BIRMINGHAM, the United States, March 5 (Xinhua) -- Melinda Rankin could not land a job for four years after the retail store she worked for went bankruptcy amid the financial crisis. She almost ran out of hope until China's Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tube Group Inc, a leading copper tube maker, opened a factory near her home.
"I used to have one, but that was a minimum wage low-paying job. Golden Dragon gave me an opportunity to better myself. I feel very comfortable working here," Rankin told Xinhua.
Rankin's hometown Wholesale Basketball Jerseys , the Wilcox County in Alabama of the United States, has a population of 11,000 and 40 percent of them live in poverty. The family median income is about half of the national average while the unemployment rate doubles the national level.
George Alford, manager of the Wilcox County Industrial Development Authority, told Xinhua that there had been no industrial investment since an apparel manufacturer moved out of town in the 1970s. The biggest employer is a paper mill with 400 workers. Wilcox has nothing to export but the human capital because people can not find jobs there.
In May 2014, the Golden Dragon, with its headquarter based in central China's Henan province Wholesale Nike NBA Jerseys , opened its first North American facility in the county, promising to provide 300 new full-time jobs in two years. This is expected to help cut the county's jobless rate by half and the factory was described by locals as a "hope project", which involves a total investment of 100 million U. S. dollars.
Golden Dragon's compound, a two-hour drive from Birmingham, Alabama's largest city, spans 100 acres (40 hectares) on the side of the Road 5. It has 190 American workers and 60 Chinese engineers and translators. The company imports copper from Chile, processes them in Alabama Wholesale NBA Jerseys , and sells them to air conditioning makers in countries across the globe.
In order to convince Golden Dragon to land in Wilcox, local authority supplies free land and tax breaks, and even builds roads and bridges connecting the plant with the highway, for free.
The website of the Alabama Commerce Department has been keeping journals of Golden Dragon factory's development, showcasing it as a major "trophy" of State Governor Robert Bentley's effort to attract foreign investment.
At the "China Spotlight" event held in Birmingham early this year, almost every speaker quoted Golden Dragon as a prime model for foreign investors. U.S. journalists were hunting for the company's executives for interview. Venture investors were seeking any hints of the company's new moves.
CULTURE CLASH
Amid the bustling fanfare, Roger Zhang Wholesale Jerseys Free Shipping , President of Golden Dragon North America, remains cautious and calm.
"We have landed in America, but we are far away from success," he told Xinhua. While U.S. workers mark their Chinese names on the helmets, communication and culture barrier become the biggest challenge facing the company.
"We speak two different languages and we look at things from different angles," Keith Weil, Golden Dragon Copper's North American vice president Wholesale Jerseys China , told Xinhua. "We discussed using white tents at our grand opening. While white is a positive color in the United States, it means funeral in China."
The company hopes to bring more translators and logistics personnel from China to Alabama, but their visa applications are turned down. "The federal government is too slow to act to better service foreign investors," Weil added.
The U.S. employers asked for two hours of coffee break everyday. "In China, tea break time could not be that long," Zhang said.
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29.05.2019 02:45
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