The documentary Last Train Home follows the Zhang family and their relationship and economic issues. Due to the lack of employment opportunities, the middle-aged parents were forced to drop out of school, leave the countryside, and migrate to the urban city —a common pattern amongst people residing in the countryside. The parents initially moved to earn a higher wage to support their children. However, China’s rapid economic and industrial expansion affected the family’s dynamics.
China’s rapid economic and industrial expansion in urban settings served as an incentive for the rural parents, Changhua Zhang and Suqin Chen, and another 130 million migrant workers, to move away from the countryside (Last Train Home). The industrial expansion presented new job market opportunities, and thus wage differentials and economic competitions. The couple focused on acquiring more money to send back to the countryside where their kids resided. In terms of pull factors, the parents were attracted by the higher incomes, which were not available in the rural setting. Although people tend to migrate to urban areas to access more services and healthcare, the parents did not see this as their
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The Chinese government passes policies targeted to foster industrial development. If it weren’t for the large emphasis on manufacturing, the family could have remained in their rural homes with their children. Most notably, the Hukou, a household registration system, allows those who are registered to work legally, receive social security benefits and health coverage, to send their children to school for free. However, the rural parents that migrate back and forth are not acknowledged as residents of the city in which they are working in, and therefore, they cannot receive social support and benefits. Through Hukou, the parents were forced to leave their kids behind for their education, and thus be away from them for over sixteen
In this paper by Scott Alan Carson, Carson writes about Chinese Sojourn Labor. Carson writes how institutional arrangements and labor market forces that interacted in the construction of America’s railroad led to the demand for Chinese Laborers. Carson writes more about these relationships and the work given to the Chinese than writing about the more personal details of the workers. For instance, Carson writes that because of land grants given by the government Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads earned more capital by completing more railway tracks. Carson also writes how the Chinese did the jobs no one else wanted to do, and they did them for lesser wages. Therefore, Carson writes specifically about the work of the Chinese and the factors that caused the hiring of Chinese more so than the personal aspects of the workers.
The phrase “history repeats itself is quite evident in this film. Currently, China’s economy is in a massive industrial revolution, similar to the American industrial revolution of the early 19th century. After three years of following the Zhang family, first time director Lixin Fan released The Last Train Home, attempting to raise awareness to the down side of China’s powerful economy. While the film The Last Train Home seems to just depict the lives of factory workers, it is also making a political statement about how western capitalism exploits factory workers to produce cheap goods. The film makes this exploitation evident by depicting the fracturing of the Zhang family and the harsh working conditions they must endure.
Firstly, the relationship expectations in Chinese customs and traditions were strongly held onto. The daughters of the Chinese family were considered as a shame for the family. The sons of the family were given more honour than the daughters. In addition, some daughters were even discriminated. “If you want a place in this world ... do not be born as a girl child” (Choy 27). The girls from the Chinese family were considered useless. They were always looked down upon in a family; they felt as if the girls cannot provide a family with wealth. Chinese society is throwing away its little girls at an astounding rate. For every 100 girls registered at birth, there are 118 little boys in other words, nearly one seventh of Chinese girl babies are going missing (Baldwin 40). The parents from Chinese family had a preference for boys as they thought; boys could work and provide the family income. Due to Chinese culture preference to having boys, girls often did not have the right to live. In the Chinese ethnicity, the family always obeyed the elder’s decision. When the family was trying to adapt to the new country and they were tryin...
