JUNKYARD PLANET by Adam Minter In his excellent book, Minter describes how, when he and his wife are living in Shanghai, they contribute their cans and plastic bottles to Wang Ayi, their housekeeper, as a twice-per-week bonus, rather than recycling at home. Out of curiosity, Minter offers an 8-pound cast iron pipe to Wang, which causes her eyes to widen because the pipe is “worth some real money.” When Minter asks to accompany her to the scrap trader downstairs and watch the transaction, she turns to Minter’s ethnically Chinese wife with a concerned look on her face and exclaims, “if scrap buyers see a foreigner, they won’t pay as much money” because they “don’t think you really know the true value.” As an international expert in scrap commodities, Minter understands well the value of cast iron pipe, but he laughs at his housekeeper’s exclamation because he also knows the subtle but powerful cultural dynamics at play in the Asian and North American marketplaces, which he joyfully shares with his readers.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Jan 2014 16:46:04 +0000
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