Red Chinese Pianos

[Tony Caught]

Hi Joe

I worked in China at Chang Ping and in Beijing in piano factories between
1991 and 93. So I guess I can answer your questions a little.  The piano
factories do not use "forced labour, political prisoners and other prisoners
of conscience as a slave workforce"  The work force is multi cultural, multi
religious and multi skilled. By saying multi skilled I mean some are (sort
of ) and some aren't.

You will find that in many factories that are making goods to high standards
(as in joint venture type situations) along side there usual standard goods.
You would think that the workers would want to be making the high standard
goods at a higher pay (about 80% higher), many try it and then go back to
the state owned side of the business because they can't stand the pressure.

Reality:  They are semi-skilled slackers in most cases.

Blame the cultural revolution.  Where they took all the good workers and
gave them  rubbish jobs and put party members who knew nothing in charge of
the factories etc.

In a country of over 1 billion people, things aren't perfect but on the
whole the workers are looked after as well as possible.

If something is wrong, tell them, that's the only way they will learn. That
is if someone is interested in improving what ever.

In Australia just recently, a big stink about the morgues etc removing
organs from bodies at will for experimentation without the consent of the
next of kin etc. BAD BAD BAD. But if that happened in China and the human
rights people heard about it you will get the stories that you have read
about.

Now I am not standing up for China but I will ask you to think.  As they
already have a problem feeding there people all the time and they can't grow
more food than they are now under existing circumstances, what would your
answer to their problem be ?
Increase the population and let them starve to death or control the
population to avoid that from happening. ?

Look at India. Expects the population to double in the next 50 odd years.
>From 1 Billion to 2 billion. What sort of pressure is that going to put on
us do gooders to feed them. ?

Back to pianos.

How long does it take to train one person to be a carpenter ?

Regards

Tony Caught ICPTG
Australia
caute@optusnet.com.au
----- Original Message -----
From: joegum <joegum@webtv.net>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2001 1:12 PM
Subject: Red Chinese Pianos


> Hello.  If no one minds, I'd like to post a question to the list
> regarding pianos from the PRC.  One hears so many media reports of
> forced labor, political prisoners and other prisoners of conscience as a
> slave workforce, torture, forced abortions, persecution of Christian and
> other non-PC (Red Chinese-style) religious groups, the erasure of
> Tibetan culture, Catholic priests brutally beaten and detained for
> decades in total isolation, disregard for human life to the point of
> selling aborted babies as "health food,"  the now growing business of
> routine execution of young "criminals" to harvest and sell their
> internal organs to foreigners awaiting transplants, ad infinitum......
> This isn't an accusation, mind you, but just how are the workers in the
> PRC, Inc. piano factories treated?   I'd simply like some kind of
> confirmation that everything's OK with their treatment.  I'd like to
> know that if I bring up a warranty issue with a PRC piano, some poor,
> helpless soul (who may be a prisoner of conscience) on the other side of
> the world won't be executed or tortured if the mistake is traced back to
> him or her.  And also, those who supply the unfinished materials to the
> factories...how are their rights and dignity respected?   Are any of
> them forced labor?   Though I'm not a member, I am curious as to the
> PTG's position regarding human rights.
>