Labours in China

China is one of the countries that have the largest population in the world. She has a population of 1.3 billion, thrice the amount of Singapore’s. Being known as a backward country in the past, she has transformed and upgraded herself significantly to a manufacturing country. With the effort that was put in, she is now one of the most preferred countries where companies would like to establish their businesses.

China is perceived as one of the competitive country that offers low labor cost due to its abundance of supply and cost of living, by countries such as Vietnam and India.

Research indicates that it is unlikely that China will lose it competitive advantage (low labour cost) in the near future as China has a reserve of 0.8 billion farmers. Each year, farmers who are dissatisfy with the amount that they earn, would go out to the city to look for jobs. And majority of them, are willing to accept low pay jobs as the job still pay them more than what they earn as being a farmer. To add on, research has shown that the Chinese are also more willing to take on several roles as compared to other the employees in other country.

From all the company visits, I have also observed that majority of the workers, especially those who are working in the manufacturing sector, are in their young adulthood or still in their teens.

catch them in action!

Younger worker --> more efficient --> cost savings = more profit, main reason why company would want to set up their businesses in China

Apart from the cost that the company manage to save and the supply of the labour in the market, it also the appealing attitudes that attracts the investor to invest in China. One of the most attractive attitudes that they possess is their willingness to learn attitude. In addition, the Chinese are highly mobile and have strong and discipline work ethic.

Furthermore, a large portion of the labour force in China are not unionized. Therefore, the company has more say and has more advantage. This is also one of the key advantage that attracts the investors to invest in China as no unionization might mean hassle-free to them. For instance, in Singapore, if a lady is sack just because she is pregnant, she can turn to her trade union for help and in majority of the cases, the trade union would win and the lady would be able to get her job back. However, in China, the labours would not have someone to support them, giving the company more freedom to fight for their belief.

In China

The most fruitful day would be when we are having networking with one of the representative from IESG.

Through him, I have learnt that certain laws in China are not fixed. There is certain amount of flexibility in minor law. E.g. Littering fine: 300RMB. This amount of fine might be affordable for the wealthy who stay in the well developed province, but not feasible for the poorer province.

In addition, relationship and ‘face’ is more important in the less developed China. Relationship between businessmen acts as an enhancer if one has the fundamental.

If one is to set up business in China, he do not solely rely on the rules and regulation set by the Chinese government. They have to seek advice from the village head in order to know the do’s and don’ts in their village. Different village/ part of China practice different custom. Therefore, it is necessary to seek advice from them too.

One also has to make sure that the location that they are going to set up in has the ease of accessing to the raw materials.

Quote of the day:

“Don’t be good for nothing. Be good for something”

Culture Differences

Believe it or not, this is my first time going overseas. When I say overseas, I mean taking an airplane, going to somewhere located faraway from Singapore and not just merely crossing over the bridge to Malaysia.

There are many things that I have learnt in this trip, especially culture differences.

Learning 1: Washing the Cups
The pot of hot water that was place together with the tea was meant for us to wash our cups. Majority of us taught it was for refilling the tea initially. I am glad that we found out sooner because the cups and utensils that we were using in China, had stains, particles, etc.. despite the fact that we were in restaurant for every meal.

Learning 2: Toilet a.k.a Water Closet
The toilet! Gosh, it is so different from Singapore! The height of the door is just tall enough to cover you when you are squatting or to prevent people from outside seeing. Thus if your neighbour wants to see if they are of any help to you when you are doing your business, they could just stand up and look over. Also, I have notice that for toilets that have low doors, they do not have any flashing system (so, it really stinks). In addition, there will be a notice, telling the user to throw any used tissues or rubbish into the bin and not into the toilet bowl itself.

I guess, we are too used to the systems that we have in Singapore.

Learning 3: Taxis
The taxis in Hong Kong and China were different from Singapore. The drivers are protected by the metal bar that separated their customers from them.

Notice the metal bar?There.. the square square one...

Though I find it hard for the customers to give/collect their money from the driver, it is the cleverest way to protect themselves.

Why? Because if robbery were to take place, it would be hard for the robber to take out his knife and place it at the driver’s throat unless he has skinny hands.

Learning 4: Land is sooo Limited
The first day when we arrived at Hong Kong, I remembered the tour guide told us that if a wealthy businessman were to purchase the whole flat, without renting it out, it goes to show that he/she is kind hearted.

Reason being is that if anything were to happen to the flats beside it, the firemen/rescuer can make use of the empty flat. However, we were told that land in Hong Kong is pretty limited.

Proof: The buildings are clustered together



So I still don’t get the idea of purchasing the entire flat, that doesn’t allows you to make any profits and besides, I don’t think accident happen all the time to the surrounding flats that they purchase.

Learning 5: Standards of Living
The standard of living in Hong Kong is twice of China. When we first reached Hong Kong, we thought the stuff were pretty cheap until we reached China.

This is also the main reason why majority of the companies choose to locate their manufacturing base in China; low labour cost, standard of living is low.

We are also told that the cost of making a tee shirt China is only 0.08RMB. Also, some Hong Kong resident actually moved to China, due to the low standard of living.

Learning 6: Attitudes of the Chinese
They are loud and quick temper. I remember we visited one of the restaurant and we were scolded by one of the supervisor (I believe so, since she was wearing differently from the others).

In Singapore, I have the habit of asking the price of the goods that I know I might not be buying. This habit kind of stop when I am in China. This is so because they assume that customers who asked them about the price are truly interested in buying. Next, they will persuade you to buy. If you walk out without buying, hoho, you will hear nasty remarks.

Frankly speaking, now I have learnt to appreciate the services that we, Singaporean provides.

Learning 7: No wonder Singapore is a Clean and Green City
For all the places that we have been, I hardly see any dustbin. People just freely throw their rubbish on the floor.

Being brought up in a ‘fine’ country, I find it hard to litter while I was there. Now since I am back, I wonder how the street cleaners clean the entire street by simply using a broom.

However, the night view is simply breathtaking!

Learning 8: Pirated Goods are EVERYWHERE
Everywhere I go e.g. Watch Market, Bag & Luggage Market, I see pirated goods. I guess, that is one of the ways to earn quick money.

But they are smart. When the police was patrolling around their area, they would pull out the curtains to cover their goods.

Recently, the Chinese government had step out to sweep piracy nation wide. Somehow… I wish some would remain… coz….

Everyone loves branded goods. Everyone loves cheap goods. Who doesn’t?


I guess, setting up an international business doesn’t mean that all that is required from you is brain. You must also be able to humbly adapt to the culture differences if you want to be successful.