CITY EXPRESS
06 December, 2014
Wei, a 19-year-old Chinese worker, wearing a face mask and a Santa cap, stands next to Christmas decorations being dried in a factory, as red powder used as coloring hovers in the air.
Ronghui Chen
Ronghui Chen was born in China in 1989. He has worked in Hangzhou since 2011, after graduating with a bachelor's degree in journalism. He is one of the Top 10 Photographers of Ye...
Wei works in a factory in Yiwu, eastern China, coating polystyrene snowflakes with red powder. He wears a Christmas hat to protect his hair, and goes through at least six face masks a day.
According to the Chinese government press agency, 600 factories in Yiwu produce around 60 percent of the world’s Christmas decorations. The factories are staffed largely by migrant laborers, who work 12-hour days for between 270 and 400 euros a month. Wei, who comes from rural Guizhou, 1,500 kilometers away, is not entirely sure what Christmas is, but thinks that it is a foreigners’ form of Chinese New Year.
