Going for the gold
By Michal Meidan It’s all about getting rich in China; everyone’s looking to make money. Foreign firms hope to cut costs by outsourcing to China, companies are targeting the up and coming consumer class, and for many Chinese, working overtime or taking a second job is an accepted part of the pursuit of wealth. That ...
By Michal Meidan
By Michal Meidan
It’s all about getting rich in China; everyone’s looking to make money. Foreign firms hope to cut costs by outsourcing to China, companies are targeting the up and coming consumer class, and for many Chinese, working overtime or taking a second job is an accepted part of the pursuit of wealth. That drive for wealth is fueling improving living standards and a remarkable economic boom, but it does have a dark side.
Sometimes, the pursuit of wealth crosses into territory that can be on the verge of illegality, distasteful, unwise, or just surreal. Allegedly selling your organs for iPads is unwise and perhaps distasteful. Forcing Chinese prisoners to search for gold in multiplayer online games in a type of virtual 21st century chain gang is both surreal and a blatant abuse of power.
Gold farming — earning virtual credits in online games and selling them to other (mostly Western) gamers for cash, which the prisoners are allegedly doing — is also a second occupation for many of China’s young workers. And in a way, it is no different than any other outsourcing practice to China, from toy production or textile manufacture. Western consumers pay, Chinese companies provide. The wages, the margins, the worker housing, the long shifts, and endless workweeks, these are all standard practice. It becomes very clearly reprehensible when power is abused for personal gain, and rules are bent or just plain ignored.
Yet this latest instance of prisoner abuse is just another example in a long list of prisoner-related scandals and charges: organ harvesting and sales from executed prisoners; exported prison labor; and allegations that Whole Foods Market’s Chinese vegetable suppliers use prison labor toiling in polluted fields.
Strong enough uproars from domestic or international public opinion can at times prompt Beijing to introduce regulations to crack down on illegal, distasteful or abusive practices. But as the old Chinese saying goes, "the mountains are high and the emperor is far away." For some time to come, Beijing is likely to remain one step behind its innovative citizens as they go for gold.
Michal Meidan is an analyst with Eurasia Group’s Asia practice.
Ian Bremmer is the president of Eurasia Group and GZERO Media. He is also the host of the television show GZERO World With Ian Bremmer. Twitter: @ianbremmer
More from Foreign Policy
At Long Last, the Foreign Service Gets the Netflix Treatment
Keri Russell gets Drexel furniture but no Senate confirmation hearing.
How Macron Is Blocking EU Strategy on Russia and China
As a strategic consensus emerges in Europe, France is in the way.
What the Bush-Obama China Memos Reveal
Newly declassified documents contain important lessons for U.S. China policy.
Russia’s Boom Business Goes Bust
Moscow’s arms exports have fallen to levels not seen since the Soviet Union’s collapse.
Sign up for World Brief
FP’s flagship evening newsletter guiding you through the most important world stories of the day. Delivered weekdays.
By submitting your email, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use and to receive email correspondence from us. You may opt out at any time.
