Was There A Massive Strike At A Foxconn Factory Yesterday?

Foxconn strike?
Has unrest again hit Foxconn? New York-based advocacy group China Labor Watch reports that yesterday at about 1 pm in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan province, “three to four thousand production workers” went on strike after Foxconn demanded they work holidays and “raised overly strict demands on product quality without providing worker training for the corresponding... Read more »

Now That You Know When The iPhone 5 Is Shipping, Listen To Leslie T. Chang Talk About The People Behind The Products

Leslie T Chang Ted Talk
I know it can be difficult sometimes to click on a 15-minute video, but this TEDTalk is both timely and worth it -- timely because Apple held its iPhone 5 unveiling yesterday in San Francisco, and worth it because Leslie T. Chang is awesome. She's best known for Factory Girls, by far the best book I've encountered about the people -- the actual people -- who live and work in the factories that churn out much of the world's retail goods.

Chinese Zither? Yeah, There’s An App For That

Chinese Zither? Yeah, There’s An App For That featured image
Alert: If you're a musician who knows how to play the guzheng, you should make a video, because it'll have a very good chance of going viral. First there was the Adele cover, followed by the Titanic theme song, then that "cultured Chengdu guard." Now? Just a traditional Chinese guzheng song... on iPads.

The Most Expensive iPad And iPhone In The World: It Cost A Boy A Kidney He Now Wants — But Can’t Have — Back

Boy sells kidney for iPad featured image
We're about a day late with this story that's tearing up the Chinese Internet: a 17-year-old boy sold his kidney for 22,000 yuan in Anhui province, then used the money to buy an iPad2 and iPhone (model unspecified). The AP writes, rather understatedly, "The case has prompted an outpouring of concern that not enough is being done to guard against the negative impact of increasing consumerism in Chinese society."

Mike Daisey Owes An Apology To A Lot Of People

Mike Daisey
Picture via Mark Gimein’s post at Bloomberg Businessweek in which he essentially retracts his original review: “Usually, ‘art’ is art and ‘journalism’ is journalism. When the two meet, it’s rarely on the same stage. An exception is the work of monologuist Mike Daisey.” Mike Daisey is not a China expert. This should be abundantly clear, because... Read more »