Exclusive Look: Living at Foxconn [Shenzhennotes]

Shifts at a Foxconn factory tend to be eight to ten hours a day. Since about half of the company’s Shenzhen employees survive campus, a complete city has sprung up around them. They train. They eat. They play.

I traveled to China to report on Foxconn and Shenzhen as section of a different feature for WIRED, a good way to be published in an upcoming issue of the magazine. Within the meantime, here’s a small glimpse of one of the things I saw while in Shenzhen.

On this particular day in late October, hundreds of recent employees paraded around a massive field in team-building exercises-primarily, as far as I may tell, marching in formation, something very familiar to anyone who went to elementary school in China.

A man knits a floofy scarf while standing aside from the gang. Once I stopped to compliment him on his project and took a picture, his coworkers yelled and clapped in approval.

An on-campus university provides degrees which can be recognized outside of Foxconn. Employees will pay for the tutoring themselves or earn scholarships based on their performance.

Employees eat at a food court, a step-up from the ordinary canteen during which thousands are fed every day. This food court provides fast food options which can be run by outside restaurants. Food vendors provide different varieties of food that reflect the cuisine of many various areas of China-food from home for employees, a lot of whom have traveled thousands of miles to work in Shenzhen.

Mall-like shops line the most important thoroughfares of the campus, including this fruit market.

At the Efeihu.com shop, Foxconn employees can purchase discounted products for themselves or their families.

At the ” Cyberfox Café” , workers can watch videos, play games, and surf the web. There are separate, optional areas for ladies who wish to use computers in a more quiet area, a well as ” couple’s seating” for those that desire to, say, watch a movie together.

An Xbox gaming area was not in addition attended.

Technicians film a niche for an upcoming electronics show. Employing dozens, the Multimedia Office of Foxconn produces commercials, training videos, and other corporate messaging for the Shenzhen campus in addition as other campuses worldwide.

This special report is a partnership between Gizmodo and WIRED Magazine.

Camera and lens rental from BorrowLenses.com.

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This post is tagged: elementary school in china, food vendors, optional areas, team building, thoroughfares