Silicon Valley Tech V.P. Dr. Tong Liu was born in 1961 in the countryside near Yangzhou, the southern part of China. (See post one.) He never expected to go to university--not because he didn't want to or because he wasn't intelligent enough--but, the politics of the country made it seem impossible. (See post two.) Liu graduated from Nanjing University, and then--thanks to Professor T. D. Lee of Columbia University--he was given chance to take a physics exam allowing him further study at the University of Virginia in the U.S. (See post three.) Liu was excited to explore the U.S., despite the sometimes hilarious hiccups he had with communication. (See post four.) Upon graduation, Liu took a four-month posting in Holland. (See post five.) Liu returned the U.S. planning only to stay for a few short years before returning to China. The Tiananmen massacre changed that. (post six.) In 1998, however, Dr. Liu and his wife took their children to Hong Kong for two years to show them the culture. (post seven.) They returned to Silicon Valley in 2000, and Liu became heavily involved in his son's favorite past-time: soccer. Indeed, Liu was moved by the passion he saw from so many volunteering parents.( post eight.)
In the past decade, Liu’s work has taken him to China dozens
of times, including two stints living there as an expatriate. I asked him what
changes he’d seen over the years.
“That part is very interesting part. In a way, there are two
parts. One part is China is changing. The other part is the way we see the
world is changing.”
In 2012, Liu was called to China. The company’s factory in
Shenzhen had declared a strike, and the Chinese government—as well as the
American company—were hoping Liu could negotiate an end to it.
Dr. Liu said
that in early years, there was no such thing as ‘striking.’ Chinese workers just accepted conditions and
did as they were told.
“In 2008 (Chinese)
people don’t accept that. ‘You need to respect my opinions. I completed as much
as you do. Why am I paid much less?’ Then a dispute arises. If the dispute is
not resolved, then they (the workers) leave the companies.
“But in 2012, it wasn’t just disputes. This time, there was
not only a strike but it was out of the government’s control. That really shows
the change in China. It’s the one child policy—it’s the only child of the family.
‘If I’m not happy, I’ll just do something else.’ Those (one-child) people are more educated,
labor market is more tight, third thing is they don’t treat work as a
necessity; they treat it as an experience, because they don’t need to support
the family. The family supports them. Therefore if they don’t like, they
organize. They stop work.”
(To be continued. Next: To Solve Crisis? Work for Win-Win Answers.)
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