Factory Girls by Leslie Chang

This book is a comprehensive look at the lives of factory girls in China. The book describes how two young women in particular jumped from farms into city life and from one job to another -- to another -- all on a quest for a better life.

Factory conditions are harsh but perhaps not any more so than life back home on the farm. Working for a living means that the girls can send money home to their cash-poor families, enabling them to buy refrigerators and furniture, for example.

The girls seem to have adjusted to the factory way of life, a capitalist system with few restraints or amenities. They work long hours with few days off a year for a wage that is low by U.S. standards but that really makes a difference in the Chinese economy. Little is said about later, when the girls get older. Their safety net and future security appears to be the family farm and traditional life back home.

I looked inside my sneakers and the label inside said they were made in China -- probably at the very factory described by Leslie Chang. This is a New York Times Notable Book.