May 27, 2010
The Foxconn Suicides
A huge electronics manufacturing company, Foxconn, makes a great number of electronics that are in use in the US, such as cell phones, iPods, computers, etc. The company does most of its manufacturing in China, but the company itself is based in Taiwan.
Lately several factory employees at a plant in China have committed suicide by jumping from the top of a building. Today was the 12th suicide.
The CEO of the company visited the factory yesterday, and as soon as he returned to Taiwan, the 12th suicide happened, and he rushed back to China.
The story is making headlines in Taiwan. On today’s evening news, an historian observed that Taiwan experienced a similar wave of suicides in the late 1960s, when the manufacturing sector here was first taking off. The same symptoms existed then: young people who moved to the city from the country to pursue economic opportunities, but experienced difficulties and lost hope. Maybe this is a side effect of economic development?