China owes a lot to foreign investment. Long before Foxconn started making iPhones for Apple, manufacturers from Hong Kong tiptoed across the border to Guangdong in search of cheap labour. In 1982 Jetta, a toymaker, opened a spray-painting plant among the nearby lychee orchards of Dongguan, according to “Toy Town”, a book by Sarah Monks. Water for a shower was boiled in a wok; the plant was in a tin shack. At another firm, Ms Monks reports, the workers decided that Mickey Mouse’s nose should be red, not black.
中国在很大程度上要归功于外商投资。早在富士康开始为苹果公司生产 iPhone 之前，香港的制造商就已经蹑手蹑脚地越过边境来到广东，寻找廉价劳动力。据萨拉-蒙克斯（Sarah Monks）所著的《玩具城》一书记载，1982 年，玩具制造商捷达在东莞附近的荔枝园里开设了一家喷漆厂。淋浴的水是用炒锅烧的；工厂就在一个铁皮屋里。蒙克斯女士报告说，在另一家公司，工人们决定米老鼠的鼻子应该是红色的，而不是黑色的。
