Jenny Chan, Associate Professor of Sociology at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, was interviewed by Aaron Mc Nicholas for The Wire China.
Foxconn Under Fire
The Chinese authorities are probing the iPhone assembler as its founder Terry Gou’s political ambitions grow
12 Nov 2023
Foxconn entered mainland China in 1988 when it set up a factory in Shenzhen. For Foxconn, China offered a large population of low-wage young workers eager to find opportunities to move from rural to urban areas. Today, Foxconn is China’s largest private employer.
“One of the largest factories in Henan province, which is the iPhone supplier, has more than 300,000 workers in only one site,” says Jenny Chan, associate professor of sociology at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and co-author of Dying for an iPhone: Apple, Foxconn, and the Lives of China’s Workers.
“It is this mega-scale of production and the potential consumption power in China that shapes the very sticky production supply chain and business model that is tied with China,” adds Chan.
Dying for an iPhone 