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Leaves of Wrath
It doesn't take an economist to figure out why farmers whose families have grown tea for generations in China's Pu'er region are now dropping everything to grow coffee. It's all about the Benjamin--er--Maos. Farmers can double what they make growing coffee on the same land they grew tea on. But there's another more troubling reason that became clear during my reporting trip there: Many farmers are getting a raw deal from China's tea industry. Several farmers in Pu'er told me they're fed up with how giant tea farms take advantage of the region's poor by luring them to their plantations with promises of high salaries, only to trap them into signing a long-term contract for wages they can barely live on.
Xu Meiling told me she was twenty years into her contract. In that time, she says she's made an eighth of the price of the tea she picks. The rest of it, she says, goes to her plantation boss. In return, she and her family get a roof over their heads on plantation land. Now that she's learned how to grow coffee, she'd like to leave, but she's scared of the repercussions if she breaks her contract. Besides, she says, she's not even sure if she'll be able to leave in ten years when her contract is up. "Most people I know have to sign on for ten more years, or you might get in trouble with the boss," she told me. -A modern-day Grapes of Wrath with Chinese characteristics.
On a tour of a Pu'er tea plantation, I saw more evidence of the gap between a plantation owner and his workers. After walking by rows of workers' quarters made of mud bricks and tin roofs, plantation owner Dong Jiwen asked me if I wanted to see where he lived. I did. We walked further. Around a bend, there it was: a massive faux-colonial house that looked like a cartoon version of the home in Gone With the Wind. In front of the mansion stood Dong's pet monkey.
The rope around his neck was tied to a post. When the animal saw us, he jumped at us, flashing his teeth. Each time, he was caught by his leash in mid-air, and it snapped him backwards. That didn't deter him. He jumped again and again, swiping his scrawny arms at me. I asked Dong if the monkey had a name. I imagined something like Killer, King Kong, Murderous George. "His name is Monkey," he said, as he turned around to start the tour of his palace.
I find it interesting that you should mention Gone with the Wind as the inspiration for the home of the plantation owner. The book itself was highly praised by the Chinese during the transition period post-Cultural Revolution. According to John Pomfert’s book, Chinese Lessons, he mentions Gone with the Wind and how the Chinese saw themselves as tragic characters like Scarlett carrying their hopes and love for an unknown tomorrow. The book itself provides a wonderfully written narrative of a generation of Chinese individuals living during a time of an emerging new modern China while still struggling to understand the past. The notion of inspiring to be Western provides insight into just not this plantation owner, but perhaps many of them living in China’s revitalized economic power. The plantation owner relishing in his wealth while the laborers are barely able to make a decent living, proving that the gap between rich and poor is large. Wealth is not tinkling down to the poor because most of the resources like education, health, and job opportunities are centralized in the cities. The major cities along the coastal region of Eastern China makes up the higher GDP of China’s economy while the Western region of the country contributes barely anything because it’s mostly farming. As long as money is flowing into the state, it seems that the rich continue to make money by paying low wages to laborers and forcing people into long-term contracts. With money comes power; hence, the rich influence how policies are determined and where the money will yield the most profit. Unless the government steps in, cases like this article will remain the same.
Hi Rob, Thanks for doing this reporting. The 'media' in the States all seem to portray China in this single omniscient manner; China always grow 8 to 10%, China's strategies are always right and ahead of the curve, China is taking over every aspect of production. It's way to simplistic, and overlooks the way most people are coping in China.
What is it about the design or taste of local big men that is always so bad? Are they trying to prove something to themselves and us? Or just too cheap to hire an architect, or did 40 years of Marxist guidance ruin centuries of some of the worlds best building design thinking? Or is just fast money trying too hard? Anyway, I've seen local guys make a killing in many parts of the world, and they seem to always produce poorly designed mansions. Of course, we have our McMansions by the thousands, so who am I to criticize? Once the trees and shrubs grow in, it'll start to look better. Keep probing into these areas, thank you, John Gilmartin
Agreed, John. To the business media, especially global one, human rights violation and the 'life' behind the numbers is a mere footnote.
This blog serves to really portray how families and real people are hurt by things we consume (and take for granted) on a daily basis.
Lovely article.
Despite all the progress China has made the country is 70 percent rural and largely an agrarian society. All this draws less international attention the issues at hand are still very important to the development of the country as a whole. China cannot handle rapid urbanization with its current food supply and limits internal migration and the owner of the plantation is a microcosm of what's happening in China as a whole. The system keeps certain people down but also prevents mass chaos. From the license plate lottery to the Hukou system such action is purposeful.
The monkey is also a fitting example of the people. the monkey has no true name but its nature is well known. It fights, being aware of the leash. there are no other options and the insanity created drives the monkey to fight a lost cause.
I just wonder how much mechanized farming and the use of chemicals could alleviate the situation. I don't believe China could be self sufficient but such activities could reduce the stress of the country.
