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Local Coverage
An employee works on parts at the Quoizel plant in Shenzhen, China. Quoizel is headquartered
in Goose Creek, South Carolina, but moved most of its manufacturing to China so it can remain
competitive because of the cheap labor. Most of the manufacturing in the plant is done by hand.
After we finished working
on Hal’s story, Tony
and I looked for other
“local” angles to stories
we could do in China—and
found several
to pursue. With a story
we did about a South
Carolina-based manufacturing
plant located in
Shenzhen, for example,
I took pictures of the
process we observed at
the factory and then
took photographs of the
goods made there that
are stored in the warehouse
in South Carolina.
In China I was surprised
at how much of the
factory work is done by
hand. Large machines
were not in use in the
production process we
observed. Instead, workers
used hand tools, and
I focused on the laborintensive
atmosphere.
I also took pictures of
some of the executives
from South Carolina at
their office in China,
but the most interesting
photos came from what
was going on with the
workers. —A.H.
A Quoizel employee moves boxes of lighting fixtures around a storeroom at its manufacturing
plant in China. The label on the box shows a direct link back to the Charleston area.
Photos by Alan Hawes/The Post and Courier.
18 Nieman Reports / Winter 2007