Supply Chains

People flood to city factories, then export growth hits the wall. It’s all change in China

The history of sustainable business and corporate responsibility in China has been problematic. China’s 30-year rise to become the workshop of the world involved corner-cutting and the de-prioritising of issues such as the environment and business ethics. Bribery and corruption remain major problems, while China’s one-party state means no independent workers’ organisations are allowed. The only union remains the official state union, widely dismissed by workers as ineffective.

And while things have slowed, the past 30 years have seen an unprecedented internal migration from the over-populated countryside to the urban manufacturing regions – the proportion of Chinese people living in urban areas reached 50% in 2011.

China’s manufacturing backbone has been low-end assembly. This meant that the early progress of corporate responsibility in China, according to Wang Liwei, an activist who runs the Charitarian magazine, was centred heavily on factory audits, trying to ensure good conditions, training in health and safety...