What is the small underwear factory in Chendian Town, Shantou?

Hidden in a small underwear factory at the corner of Chendian Town, Shantou, two shirtless male employees are chatting aimlessly. Behind him, the sewing machine made a rhythmic "da da" sound.

This is a small family workshop, installed in an unremarkable seven-story residential building. The first floor is where workers eat and stay, the second floor is the residence of the boss and his family, and the third floor is the workshop. In Chendian, there are more than 2,000 underwear factories, large and small. Brother Chao, who is in charge of thread cutting, proudly said, "Without our Chendian, 80% of women in China have no underwear to wear."

Brother Chao's statement is somewhat exaggerated, but as the largest underwear production base in China, Chendian accounts for more than 60% of the total production and sales of bras in China. During the peak season, agents from all over the country flock to us. The underwear industry chain here is perfect, including twisting, knitting, embroidery, dyeing and finishing, finished products, accessories and accessories. Someone described it like this, "With cotton, you can make a pair of underwear in Chendian."

A bra goes through more than a dozen processes from raw materials to finished products, and a small factory is generally responsible for 1 and 2 workers. Workers are crowded in rooms full of hot air and underwear during the day, and several paunchy old employees often blurt out pornographic jokes. There is also an uncle with bad ears who likes to turn up the only stereo in the factory to the maximum and play novels with yellow plots. The dust on the machine shakes with him.

Workers in underwear factories are unstable, and personnel turnover is common. Come and go, mostly young people from other places around the age of 20. Behind a pile of 2-meter-high cartons, thin light rain trimmed the edges of underwear and recorded the quantity on white paper. The bra in his hand changed from pink to leopard print, which was skillful and a little sloppy. Machine-cut bra models always have some defects, which need to be transferred to workers for inspection. Thousands of bras pass by Xiaoyu every day.

"Don't touch too much, or you won't feel anything when you touch your girlfriend's bra in the future," joked the worker next to you. "I touch the model, you touch the finished product", Xiaoyu replied. But most of the time, life on the assembly line is silent, and workers repeat their actions like machines next to them.

Xiaoyu is 22 years old and single. Just touching all kinds of underwear, Xiaoyu is inevitably a little shy. Talking about this job between relatives and friends, I can't help joking. Gradually, after learning that the underwear factory has a high income, villagers also come here to work. Making underwear has also become a common thing in the eyes of hometown people.

The rumbling machine presses down and heats the bra model to more than 200 degrees before rising, and so on. The setting machine is the hottest place in the whole factory. Even if the three big fans keep blowing, it still doesn't help.