Amelia Pang read the story online: An American woman opens a Halloween decoration and out falls an SOS letter written by the political prisoner in China who has made and packaged the product. Pang searched for more reporting on the story. “No one really talked about the problems in the supply chain that allowed a product that was made in a labor camp in China to end up selling at a Kmart in Portland, Ore.,” said Pang, an investigative reporter. And even more important, “How many others are there?”
Pang’s “Made in China: A Prisoner, an SOS Letter, and the Hidden Cost of America’s Cheap Goods” is the result of her trying to answer those questions. The book profiles Sun Yi, the prisoner who authored the note, as well as the larger social, political, and economic story of the forced labor camps that produce so many of the goods American consumers take for granted.
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Pang said consumers and corporations alike are culpable in the system, one driven by “the demand for unsustainably low prices and incredibly short production timelines.” The book describes horrendous and inhumane living conditions for the workers, many of whom are political prisoners or people from oppressed ethnic groups within China. Sun Yi, the man at the center of Pang’s book, was a follower of Falun Gong, a social and religious movement banned by the Chinese government.
“I really wanted to show the essence of him as a human being,” Pang said of her reporting. “He was not so different from you and I. He had dreams, he had hopes, he loved his wife.”
So what can consumers do to avoid being complicit in such grievous human rights violations? “The next time you go shopping online, take a look at the sustainability page, or the corporate social responsibility page of that company,” Pang said. “If you feel like your favorite brand doesn’t have as good a sustainability program as they could, go on Twitter or Facebook and point that out, ask them to do better.”
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Amelia Pang will be in conversation with Barbara Demick at 7 p.m. Feb. 3 in a virtual event hosted by Harvard Book Store.
Kate Tuttle, a freelance writer and critic, can be reached at kate.tuttle@gmail.com.