郑州日志
中国工人在夜生活中逃避现实压力
2013年07月18日
中国郑州——在这个工厂城市，最火爆的夜店，是一家霓虹闪耀的低档俱乐部，不远的地方就是每天24小时生产iPhone的工业园区。这家叫做"穿越时空"的夜店藏在开放的建筑工地后面，最近一个周六的晚上，这里十分热闹，有塑料口哨、果盘、留着莫西干头的儿童、不省人事的工人，还有一个讲黄色笑话的滑稽艺人，表演用鼻子喝啤酒。
今年19岁的梁玉龙（音译）在富士康(Foxconn)郑州科技园检验iPhone主板，他来到这家夜店只有一个目的：在热情洋溢的舞场里，把白天令人压抑的现实忘个一干二净。"跳舞能让我发泄愤怒和压力，"他手里拿着烟说，"我一来这儿，就把所有事都忘了。"
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Gilles Sabrie for The New York Times
自由轮滑俱乐部。轮滑在富士康的工人当中可以算是广受欢迎的活动。
明亮的频闪灯下的夜晚，狂乱舞动的人群，都显示出全球供应链里一个极少有人注意的层面：成群结队的工人们下班后的去处。这些工人在此逃避现实，进而重获返回装配线的动力。
那些用双手为全世界制造电子产品的年轻人，几乎都有自己的梦想，而心甘情愿地在工业生产中劳碌一辈子不是他们想要的。在为了实现美好明天而奋斗的过程中，他们宝贵的休息时间是少有的可以享受现在的时机。
一天下午，24岁的白四海（音译）下班后走回宿舍，在路上他要不断绕开路面的坑洼。他说，"所有人都为周末做好了准备。"他的计划是什么呢？到一家网吧狂打游戏，然后给女朋友打个长途电话。
业界大佬们已经开始认识到业余休闲活动的好处。近几年，中国规模巨大的工厂里发生了一系列骚乱和自杀事件，显示出工人们经常需要承受怎样的恶劣待遇。今年春天，三名员工在富士康的工厂里跳楼自杀。这家总部位于台湾的制造业巨头为苹果(Apple)、微软(Microsfot)、惠普(Hewlett-Packard)及其他公司生产电子产品。5月，一名工人在三星(Samsung)广东省的工厂自杀。根据劳工权益组织的记录，那里发生了一系列强迫加班、工人年龄过低之类的非法用工行为。
厂家以胡萝卜加大棒的手段予以回应，以挽救工人的生命，保护公司声誉。富士康迫于压力提高薪资，缩短工作时间。在广达(Quanta)经营的上海工厂里，工人可以付费参加瑜伽和跆拳道课程。广达为包括苹果、东芝(Toshiba)和华硕(Asus)在内的企业制造硬件。
在郑州工厂最近发生自杀事件之后，该公司实行了"静音模式"，禁止在进入车间后谈论与工作无关的事件。尽管富士康随后宣布，在广大工人表示不满后已经取消了这项政策，但工人们表示，工厂仍在执行该规定。
在硅谷的顶尖科技企业里，员工们拥有极为人性化、宽敞舒适的办公室，能够得到公司补贴的按摩和理发服务，可以攀爬岩壁、玩桌上足球、冥想、练习普拉提，理由是这样做可以促进创新。
与之相比，这里的工作环境明显要简单多了。苹果在加利福尼亚州库比提诺的极富现代感的新园区，四周会有杏树环绕。这座郑州的工厂与之截然不同，堪比苦役流放地。员工必须穿着匹配的制服，他们说主管会经常骂人、大喊。在住宿区，一排排的砖质的宿舍楼里，住在每个房间的工人多达八人，里面除了金属床铺、能洗澡的卫生间之外，就没别的什么设施了。
可能正因为如此，工厂大门外的世界才看起来像市集一样热闹。在郑州，最近一天的黄昏时，理发店里鼓噪地播放着中文流行歌曲，情侣们在贩卖盗版DVD、切片西瓜和银色包装纸裹着的玫瑰花的摊贩前走过。一个平板货车上堆满了个头很大的填充动物玩偶，一群年轻女子就像鲨鱼见到鲜血一样被吸引过来。一个十几岁的女孩对她的男朋友撒娇道，"我想要那个绿色的泰迪熊。"她的男朋友言听计从地递上10元钱（约合1.60美元）。
在街区的另一边，一个建筑工地上有着各种各样的消遣场所，比如在货车后面搭起的纹身店，用金属爪抓物品的游戏机（奖品是一包香烟），还有一个类似于露天啤酒屋的地方。一大群年轻的工人咕嘟咕嘟地喝着淡得像水的啤酒，一根接一根地抽烟，面前摆着几盘肘片。
过了一会儿，一群打扮得花枝招展的歌手就会登上不远处的舞台，但20岁的罗豪杰（音译）和他的朋友们光是灌酒，就已经足够开心了。今年5月，小吴辞掉了制造iPhone 5部件的工作，此前他每月能挣295美元（约合1800元人民币），其中包括加班费。他说，"我们的主管太坏了，"食堂的饭太难吃了，对此，他的酒友报以一阵掌声。
他终究需要再找一份工作，但他现在满足于这种充满青春欢乐的生活——和女孩们约会，和以前的同事喝得烂醉。"我来这儿是为了兄弟们，"他说，"没有他们，我会很惨。"
夏季是中国工业区的淡季，因此很多工人周末会有一天的休息时间，有时甚至会休息两天。附近有很多有趣的人让他们感到非常开心。有一天晚上，一群打扮得像和尚的巡回演出者在类似于肯德基的餐厅对面表演，那家店有一个令人困惑的名字——"甜甜圈"(Donut)。这个"著名训蛇杂技团"的成员身穿丝质黄袍，通过挥舞气球，兜售后视镜上的吉祥挂饰，吸引了一大群无聊的观众。一名戴着耳环的僧人进行了喷火表演。
"几个月前来过的那个马戏团更好玩，"19岁的李宇（音译）说，"人家还有真狮子、真老虎呢。"
