I’ve been back in China for a less than 5 days, and already I’ve been to Shenzhen, Ningbo, Cixi, Yiwu, and Ningbo — and now I’m back in Guangzhou. I’ve been on three planes, three buses, an e-bike taxi, and an electric tricycle taxi, and an electric unicycle, in addition to regular taxis galore. I’ve eaten my favorite breakfast, as well as my most bizarre lunch to date: dog, hedgehog, and chicken embryo all in the same meal. (None of which I’ll eat again, thanks.) We visited three factories, of increasingly large scale, and it certainly seems true that “manufacturing” still largely means “hand made” in China. I’m also curious about the fact that so many of the individuals I’ve seen working in assembly operations are disproportionately (almost entirely) women. I’ve started on my quest to learn some Mandarin on this trip, and amid the chaos, have done some good work on projects for clients.
Here’s where I’ll be for most of the rest of 2012:
Celeste LeCompte 
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