Faydao's Blog in English

Translation: Adidas - sweatshop in China (preface)

faydao@gmail.com (faydao) — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 18:58:29 +0800

The big investigation of Adidas sweatshop - the Cheap labors in China ( By Li Qiang [李强] in Chinese)

the preface ( translated by Faydao, please reserved the link)

Key event: Adidas is the famous band on the Earth. From 2004 to 2007, in 4 years, it profited growth 68.28%. but who know, the profit including how many sweat of Chinese cheap labor. And now , there is a investigation report about how Adidas profit, the report including how to use labor, welfare and working security.

Adidas sweatshop investigation

Li Qiang

Background:

Adidas is a multinational company who from Germany, it was famous for its shoes and sportswear. The shoes and sportswear are very popular in the world. It was respected as an Great famous sport band. 2004, Adidas had $646,770,453 profit. And in 2007, its profit had grown to $1,088,393,584 (go beyond one billion ), 4 years, the growth rate has reach 68.28% (all data from Adidas annul financial report )

In China, there are 200 factories, more than 250,000 labors working for Adidas. in the report form CLW, no matter in Chengda, Weili and Changyelong (the factory name in China), there is a similarity: all labors' pay were so bad. though only 3 factories were investigated, but we can drew the picture for the suppliers of Adidas.

Most Adidas workers are female, about 20 years old, come from rural, just work in the factories which like Chengda, Weili, Changyelong ect.

They work 6 days every week for average, and everyday they work about 10 to 12 hours. They live in the staff dormitories. Every dormitory has 10 people, use a public bathroom. They have no pension. The workers in Changyelong are worried about late, if late for 5 min, they will lost 2 hours wages. In Chengda, only when customer auditing, the security device such as glove and mask were sent. And worse, the staff in Chengda could not choice diet autonomous, cause the factory will subtract their dinner money although they don't know.

Some Adidas suppliers such as Chengda, declares, the staff work overtime is voluntary, because their salary was so low that they can't help work overtime for survive and their family. They will not image if they can have an Adidas shoe or others products, though they produced them. If they want have, but it is impossible. Confront the low salary , frequently penalty of suppliers and long time working, the worker just hope the factory will pay the deserved salary.

The real profit holder in Olympic, it could never be the 250,000 workers in Adidas production line. Instead, it is the profiteer companies such as Adidas, they got the biggest profit by cut down the labor cost. Now, Adidas is planning move the produce line to other countries, workers were bled white. They leave the responsibility to China.

For sponsor the Olympic, Adidas had spent $74,567,918, and look at the workers' low salary, no more than 65 cents every hour, it is not too hard image, how can Adidas sponsor Olympic, where were the money from, they all from 250,000 workers in China. Adidas use 3.5 months salary of the workers to sponsor Olympic. Adidas gain all repute and wealth, but the worker working day and night in the production line, to earn the additional cent.

Who is the biggest beneficiary in Olympic? Neither the common audience who have the chance to see the success and failure of athletes, nor the athletes who win the games. Instead, in the Olympic which stand for peace and hope, the biggest beneficiary is the company such as Adidas. But , the staff who work in the suppliers' factories, they cannot look for peace and hope.

For that, CLW investigated the working condition in factories of Adidas suppliers : Changyelong sport goods company ltd. Weili textile company ltd of Zhongshan, Chengda shoes industry company ltd. From the report of CLW investigated the 3 factories, the conditions of the workers in Adidas suppliers factories were relative bad, the suppliers did not restrict the factories according to the standards of Adidas. The condition is unpromising, instead , Chinese workers only have the low and cheap salary, the additional work overtime, the paid lodging and boarding, the indemnification with no social insurance, hard to ask for leave, fine, the salary was docked, no security measure.

Impossible is nothing ,the ad word of Adidas, but form the report of CLW, the investigation on Chengda, Weili, Changyelong, for Adidas itself, one thing is impossible, give the humanity working conditions, it look likes impossible?

translated by Faydao.the text will come soon

Technorati : Adidas, sweatshop, 血汗工厂, 阿迪达斯
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newshook China last week(20080818-22)

faydao@gmail.com (faydao) — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 19:45:21 +0800

from my mail.

Chinato ban small coal mines to improve pit safety

BEIJING- China is to ban the building of coal mines with high gas danger whose annual production capacity would be below 300,000 tonnes, according to a new guideline for coal mine safety, the State Administration of Work Safety told Xinhua on Thursday.

