以下是为财新网音频节目打的底稿。权且作为英文写作作业。

1. Why have so many young workers committed suicide in a relatively short period?

Frankly, I don’t know why. Some observers think that as the global economy is recovering, young workers are becoming increasingly busy. But according to news reports, it is not such case. Their labor has not been harder and harder obviously. So, I believe, the cluster of suicides is the consequence of accumulation of hardship, physically and psychologically, during past years. Furthermore, the events impacted each other. Decades ago; psychologists found out that when some troubled people hear news of suicide, they start to think about copying that behavior. This led to studies of so-called "suicide clusters," "copycat effects" and the Werther Effect. Based on that, you can say that the mass media may also have played a role in spurring these suicides.  

a. Reports have indicated that there is more to the story than poor labor relations and stressful working conditions, and that multiple factors were involved in the deaths. Can you talk about this?

In fact, the working conditions in Foxconn are far better than most of other contractors in China who manufacture parts and equipment for brand-name companies abroad. Its plants are clean and the employees are protected by the social safety net, though it is a flimsy net. At the same time, the labor relations there are rather poor. Loneliness has been haunting these boys and girls, who left their parents and their homeland. They live in the company’s apartments, but don’t know each other, so having little communication among them. They are so busy that they don't have enough sleep, and they often have to work even on Saturdays and Sundays, having little time for entertainment. Worst of all, the cadres and the safety guards will beat them from time to time.

2. The workers are mostly in their twenties. Do they have something in common?

a. how do they differ from their parents, in terms of values, work expectations, and sense of rights? Are their demands different from last generation? Does this have something to do with the suicide attempts?

They were born in the era of reforming and opening up. The greatest dreams of their parents perhaps were to make money in cities and then return to villages, building new houses and getting married. Nonetheless, this generation is different. They are becoming more aware of their rights. Most strikingly, during the Honda workers' strike, they demanded for the organization of a  trade union that would be genuinely able to speak on their behalf.

The younger guys have their own goals of life. They are urbanized; they love cities, they lack the know-how about farming, and it is likely that they are totally uninterested in planting in rural areas like their parents. They ask to be regarded as members of cities, they want citizenship in cities, they dream of big houses there, and they hope that they will move up to higher ranks some day. But to their disappointment, the cities rejected them in this or that way. These frustrations they have been meeting certainly have huge influences upon some of the suicide attempts.

b. How much do current issues with urbanization, skyrocketing property prices, and inflation impact them?

As I mentioned, the process of urbanization in China has lots of shortcomings or limitations, esp.the issue of citizenship (Hukou).Besides, the overly high housing prices make them depressed, it is almost impossible for them to have their own house in cities. Their meager incomes also are further dwarfed by rising inflation expectation.

3. Does this imply something about China's economy?

These tragic events once again point to the unsustainability of China's current development model, with its reliance on low income, low value-added manufacturing. It also shows that after more than 30 years, China's position as the headquarters for manufacturing parts and equipment for brand-name companies has peaked and is starting to decline.

4. Foxconn announced a series of wage increase for workers, and they raised the minimum salary standard in the factory. Local authorities in Shenzhen also increased the minimum salary standard to 1100 yuan per month on June 8. Is this really the solution to the problem?

I don’t think it is a real solution to the conundrum. It is well known that the causes of the tragedy are extremely complex. But wage increase is a good start after all. Considering their devotion to their companies, the workers earned too little.

a. Foxconn's wage increase directly affects operational costs and profitability. Reports also say that manufacturers nearby are now also pressured to improve salary standards. Do you think there will be an impact on the manufacturing supply chain?

On the one hand, I believe that the higher salary, if it should propel a trend, will affect the operation costs and profitability of the firms.

But we have to recognize first, that the recent improvement of salary is making up for the stagnation of salary during past years. And secondly, the brand-name companies, say, Apple, can bear the added costs from its contractors in China like Foxconn.In fact, we were surprised by the dramatic wage increase, it was up to 30%!I don’t know the company's baseline and its process of policy-making. Some observers argued it was the result of transferring profits between Foxconn and brand-name companies. Whether the argument is true or not, Foxconn has already promised such an increase, which, one way or another, is likely already factored into its costs.

5. Does this have a potential to impact China's labor advantage? Is it possible that this will affect China's standing as the "factory of the world"? And if so, is this necessarily a bad thing?

In the long run, the wage increase will impact China’s labor advantage. But the final result will be up to the policies made by Chinese government and firms to deal with the trend. It is not necessarily a disaster. We have been paying a high price for the current development pattern, such as escalating social conflicts and extensive pollution events. But anyway, in the foreseeable future, China will remain the “factory of the world” thanks to our overall advantages.

a.    Are we looking at a possibility of Foxconn pulling out of China? And if so, how does this impact the rest of the industry?

No, the company will not withdraw from mainland China, in my view, because mainland China possesses multiple advantages: stable and large-scaled supply of skilled workers, network infrastructure and the preferential treatment to Taiwan enterprises. More importantly, Foxconn has an economy of scale in  mainland, about one million employees and a whole value chain, including supply, production, and transportation. Which other country or region has capacity to replace China right now?

b. If the labor advantage of China is no longer sustainable, what advantages can we look to or do we instead need to develop for the future?

Besides the advantages I pointed out, the most reliable advantages are the potential creativity of 1.3 trillion population of China, and its massive consumption. I have to recognize it is difficult to achieve the advantages; we will face serious challenges to do so. It demands comprehensive reform, esp. political reform and fiscal and taxation system reform. Unfortunately, until now, the reforms stand still.