Made in China: A Prisoner, an SOS Letter, and the Hidden Cost of America's Cheap Goods

Amelia Pang investigates the supply chain behind a 2012 cry for help found in a Kmart Halloween decoration. The book follows the life of Sun Yi, a Chinese political prisoner and Falun Gong practitioner who was detained and tortured at the Masanjia labor camp. Pang connects Sun’s forced labor to the complex subcontracting systems used by major Western retailers to produce inexpensive household goods. She details how the Chinese government rebranded labor camps as vocational centers to bypass trade regulations while maintaining a system of state-sponsored manufacturing fueled by religious and ethnic persecution.

This work serves readers interested in global trade ethics and human rights reporting. It provides a technical look at how global corporations lose visibility of their manufacturing origins through layers of third-party vendors. Readers gain an understanding of the specific legislative loopholes that allow products made through involuntary labor to reach American shelves. The text functions as a guide for consumers to identify the structural origins of low-cost manufacturing and the human consequences of high-speed consumerism.