Shedding Light On China-US Trade War

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE between American and Chinese factory workers? A provocative new American documentary titled American Factory lets you count the ways: The American factory worker is fatter and works more slowly; the Chinese factory worker is thinner and more energetic and productive. The American worker is willing to work only eight hours a day, five days a week, and expects benefits and vacations; the Chinese worker works 12 hour days six days a week, all through the year, without complaining.

The Americans' idea of work-life balance includes spending quality time with their kids; the Chinese send their kids to live with their grandparents and only see them a few times a year. (''It can't be helped,'' says one young Chinese mother.) The Americans demand that their companies conform to workplace safety regulations; the Chinese say nothing when their companies flout safety standards and cut corners.

Who is happier? No one can say. The Americans and Chinese are equally convinced their way of life is the superior one, and can't believe the other would stoop to live that way. The Americans think the Chinese are servile Communist worker-robots with little appreciation of the good life. The Chinese think the American are lazy, clumsy and ''have fat fingers''. At the end of the day, neither side is willing to concede - and the result is a permanent culture clash that shows the limits of globalisation.