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Made in China : a prisoner, an SOS letter, and the hidden cost of America's cheap goods / Amelia Pang.

By: Material type: TextTextPublisher: Chapel Hill, North Carolina : Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill, 2021Copyright date: ©2021Edition: First editionDescription: 278 pages ; 24 cmContent type:
  • text
Media type:
  • unmediated
Carrier type:
  • volume
ISBN:
  • 9781616209179
  • 1616209178
Other title:
  • Prisoner, an SOS letter, and the hidden cost of America's cheap goods
Subject(s): Genre/Form:
Contents:
Prologue. A message from the graveyard -- The brink of death -- Laogai nation -- Who was Sun Yi? -- Rebel meditators -- Entering Masanjia -- Audits and subterfuge -- Desire and denial -- Ghost work -- A Laogai love letter -- Dangerous words -- Historical complicity -- Transplanted -- Wrong answers -- Legal channels -- We made it -- Fight and flight -- Blending in -- Jakarta -- The state of camps today -- Epilogue. What can we do.
Summary: "After an Oregon mother finds an SOS letter in a box of Halloween decorations, a story unfolds about the man who wrote it: a Chinese political prisoner, sentenced without trial to work grueling hours at a "reeducation" camp--manufacturing the products sold in our own big-box stores"-- Provided by publisher.Summary: In 2012, an Oregon mother opened up a package of Halloween decorations, and something shocking fell out: an SOS letter, handwritten in broken English. "Sir: If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization. Thousands people here who are under the persecution of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever." Sun Yi, a Chinese engineer turned political prisoner, had been forced into grueling labor for campaigning for the freedom to join a forbidden meditation movement. His "reeducation" involved carving foam gravestones and stitching clothing for more than fifteen hours a day. Pang reveals is a closely guarded network of laogai-- forced labor camps-- that power the rapid pace of American consumerism. -- adapted from jacket
Holdings
Item type Home library Collection Call number Materials specified Status Date due Barcode Item holds
Adult Book Adult Book Main Library NonFiction 331.1173 P191 Available 33111010492045
Total holds: 0

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

A Most-Anticipated Book of the Year: Newsweek * Refinery29



"Timely and urgent . . . Pang is a dogged investigator." -- The New York Times Book Review



"Moving and powerful." --Chris Hedges, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and author



Discover the truth behind the discounts



In 2012, an Oregon mother named Julie Keith opened up a package of Halloween decorations. The cheap foam headstones had been five dollars at Kmart, too good a deal to pass up. But when she opened the box, something shocking fell out: an SOS letter, handwritten in broken English.

"Sir: If you occassionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization. Thousands people here who are under the persicuton of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever."

The note's author, Sun Yi, was a mild-mannered Chinese engineer turned political prisoner, forced into grueling labor for campaigning for the freedom to join a forbidden meditation movement. He was imprisoned alongside petty criminals, civil rights activists, and tens of thousands of others the Chinese government had decided to "reeducate," carving foam gravestones and stitching clothing for more than fifteen hours a day.



In Made in China , investigative journalist Amelia Pang pulls back the curtain on Sun's story and the stories of others like him, including the persecuted Uyghur minority group whose abuse and exploitation is rapidly gathering steam. What she reveals is a closely guarded network of laogai--forced labor camps--that power the rapid pace of American consumerism. Through extensive interviews and firsthand reportage, Pang shows us the true cost of America's cheap goods and shares what is ultimately a call to action--urging us to ask more questions and demand more answers from the companies we patronize.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [228]-278).

"After an Oregon mother finds an SOS letter in a box of Halloween decorations, a story unfolds about the man who wrote it: a Chinese political prisoner, sentenced without trial to work grueling hours at a "reeducation" camp--manufacturing the products sold in our own big-box stores"-- Provided by publisher.

Prologue. A message from the graveyard -- The brink of death -- Laogai nation -- Who was Sun Yi? -- Rebel meditators -- Entering Masanjia -- Audits and subterfuge -- Desire and denial -- Ghost work -- A Laogai love letter -- Dangerous words -- Historical complicity -- Transplanted -- Wrong answers -- Legal channels -- We made it -- Fight and flight -- Blending in -- Jakarta -- The state of camps today -- Epilogue. What can we do.

In 2012, an Oregon mother opened up a package of Halloween decorations, and something shocking fell out: an SOS letter, handwritten in broken English. "Sir: If you occasionally buy this product, please kindly resend this letter to the World Human Right Organization. Thousands people here who are under the persecution of the Chinese Communist Party Government will thank and remember you forever." Sun Yi, a Chinese engineer turned political prisoner, had been forced into grueling labor for campaigning for the freedom to join a forbidden meditation movement. His "reeducation" involved carving foam gravestones and stitching clothing for more than fifteen hours a day. Pang reveals is a closely guarded network of laogai-- forced labor camps-- that power the rapid pace of American consumerism. -- adapted from jacket

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