Cultural Awareness of a Vastly Different Society

Factory Girls: from Village to City in a Changing China by Leslie T. Chang is an insightful non-fiction perspective of the cultural differences that exist within China for women as they move from rural to urban society seeking a better life. Some “go out” never to return to the farm, while others escape for a short time but return to their traditional roots. This book will elicit a reaction from anyone who reads it as the cultural expectations and demands are so vastly different from western culture.
This book is also a story of the author’s exploration of her own personal heritage and encounters she has while reconnecting to her ancestry.
As a whole, the book is a must read for any teacher. It offers such insight to the Chinese culture and gender issues that when completed, one continues to think about the stories and impact that the culture has on the people and the world. However, I do not recommend that this text be used in its entirety in a classroom setting. First, it is a slow read. The storyline is initially choppy and redundant at times causing this reader to need to put it down several times before completing the 400+ pages. Also, as the author relays her experiences, adult language is used as the situation dictated. Although infrequently used, the language is not conducive to a middle school or high school setting. How I would recommend this book be used is for a teacher to lift sections of chapters that would pertain to course material. The book is formatted into 2 parts: The City, The Village. Each of these parts is divided into chapters and each chapter has divisions within to separate time or topic. The redundancy that exists is an asset in this situation as it will give necessary background information for the reader to understand the lifted passage. In doing so, the teacher can avoid inappropriate content yet still offer his/her students insight into the growing female factory culture.
Overall, I enjoyed the book and have recommended it to family and friends. It definitely makes one compare US and Chinese working culture and the family. I struggled with how many stars to give this book. Initially I was only going to give it a 3 due to how tough it was for me to read. However, once I realized how much I still think about the content, I realized it is definitely a story that needs to be heard, giving it a 4 star rating. I do caution against giving it to students, but there is valuable information within that could be modified for use in a classroom.