University of Washington, TGEOG 349, RP8

University of Washington
Geography 349 (Professor Harrington)
Response Paper 8

QUESTIONS FROM FALLOWS (2007; 2012)

1.What does Fallows (2007) tell us about the factory workers in Shenzhen? What differences does he report in his 2012 article?

2. What are the nationalities of the owners of manufacturing operations in Shenzhen?

3. What does PCH do in China?

4. What’s the “smiley curve”? If you were to draw such a U-shaped curve, what is measured on the vertical axis? The horizontal axis? What’s the geography of the curve – what’s done where? What’s the corporate distribution on the curve – what kinds of companies do what?

5. How might the geography of the “smiley curve” change?

6. Note at least two reasons why Western and Japanese companies have outsourced so much of their production, especially assembly, to companies in China.

7. Note at least two reasons why Fallows (2012) suggests that the logic of Chinese production of (for example) US-bound products might be changing.

8. What’s different about the US-China trade relationship and the US-Japan trade relationship, that makes the former more mutually beneficial than the latter, according to Fallows?

9. According to Fallows (2007), what are the likely effects of RMB appreciation (increased value of Chinese currency) on China-US trade?