Factory Towns of South China: An Illustrated Guidebook

by Stefan Al

Most consumer products come primarily from the Pearl River Delta, the "factory of the world" with the largest industrial region on earth. The delta has attracted millions of poor rural residents to settle in factory towns in hopes for a better life. "Factory Towns of South China" opens a window on these walled compounds, exposing the gritty establishments, crowded dormitories and monotonous labor carried out by workers. Some function as self-contained cities, with their own fire brigade, hospital, bank, TV station and as many as half a million workers living within the compounds. Other factories are scattered in larger villages to mask their existence and evade governmental crackdowns on the production of fake consumer goods and illegal casino machines.

Contributors include David Bray, Minnie Chan, Jia-Ching Chen, Paul Chu Hoi Shan, Eli Friedman, Claudia Juhre, Laurence Liauw, Paul Lin, Ting Shi, Casey Wang, Rex Wong, and Chun Yang.

Genres: China, Urbanism, Architecture

216 pages, Paperback

First published November 29, 2011

About the author

Stefan Al is a New York-licensed architect, tenured professor, and the author and editor of ten books including Dwelling on Earth, Supertall, and The Strip, which won a Silver Medal at the Independent Publisher Book Awards. His work has been reviewed in the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, and he has appeared on CNN, NPR, and the Science Channel. A former TED Resident, he has designed buildings and masterplans worldwide, including the 2,000-foot Canton Tower—briefly the world's tallest. He lives with his family in a century-old house in New Jersey.

Inspiration for Dwelling on Earth

I've lived in strikingly varied homes: a Dutch row house, a communal student residence in Delft with kitchens built for connection, a tiny Barcelona apartment, a compact Hong Kong pencil tower, and American suburban homes from California to New Jersey. Living in these spaces revealed how deeply they shaped my daily life, relationships, and worldview. That personal journey sparked larger questions about how homes influence our social bonds and environmental footprint—and what the full arc of human habitation, from rock shelters to skyscrapers, can teach us about building tomorrow's homes.

Reviews

[ddjiii · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Factory towns of South China" is a creative and ambitious cross-disciplinary study that tries to get over the walls that separate urban studies, geography, economics and urban design. A series of quite good essays at the front is interspersed with infographics as lively as they are difficult to read - sometimes made more difficult by missing labels or actual errors. The main part of the book profiles factories throughout the Pearl River delta, two or three in each city, providing a mix of data such as size, site plan, example products, production process, worker housing and dining, and a two page profile of a representative worker - their home town, daily schedule, how they like the work, and their hopes for the future. Readers who come to the book expecting grinding and dangerous toil for survival wages will be disappointed - the workers are mostly young people from inner provinces here to save up money. Their complaints tend to be that there is nothing to do in the evenings and they don't see enough prospects for advancement. Overall a very interesting effort, broad but not very deep, that is limited by quality issues in data presentation and proofreading. Highly recommended for anyone interested in understanding the Chinese export economy at the local level, the urban design of industrial areas, or cross-disciplinary work in the social sciences.

[Kevin Lawrence · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative and creatively designed, but also a bit loosely organized and redundant. For all its sheen, the graphics could have had more punch, I think.