想要参加体育性更强的活动的人们，则通常会出现在当地的溜冰场。
20岁的周鹏峥（音译）也是iPhone 5主板检验员。某个周六，他在令人眩晕的霓虹灯照射下，穿着单排轮滑鞋旋转着停下时，勉强闪过了几个初学者。这双鞋售价160美元，花费了他大约三分之一的月收入。他说，"我感觉自己在飞。"紧接着就冲回到摇摇晃晃的人群中。
轮滑在富士康辛勤工作的工人当中，可以算是广受欢迎的活动。彩虹、F–2、影子等几个轮滑队每周都会组织活动，一起在城市的各个地方滑旱冰。
17岁的方雪玛（音译）在来到富士康工作后不久就开始学习轮滑，她很快就加入了影子轮滑队。该队大约有100名成员。此后，溜冰场就变成了她的第二个家。高中辍学的方雪玛于今年5月辞掉了工厂的工作，因为她年龄太小，无法加班赚取丰厚的加班费。身穿黑色短裙，涂着黑色指甲油的方雪玛说，"我过去常常一周来两次溜冰场，但现在我每晚都来这儿。"
晚上11点，街头艺人都已消失不见，情人旅店变得忙碌起来。在干完了一天的工作——制作iPhone——后，20岁的王朴岩（音译）和他的女朋友正走向租来的公寓。由于工厂宿舍按男女划分，他们在厂外租了一个开间。
不过他们似乎没有安排什么浪漫活动。"我们每天都见面，"他说，"为什么还要约会呢？"
July 18, 2013
The Demanding Off-Hour Escapes of China's High-Tech Workers
ZHENGZHOU, China — The hottest nightclub in this factory town is a neon-encrusted dive down the road from the industrial park where iPhones are made 24 hours a day. Tucked behind an open construction site, "Through the Summer," as the nightspot is known, had it all on a recent Saturday night — plastic whistles, fruit plates, a toddler with a mohawk, counterfeit light sabers, unconscious factory workers and a bawdy comedian who imbibed beer through his nose.
Liang Yulong, 19, who tests iPhone motherboards at the Foxconn Zhengzhou Technology Park, arrived at the club with a single goal in mind: to obliterate his dreary daytime reality on the spring-loaded dance floor. "Dancing lets me vent my anger and stress," he said, cigarette in hand. "When I'm here, I forget everything else."
The nocturnal menagerie, illuminated by powerful strobe lights, reveals a little-explored aspect of the global supply chain, the off-hour escapes that give the masses of workers the motivation to return to the assembly line.
The hands that make the world's electronics belong almost entirely to young people with dreams of their own, and a lifetime of contented industrial drudgery is not among them. Their precious time off is a rare chance to enjoy the present as they strive for a better future.
"Everyone gets psyched for the weekend," said Bai Sihai, 24, as he navigated open potholes on the way back to his dorm after work one afternoon. His plan? A video-game binge session at an Internet cafe followed by a long-distance phone call to his girlfriend.