The country plans to cut the death toll from coal mine gas blasts by at least 20 percent by 2010, compared with the 2007 figures, according to the coal mine safety guideline issued by the work safety commission of the State Council, or the Cabinet.

Coal mine accidents killed 3,770 people last year, among whom 1,084 people died from gas blasts, statistics from the administration showed.

The guideline orders large-scale coal mines to set up their own rescue teams, while smaller mines must work with neighbouring rescue teams to guarantee prompt rescue in case of any accident.

It also urged newly-built coal mines to build underground emergency shelters for miners, providing food, water, oxygen, communication facilities and other necessities.

The government has vowed to close more than 4,000 small coal mines to reduce their total number to less than 10,000 by 2010 in a bid to improve industry safety.

Chinahas about 16,000 coal mines, 90 percent of which are classified as small ones, and their safety record is far worse than that of large mines.

Green axe hangs over local officials

About 60 percent provincial and regional government officials' career success depends on their achievements in saving energy and protecting the environment, a top development official said Thursday.

The central government announced last year that local government officials' promotions would depend not only on economic growth, but also on their environmental efforts. Which means they will not be promoted if they fail to achieve their green targets.

Xie Zhenhua, vice-minister of the National Development and Reform Commission, said the progress made since is a "great achievement" despite some local officials' "slow response".

Chinahas vowed to cut its energy consumption per unit of GDP by 20 percent by 2010.

It also vowed to cut pollutant emission by 10 percent during the 11th Five-Year Plan (2006-10).
The central government has told all provinces and autonomous regions to cut their share, taking the 2005 level as the benchmark. So "the local governments' performance is vital to the nation's goal", Xie said.
But the energy saving story is still "grim", Xie said, even though the officials' performances are yet to be assessed. They will be judged on a five-yearly basis.
In 2006, China managed to reduce the use of energy by 1.23 percent, though the target was 4 percent. It reached closer to its target last year, but still fell short by 0.34 percentage points.
The first half of this year saw a reduction of 2.88 percent, only 0.1 percentage point better year-on-year.

77 applications, no protests at Beijing Games
Since Aug 1, Beijing authorities have received 77 applications from people wishing to stage demonstrations, a spokesperson for the municipal public security bureau said on Aug 18.
The applications involved 149 people, including three from overseas. Most of the applications concerned labor, medical and welfare issues, which is not applicable for protests according to Chinese law and should be dealt through available channels with government agencies, the spokesperson said.
For the three applications submitted by foreigners, "Two other applications have been suspended due to incomplete procedures. The other case concerned incomplete particulars.
Chinese law requires demonstrators to submit their requests at least five days in advance, detail the subject of protest, and provide basic information of the participants. Every participant have to appear in person when submitting the application.
Chinaannounced last month it would set up zones in three Beijing parks where demonstrators could legally stage protests during the Olympic Games. They are Zizhuyuan Park in the city's northwest, Ritan Park in the east and World Park in the southwest. No protest has been allowed yet.

Lending to small firms encouraged
The government has introduced new incentives to encourage more lenders to provide microcredit loans to labor-intensive small firms and laid-off workers starting new businesses.
In a joint statement, the People's Bank of China, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, said microcredit lenders are allowed to raise the lending rate by up to 3 percentage points more than the benchmark rate for loans granted since January 1 to laid-off workers starting new businesses.
The measures are part of the central government's efforts to provide additional capital to encourage the growth of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and create more jobs.
The government will shoulder the financial burden of interest charges levied on businesses with thin profit margins.
"SMEs are major engines of job creation in China," said Zhou Dewen, director of the Wenzhou Council for the Development and Promotion of SMEs. "The introduction of new incentives for microcredit loans is good news for SMEs."
Economists and industry experts said domestic enterprises still rely too heavily on bank loans to finance their growth. This reliance has seriously hampered the growth of many SMEs because banks traditionally prefer to lend to large State-owned enterprises.

Technorati : china, olympic
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Mind test:Which way is the bus below travelling

faydao@gmail.com (faydao) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 17:54:21 +0800

sharing from Kevin

Which way is the bus below travelling?
To the left or to the right?

Can't make up your mind?

Look carefully at the picture again.
Still don't know?

Primary school children all over the MUMBAI were shown this picture and asked the same question.
90% of them gave this answer: 'The bus is travelling to the right.'

When asked, 'Why do you think the bus is travelling to the right?'
They answered: 'Because you can't see the door to get on the bus.'
How do you feel now???

