In Amelia Pang’s new nonfiction book, “Made in China: A Prisoner, An SOS Letter, and the Hidden Cost of America’s Cheap Goods,” Oregon mother Julie Keith opens a package of discounted Halloween decorations to find an SOS letter written by a Chinese political prisoner.
From this letter, Keith learns that her purchase was assembled and packaged by a man named Sun Yi, imprisoned for campaigning for freedom to join a forbidden meditation movement, Falun Gong. In the note, Sun details how political prisoners work 15-hour days without a Saturday or Sunday break and make only 10 yuan each month, or about $1.55. Sun says that if the prisoners do not comply with working in these conditions, they will be verbally and physically assaulted.
In telling Sun Yi’s story, Pang’s book steps back and analyzes problems in the global consumer supply chain, which is a conversation the author believes is neglected.
