CHINA BLUE
China Blue is one of the movies that were being filmed at the International Film Series that I watched. It is an eighty-seven minute long documentary that takes us into the lives of blue-jeans factory workers, particularly Jasmine and Orchid. These teenage girls are shown striving hard to survive the harsh conditions of the factory and make some money so they can send it back to their parents.
These teenage workers are made to work more than the regular hours and are hardly ever paid for overtime. They are not given any breaks except for a short lunch break which is used for doing chores, or they would have to sacrifice the two or three hours of sleep they get to finish these chores. These workers are exploited by the Li Feng company, which is run by Mr.Lam.
Mr. Lam would try to get orders for shipment from different companies located in different countries. For this he would have to agree to very low prices and would be left with hardly any profits. Hence, these seamstresses were made to work extremely hard around the clock to meet the time-sensitive order requirements. However, they were not even paid the minimum wage. They were charged for food and housing and fined for being late or taking breaks which left them with hardly any money at the end. They were not even paid this amount until the workers confronted the management and threatened to not work if they were not paid. The management also made the workers lie to any inspectors who would come to inspect the factory about the working hours and wages.
It is very unfortunate to say, but this kind of injustice is seen very often in developing countries like India and China. Workers are not paid enough or provided with basic facilities. They are made to work over-time and are ill-treated. I believe that these kind of conditions exist because of the fact that workers do not know about their rights.
China Blue is one film that made me realize how fortunate I am. We do not understand the value of things until we do not have them anymore. This movie showed me what I was blessed with, and what these girls were not. I do not understand how it would be to fight life everyday just to survive. There is a lot to learn from this movie. It not only makes you feel extremely thankful, but also responsible to stop such injustices from happening.