DAN SADOWSKY:Becoming a Global Citizen

faydao@gmail.com (faydao) — Mon, 26 May 2008 19:27:32 +0800

Becoming a Global Citizen

BY DAN SADOWSKY | May 9, 2007

Last month, Eva joined other American teens in Washington to ask Congress to put more money toward universal primary education around the world. Photo: Courtesy of Eva Orbuch Eva Orbuch is proof that one person can change the world.

Seventeen-year-old Eva has spent the last six months successfully galvanizing classmates to take action on some of the world's most pressing issues. Along the way, the Stanford-bound senior has presented awards to red-clad classmates on World AIDS Day, recruited a refugee from Sudan's troubled Darfur region to speak on a school panel, and stumped for universal primary education on Capitol Hill.

Eva is no stranger to eye-opening awareness campaigns. She previously developed a theater workshop for teens that offers both Israeli and Palestinian perspectives on the Middle East's defining conflict. But her commitment to civic engagement deepened last fall after she joined NetAid's Global Citizen Corps, a national network of high school student leaders working to educate and mobilize their peers to end global poverty. Participating students organize events on a handful of "Global Action Days" throughout the school year, and swap ideas with peers on the organization's Online Action Center. The deadline to apply is May 15.

Eva learned about NetAid's signature program from a fellow San Francisco Bay-area high schooler, whom she met at an East Coast leadership conference in 2005.

"She had put on really big events at her school that raised awareness and money, and NetAid's program sounded like a really good means to support them," explains Eva. "I was really interested in issues of global poverty and Third-World development, partly because I was taking an environmental science class where I learned about overpopulation and water and all those issues we talk about in Global Citizenship Corps."

Since 2004, according to NetAid, Global Citizen Corps leaders have had a tremendous impact on communities at home and abroad. They've educated more than 150,000 peers, raised tens of thousands of dollars to alleviate poverty, gathered thousands of petition signatures and generated dozens of stories in the local, regional and national press.

Eva's first goal after joining the Global Citizen Corps was to focus her schoolmates' attention on World AIDS Day, which takes place each December 1. At 400-student Marin Academy in San Rafael, Calif., she circulated petitions, staffed an information table in the lunchroom and promoted a contest to see who could wear the most red. She also passed out different-colored stickers for classmates to wear, each representing a person with AIDS in a certain part of the world. At an all-school assembly that morning, she asked classmates with yellow stickers - who represented people with AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa - to stand. The exercise presented a stark and relatable portrait of how the disease disproportionately impacts that part of the world.

Her efforts had an immediately tangible effect: classmates pitched in $500 to help girls in Zambia enroll in primary school, a proven strategy to reduce the likelihood of HIV infection. NetAid matched the amount, and contributions by teachers, parents and others pushed the total donation to $2,000.

"I believed it before, but this event reinforced for me that a small group of determined people can really do a lot," Eva says. "Five hundred dollars might not change the world, but it does make a difference in the life of someone who needs it most."

Eva's efforts continued in February with a two-person panel on Darfur, which featured a Sudanese refugee living in Oakland and a former official from the United Nations High Commission on Refugees (UNHCR). The forum spurred sales of hats, t-shirts, bracelets and pins that raised money for UNHCR's Darfur efforts. And just last month, Eva traveled to Washington, D.C., where she met with House and Senate staffers and urged them to do more to ensure universal primary education overseas.

Eva says the most fulfilling thing about her experience in the Global Citizen Corps is "getting students who might not care about a cause and helping strike this chord in them. So, for example, they see this Sudanese refugee talking and they're moved to take action."

earthquake:when people die we need rescue, not only money

faydao@gmail.com (faydao) — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:32:01 +0800

you know, a Premier can not save many people in Wenchuan Earthquake. And the soldiers can rescue many people, but they need more expenriences. Meanwhile the rescue teams from abroad were more expenrienced, they can rescue more people, more lives.

So, as a wise choice, China Government should need International Recsue (and they were ready!), take politics away! When people dying, fuck damn politics. Life is first.

A soldier carries a wounded child as she is rescued after an earthquake in Beichuan, Sichuan Province, May 13, 2008. (Reuters Photo) via sina

And as common people, what we can do? The help link How you can help? See below(via sina):

The Ministry of Civil Affairs has authorized the Red Cross Society of China and China Charity Federation to receive donations for quake-hit areas.

Red Cross Society of China

Account number for renminbi donation: 0200001009014413252, at Beijing branch of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China

Account number for foreign currency donation: 7112111482600000209 at Jiuxianqiao branch of CITIC Bank.

