All things wooden
on Tina's Journal (China), 19/Aug/2009 06:27, 34 days ago
I visited a wood factory yesterday just on the outskirts of Simao. They make products to order, usually for businesses rather than private purchase. They make wooden boxes of all shapes and sizes for decorative purposes, vases, stools and I suppose any thing that you particularly require. I was lucky to pick up a beautiful round box which can be used as a jewellery box and a round container to store tea in. As they were on the rejects pile due to very slight imperfections, I was given them for free. Everything is made by hand, there are lathes used for shaping and cutting the wood, but the smoothing and painting is all hand crafted. It was interesting to observe the process from the cut downtree to the finished product. Most of the material is hard wood cut down from the local forests. As it is constantly humid in this part of the world the drying out process is fundamental to the finished product. The factory is located in a village on the periphery of Simao. I just thought it was an extension to the town. However, Ali and Lesley informed me that when they first arrived in Simao four years ago the village was completely detached form the town and one would pass through rice fields before getting there. This amazed me to fully understand how much the town has grown in the last four years. Towns like Simao are growing rapidly in China and when social science analysts talk about the phenomenal growth in China, it really makes sense to me when you see the visual impacts and proof of this growth. Despite the world economic downturn, China has continued to grow and forecasts for 2009 are currently showing a 7.2% increase on last year. However, as some people become much wealthier and others get left behind this tidal wave of growth, there will be an added problem associated with the wide social divide in China. Of course, this could then become compounded with issues such as'payments for favours' which is rife here. Even something as simple as wanting to see a doctor in the hospital will be easier depending on how much one can pay, otherwise you end up on a long waiting list. There is a term called'Gunaxi' which is all about prevailing on another for a service or favour. If you know the right person, or have the money, you will get things done much more quickly. If you have no'Gunanxi'you'll find life much harder than for those who do! This may sound all to familiar, as I think which ever country you are in, in this world, there is always an element of this type of behaviour. In China however, it is a basic way of living.