China Blue

I saw this documentary at the Toronto International Film Festival 2005. This is an excellent documentary portraying the lives of textile workers in China. It puts a human face on the workers who make the blue jeans we wear (hence the name "China Blue"), and makes us stop and think about the products we consume.

As a teacher, I think this documentary would work well in enlightening students on the topics of international worker exploitation and the global reach of capitalism. It brings home the ideas that our Western consumer practices actually touch the lives of individual workers in sweat shops around the world. Since the factory workers are primarily teenage girls, a student audience should easily identify with their needs and desires, hopes and dreams, and frustrations and hardships.

What I loved most about this movie was the diversity and balance of its coverage -- from the issues of globalization, labor laws, and the impacts of rampant consumerism to the colors and flavors of Chinese culture, family issues, relationships, and the ups and downs of life. This is a very rare glimpse into the lives of young women working in a jeans making factory. The filmmaker does an excellent job conveying their exhaustion and the pressure to keep up with production. The viewer can feel their pain. Through it, one sees the need to improve labor conditions not only in China, but in other parts of the world where such demands on workers are unfair and inhumane. It definitely makes one think about where their jeans came from, and where we're going in a world that allows such wonderful young women to work under such horrible circumstances.

"China Blue" is an engrossing documentary that tells the story of 3 teenage girls who leave their rural homes in China to come work for a factory that makes blue jeans.

The movie also presents at some length a portrait of the factory owner, and draws him as a sympathetic character (though not entirely). The factory owner believed that he ran an excellent factory and had nothing to hide--he gave the documentary makers extensive access to the factory and to the workers. In fact it was only the Chinese government that hassled Peled--their rule is that all foreign journalists must have a government minder, and any filming without government approval is illegal. Big chunks of the film were lost as a result.

Peled said in discussion afterward that the moral of the film is not "don't buy Chinese jeans". He said that conditions would be similar in any factory in Sri Lanka, El Salvador, or the Mariana Islands. In fact, conditions in the factory of the film are said to be relatively good. Nonetheless, the workers (mostly teenage girls) work 7 days a week, often getting only 2 or 4 hours sleep. They are paid irregularly, when it suits the owner, and the costs of the dormitory and kitchen (and "fines") are deducted from their pay.

Their wages average 6 cents an hour. The factory owner sells the jeans for $4.20 (or $4.10) each. Of that, $1 is labor cost, the cost of about 25 peoples' labor for one hour. The owner claims to make only 20 cents profit on a pair of jeans. The documentary asserts that the big name brands push costs to be so low that they know that the factories cannot be paying minimum wage, but they look the other way regarding proof of factory conditions. Walmart, for example, allows factories 3 reports of non-compliance with basic humanitarian rules before it will consider going elsewhere. And there are consultants who specialize in teaching factories how to fake their inspections. It's cheaper than paying decent wages.

The documentary is not a crude polemic. It lets the girls speak in their own voices, relying on a charmingly written diary by the main character, Jasmine, which is read in a voice-over. The film shows the girls in their daily routine, 8 of them sharing a room and a toilet, brushing their teeth and getting ready for work at the same time. Although I've read much about globalization, this film brought home the reality of its results in the lives of the girl workers, who marvel at the huge girth of the jeans they are making and wonder what kind of people must be wearing them. The conditions are both shocking and matter-of-fact in the way everyone takes them for granted. I highly recommend this movie.

So, how much you paid for your last pair of jeans? And do we ever think about how much the workers get paid for making these jeans if there is a label saying "Made in China?" This documentary "China Blue" brings us inside a jeans factory in Guangdong, China. The surprising great level of access to these workers and the factory owner give us a chilling first hand look at what the label "Made in China" really means. The film follows a 16-years old girl Jasmine who began to work in the Lifeng Factory to make jeans for foreign countries like USA and UK, and for companies like Wal-Mart. She lives in a dorm room in the factory (not for free) with another 11 workers. Some of these workers are as young as 14 years old (with a fake ID to come to work). She kept a diary to express how much she misses her family and how horrible the working condition is. Sometimes, they have to work 16 hours (even over 20 hours one time) without overtime pay. They only get paid about $50 to $60 a month after all these long hours of working. And this is still better than going back to countryside villages where they will make even less. It makes me furious when I see the factory owner drives his Mercedes to fancy restaurants to meet foreign customers, while he delays paying the workers after more than a month's work.

It's a really depressing film to watch and it makes me feel guilty to buy any clothes with "Made in China" on it in the future. But without the trade, Jasmine and her co-workers will make less and working even longer hours in the field as farmers. I feel hopeless and I am torn.

Although the film is quite effective, somehow I get the impression that Jasmine is staged for the documentary. After worked for 16 some hours, how could she still have the urge to write her diary under the dim light, while all the others are sleeping? It looks like she is doing that for the camera crews in the dorm room to get a beautiful close-up shot. How come they never interviewed any male worker?

This is extraordinary movie we all must see about what we close our eyes and ears to - the exploitation of people for our consumer products. Very well made and a real breakthrough in documentary. Micha the director and his assistant Song Chen went to great difficulties to make this movie. Not easy to do this in China. Very raw story and its not a story - its Truth. We can do something by contacting manufacturers of denim jeans who participate in the exploitation by ignoring it. The movie is not about China or about the young women its about the dangers and disasters that impact consumerism done without thinking with ignorance

goddessfan