Donation through post office should be sent to:

Red Cross Society of China

No 8, Beixinqiaosantiao, Dongcheng District, Beijing, 100007

Its website: www.redcross.org.cn

Red Cross Society of China donation hotline: (8610) 65139999, 64027620

Chinese Red Cross Foundation also receives donations, which can be sent to:

No 53, Ganmian Hutong, Dongdanbeidajie Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing, 100010

Account number of Beijing branch, Bank of China: 800100921908091001

Account number of Dongsinan branch, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China: 0200001019014483874

Account number of Beijing Chaoneidajie branch, China Construction Bank: 11001070300059000427

Account number for foreign currency at Bank of China: 800100086608091014

China Charity Federation hotline: (8610) 66083260, 66083264, 66083194

Technorati : earthquake, rescue
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12 forecasts on the new policies in 2008 China

faydao@gmail.com (faydao) — Sat, 26 Apr 2008 11:11:26 +0800

Some forecasts below were basic on the article They will Effect your business and lives.(Link translated by Google language tool).

1.RMB appreciates slowly.

2. The taxing amount of local tax department ( besides Central Tax Department )will icreasing.

3.Environment taxing ( maybe need legislation )will be on the schedule.

4.Compulsory education will spread in the cities ( maybe will take some experimental units in some cities. ).

5. Beans and oil supply will be in shortages for a long sight. And the prices of them maybe increasing.

6. Property tax experimental units will ....

Joke: New Doctor

faydao@gmail.com (faydao) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:28:54 +0800

A young doctor had moved out to a small community to replace a doctor who was retiring. The older doctor suggested the younger one accompany him on his rounds so the community could become used to a new doctor.

At the first house a woman complained, "I've been a little sick to my stomach."

The older doctor said, "Well, you've probably been overdoing the fresh fruit. Why don't you cut back on the amount you've been eating and see if that does the trick?"

As they left the younger man said, "You didn't even examine that woman. How'd you come to your diagnosis so quickly?"

"I didn't have to. You noticed I dropped my stethoscope on the floor in there? When I bent over to pick it up, I noticed a half dozen banana peels in the trash. That was what was probably making her sick."

"Hmmm," the younger doctor said, "Pretty clever. I think I'll try that at the next house."

Arriving at the next house, they spent several minutes talking with a younger woman. She complained that she just didn't have the energy she once did. "I'm feeling terribly run down lately."

"You've probably been doing too much extra work for the church." the younger doctor told her. "Perhaps you should cut back a bit and see if that helps."

As they left, the elder doctor said, "Your diagnosis is almost certainly correct, but how did you arrive at it?"

"Well, just like you did at the last house, I dropped my stethoscope and when I bent down to retrieve it, I noticed the preacher under the bed."

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Let Truth Speak in UK, Not in China?

faydao@gmail.com (faydao) — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 22:56:11 +0800

Chinese in UK, they want BBC tell the truth. They wore a white mask each other. And they standing in the Britain Capitol Building, it just means a protest which against BBC's wrong report on the Tibet issue in China.(Link Translate by Google language tool. when I search it in Google, no results match).

The first photo was very interesting. I edited it by Photoshop, and Change BBC to CCAV( it is a trick of CCTV, anyway, it is another name of CCTV which given by Chinese netizen). I think it is also needed in China. But you will never see this scene in China. It is Forbidden.

In UK

In China? Impossible!

The photo in Yupoo.com

Technorati : BBC, CCTV

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Globalization and inflation in rural: Walkout of the Bus team

faydao@gmail.com (faydao) — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:48:26 +0800

Today, I call captain of the bus team if there is any bus to the township. The captain said, the fare of passenger paid could not afford the cost of fuel, and why we driving bus ?

As we know the inflation had occoured in China for months. But how about the globalization inflection? 3 years ago, the fare of the bus which from county to township is 5RMB, but after that, sometime the fuel price rising could affected the fare. For example, when the fuel price rise in the Mid-east, the fare will rising too, sometime will be 8RMB. At that time , the inflation of China was low level. Is the effection of Globalization?

And now, which's the effective? Inflation or Globalization ?

Technorati : Globalization, inflation

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Joke:Life in 2008

faydao@gmail.com (faydao) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 00:24:25 +0800

Also From My Friend：

My name was David, but that shoulded old fashioned. So I shortened it to DVD!

Your baby is developing very nicely. Would you like to send him an e-mail?