“The girls were equally wary with one another and often spoke roughly among themselves. They frequently knew nothing about the people with whom they lived and worked [..]. Most girls seemed to have one or two true friends who lived far away, perhaps in another factory, preferring to confide in them rather than in many close by. Maybe this was their defense against living in a colony of strangers: They took it for granted that someone who slept in an adjoining bunk one night would disappear the next.
“It took willpower for any migrant worker to change her situation. But inside a factory as large as Yue Yuen, the pressure to conform felt especially intense. The girls all claimed in front of one another that they didn’t approve of finding a boyfriend in the city, although many of them already had one; they disparaged further education as useless even as some quietly took classes in an effort to improve themselves. Yue Yuen was a good place to work – everyone who worked there said that. But if you wanted something different, it took all your strength to break free.”
Factory Girls, Leslie T. Chang