Perhaps nothing better captures the theme of Ted Koppel’s excellent Discovery Channel series “People’s Republic of Capitalism” than the production of Ethan Allen Sofas. In four episodes, Koppel demonstrates the growing economic interdependence between the United States and China, exemplified by the day-to-day operations of the American furniture maker.
While sofa frames are made in factories in China using cheap labor, the frames are then shipped to the U.S. to be assembled with other components. The finished sofas are then shipped to China to be sold, with the remainder going to the growing middle class. This is the cycle of globalization that forces the United States and China into a necessary partnership that benefits some and hurts others.
To understand this complexity, Koppel tells us, it is important to understand the rapid change in China, which has abandoned socialism—the idea of a classless society—in favor of new values and the goal of becoming an economic superpower accepted by a superpower.
On the one hand, Koppel shows viewers how China micromanages people’s lives in very real ways, such as the country’s infamous one-child policy designed to reduce the country’s massive population in time. The Chinese, on the other hand, enjoy the freedom to pursue economic success and the (sometimes illegal) fruits of hard work.
But others have fared less well: Chinese factory workers battling fatigue to earn the equivalent of $20 a week, and American workers who lost their jobs to their overseas counterparts. This insightful series is extremely helpful in making sense of our complex new world.
