Lost in the Stacks: Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China
The harsh conditions do not deter these girls; to “go out” from their villages is to live. In a rural society that values males over females, where marriage might be the only option, migration offers the best opportunity to better oneself. If a girl is willing to speak up for herself, lie through her teeth to get better jobs, take classes in secretarial work, computers, and English, then she does have a future and confers status to her family back home.
Journalist Leslie Chang takes us to the booming world of the migrant workers in Factory Girls: From Village to City in a Changing China. From the factories to the villages they leave behind, from boyfriend problems to family pressures, Chang chronicles the fears and dreams of these ambitious hard-working young women.