The captains of industry are beginning to see the merits of off-hours leisure. In recent years, a wave of riots and suicides at China's massive factories have highlighted the abuses that workers often endure. This spring, three employees jumped to their deaths at plants owned by Foxconn, the Taiwan-based manufacturing giant that produces electronics for Apple, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard and other companies. In May, a worker committed suicide at a Samsung plant in the southern province of Guangdong, where labor rights organizations had documented a string of violations like forced overtime and under-age workers.
The industry has responded with carrots and sticks to save both the lives of their workers and their own corporate reputations. Under pressure, Foxconn has raised wages and cut overtime hours. At the Shanghai plant run by Quanta, which makes hardware for companies including Apple, Toshiba and Asus, workers can pay for yoga and taekwondo classes.
After the latest suicides at the Zhengzhou plant, the company instituted "silent mode," which banned all talk about nonwork tasks on the factory floor. Although Foxconn later announced it had rescinded the policy after a public outcry, workers say it remains in effect.
In the high-tech Olympus of Silicon Valley, employees in ergonomically luxuriant offices can get subsidized massages and haircuts, scale rock-climbing walls, play foosball, meditate and do Pilates — all in the name of promoting creative innovation.
The work environment is considerably more bare-bones here. Unlike Apple's modernistic new campus in Cupertino, Calif., which will be surrounded by apricot trees, the Zhengzhou factory has all the charm of a penal colony. Employees, who must wear matching uniforms, say supervisors routinely curse and yell. In the residential compounds, rows of brick dormitories house up to eight workers in rooms filled with metal bunk beds, a combination shower-toilet, and not much else.
Perhaps that is why the world beyond the factory gates resembles a gigantic street fair. As dusk fell one night recently in Zhengzhou, Mandarin pop music blared from hair salons and couples strolled past stalls selling pirated DVDs, sliced watermelon and roses covered in silver glitter. A flatbed truck piled high with oversize stuffed animals drew a mob of young women like sharks to blood. "I want the green teddy bear," cooed a teenage girl to her boyfriend, who dutifully handed over 10 renminbi, or $1.60.
Down the block, a construction site played host to a parade of distractions, including a tattoo parlor set up in the back of a van, those arcade games with the metal claw that featured a pack of cigarettes as the big prize and a beer garden of sorts, where hordes of young factory workers chugged watery beer and chain-smoked over plates of sliced pig knuckles.
At some point, a troupe of dolled-up singers was supposed to take the nearby stage, though Luo Haojie, 20, and his friends were finding ample amusement in their shot glasses. In May, Mr. Wu quit his factory job making iPhone 5 parts, which earned him about $295 a month, including overtime. "Our supervisors are vicious," and the cafeteria food is terrible, he said, to a round of applause from his drinking buddies.
Eventually he will need to find another job, but for now he is content to bask in the joys of youth, which means meeting girls and getting drunk with his former co-workers. "I'm here for my bros," he said. "Without them I'd be miserable."
Summer is the low season in China's factory towns, so many workers get a day off on weekends, sometimes even two. There are numerous colorful characters on hand to keep them entertained. One evening, a band of itinerant performers dressed like Buddhist monks had set up shop across from a KFC-inspired eatery confusingly named Donut. Garbed in silken yellow robes, the "celebrity acrobatic snake-training talent team" worked the crowd of bored onlookers by whipping balloons and hawking blessed ornaments for rearview-mirrors. A monk with an earring blew fireballs.
"The circus that came around a few months ago was better," said Li Yu, 19. "They had real lions and tigers."
Those looking for more athletic diversions can usually be found at the local roller rink.
In the glow of swirling rainbow lights one Saturday, Zhou Pengzheng, 20, another iPhone 5 motherboard tester, narrowly avoided several neophytes as he spun to a halt on a pair of $160 in-line skates, which cost him roughly a third of his monthly salary. "It feels like I'm flying," he said, before zooming once more into the throng of careening limbs.
In-line and roller skating has developed something of a cult following among the Foxconn strivers. A half dozen teams with names like Rainbow, F-2 and Shadow gather for weekly group skating sessions across the city.
Fang Xuema, 17, learned to skate not long after coming to work at Foxconn last spring and soon joined team Shadow, which has around 100 members. The rink has since become her second home. A high school dropout, she quit the factory in May, because her age prohibited her from working lucrative overtime hours. "I used to come to the rink twice a week, but now I'm here every night," said Ms. Fang, in a black miniskirt and matching nail polish.
At 11 p.m., the street performers had vanished and the love hotels were getting busy. After a long day of making iPhones, Wang Puyan, 20, and his girlfriend were heading toward a rented studio apartment off-campus, since factory dormitories are separated by gender.
A romantic adventure was not in the cards, however. "We see each other every day," he said. "Why would we go on a date?"
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