How Old-School Factories Stay Alive in China’s South

We Find Rooms Containing up to 12 Bunk Beds - Apple Rules State That No More Than Eight Workers Should Share a Room - for Which the Occupants Would Each Have Been Charged 160 Yuan a Month, Deducted from Their Pay Packets. Even When Stripped of Personal Belongings, There Is Barely Space for Anything in the Rooms Other Than the Beds and the Workers' Metal Lockers.

Rise of the Robots: 60,000 Workers Culled from Just One Factory as China’s Struggling Electronics Hub Turns to Artificial Intelligence

On the Ground Floor Are Workers' Cafés, Food Stalls, a Grocery Shop with Stock Still on the Shelves And, Ironically, One Selling Apple Products, All of Which Are Padlocked, Left as If the Complex Had Been Evacuated at Short Notice. Electronic Swipe-Card Checkpoints Identical to the Ones Used by Workers to Clock in and out of the Pegatron Factory Remain Lit up but Redundant at the Block Entrance.

Life for China's Migrant Workers: Dorm That Looks Like Prison

By Alexander Ross

• Oct 8, 2026 • 10 min read

Life for China's Migrant Workers: Dorm That Looks Like Prison

Direct Answer • Key Takeaway

Paid Basic Salaries of 2,350 Yuan (Hk$2,785) for Six-Day Weeks, Which They Can Double by Working Daily Overtime, Pegatron's Workers Are Drawn from China's Poorest Provinces, Many Living Year-Round in Dormitories Provided by the Company.

Alexander Ross

Gaming, Esports & Interactive Media Writer

Alexander Ross has covered the video game industry for a decade, writing deep dives on game design, esports tournaments, VR developments, and gaming culture.

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