August 7, 2009

Factory Girls

One out of every ten persons on the planet, roughly, is a Chinese woman. It's fair to say that their entry into the twenty first century defines a modern China, and that that China is preoccupied with its own problems and is not particularly interested in exercising its considerable power abroad. To get at the story of Chinese women I turned to the journalist Leslie T. Chang, author of the fascinating book Factory Girls, who made a decade long journey into China to write it. A highly recommended read. It was a delight to talk with Leslie and I'm sure that her human insights are critically important, though perhaps often overlooked by geopolitical gurus. Total runtime fifty six minutes. Enjoy!