first day at her new part-time job she was surprised to discover the challenges in convincing people to take a small piece of paper. She had already noticed, though, that if she could point out the coupon included in the advertisement, people were more likely to accept it.

For working at the job from 2 to 6 p.m. she could earn 40 yuan RMB. If she worked from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. she could earn a total of 50 yuan RMB. She thought the proportionally small increase in pay for doubling her working hours made no sense, so it was an easy choice to decline working all day. But working for about US $1.60 per hour during the afternoon made perfect sense to her, and she happily accepted the opportunity.

This brief account lightly touches on some themes that earlier appeared here in a series of posts including the story of a young Chinese woman's first payday in Shanghai. I will soon return to those themes to address some of the recent media attention and commentary on the conditions faced by China's factory workers.