Li Yue, a 21-year-old student, waits outside a recruiting kiosk outside a plant run by Foxconn in Zhengzhou, China. She eventually would get a job with the company, but in its Taiyuan plant, a ten-hour bus ride away.
(Credit: Photo illustration: James Martin/CNET)
ZHENGZHAO, Henan province, China--If you want to understand why iPhones are made in this corner of the world, look no further than Li Yue.
When I met the effervescent 21-year-old, she was lined up at a kiosk outside the gates of the massive assembly plant owned by Foxconn. Li, wearing a white T-shirt and blue jean shorts and carrying a pink parasol to beat the heat on a scorcher of a June day, was among a group of a dozen or so candidates applying for a job with the Taiwanese firm. Not a specific job, mind you. Any job.
It's not as if Li, who just finished her first year as a student at Henan Police College, didn't have much going for her. She was bright and engaging. She spoke more than passing English. And she conveyed an eagerness to get started.
Foxconn granted her wish. But instead of landing a job at the plant here, which employs more than 190,000 workers, Li boarded a bus that afternoon for Taiyuan, in the Shanxi Province, a 10-hour ride away. It may have been more than she bargained for.
Late Sunday night, the Taiyuan factory, with more than 79,000 workers, was ... [Read more]
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