There might be an emotional response at the tragedy of thousands of people plucked from their homes to live in a foreign place, but it is far more effective to show these struggles through the eyes of one person, rather than from an economic or or national viewpoint. Anyi does exactly this in “The Destination”. Anyi never forgets the individual hardships of each character, she demonstrates what “It was not easy to live in Shanghai” (Anyi 137) means to each person. Characterizing their hardships with compassion and understanding that, young or old, changes in China had an effect on all, and all have the right to acknowledge
The pursuit of a comfortable living or wealth caused a lot of men to venture into the West leaving behind his or her homeland and families. Chinese labors faced conflicts in their homeland;
economy and way of life. Young Chinese aren’t sure which way to go. Pick the
Thus these elite necessities prompted high rates of fertility - couples during and after the world war two wedded at an ever more youthful age with the posterity therefore more various - creating the desire for, without a doubt, more commodious housing. Greater homes and greater families suggested a greater workload for spouses and mothers and requested a more noticeable obligation to the private space. Extending auto proprietorship both made the suburb possible and ensured its isolating effect upon housewives: public transport was seen immaterial, disregarding the way that most families had one vehicle which was utilized by work-away
Growing up in the American education system, I always took my education for granted. My mother would always say, “You know how much people would want to be in your place and go to school?” In Chinese culture, education is the only way to achieve upward social mobility and leave the poor social economic class; whether you are rich or poor, you must have education and go to school. Education is not equal for everyone so how can one play the game when it is set up against you. Education is based on the resources that are offered in the area, thus if you live in a poor area, you get fewer resources. When the One Child policy was passed, it helped because all the family’s resources are focused on one child but the child is the only one to take care
“Factory Girls” by Leslie T. Chang provides an inside look on migration in the inner cities of China. The book follows the lives of women who have left their home villages to work in factories. Primarily, Chang focuses on the lives of two women, Min and Chunming. Min left her village at the age of sixteen with her older sister to chuqu, or to go out, and see the world. She often changed jobs while in Dongguan because she is never satisfied with her position. Chang met Chunming at a dating agency where men and women could mingle with one another. Chunming began her career at a toy factory. In her diary, she often wrote out the goals she wanted to accomplish and how to accomplish them. She was very determined to become successful. Her persistence
In a village left behind as the rest of the China is progressing, the fate of women remains in the hands of men. Old customs and traditions reign supreme, not because it is believed such ways of life are best, but rather because they have worked for many years despite harsh conditions. In response to Brother Gu’s suggestion of joining communist South China’s progress, Cuiqiao’s widower father put it best: “Farmer’s have their own rules.”
While modern Chinese immigrants come to the United States seeking jobs as did their predecessors, new motivations have drawn families to the country. In the mid-1800s large numbers of Chinese people began to arrive in America. These immigrants were driven from their homeland by the opium wars, British colonization, peasant rebellion, floods, and ...
China’s Great Proletariat Cultural Revolution (GPCR) is a well-documented period in world history, but the most profound records are found vivified in the literature and films later into the 20th century, respectively. One of the most profound novels is “To Live”, authored by Yu Hua, which as a fictional narrative offers both a unique and realistic sense of the time period at the individual level. However, the provocative film adaptation directed by Zhang Yimou in 1994 was formidable enough that it was banned in Mainland China. Zhang paints a more realistic picture of how the GPCR influenced Chinese society but adds zest to Hua’s ambiguity but acceptable imperfection. Naturally, the film has many different characteristics yet still manages to overcome the challenges that implicate film adaptations.
It is clear that China’s one child policy has affected Chinese society in multiple ways. The policy has resulted in corruption in the Chinese government, an abuse of women’s rights, female feticide, and an imbalance in the gender ratio, and potential problems with China’s elderly and younger populations. The Chinese government decided to implement a one child policy in order to counter the effects of rapid population growth. The question to ask is if the benefits of population control really do outweigh the problems the policy has created in Chinese society. It will be interesting to see if the policy continues to affect Chinese culture in the future, and how the changes that have been recently made play out.
Hairong, Y., (2008) New Masters, New Servants: Migration, Development, and Women Workers in China. (Duke University Press; Durham).
The People’s Republic of China was presented in 1949, and from that point onwards, the Chinese family structures have faced a lot of change. For example, the eradication of private property that led to the demotivation of having large families was one of the negative impacts caused by the Communist Revolution (Qian, 2009). One of the natural and socially accepted ideas is that parents are the ones to carry the financial burden of the family. However, in this documentary film, the opposite is reflect by showing how Cindy had to get herself a stable job in order for her to compensate for the loss that her parents couldn’t do