环球时报英文版-报道乐创益

[Fair Trade iMART]

具体可见：
http://www.globaltimes.cn/www/english/metro-beijing/update/business/2009-10/479500.html

<Teach a man to fish, don't give him a fish>

By Xu Liuliu
At the iMart market held in Beijing's famous Nanluoguxiang Hutong last
weekend, a customer bought a handmade doll from designer Liu Yu's
Black Head label, while its producers, women in Dujiangyan, Sichuan
Province, who suffered from last year's devastating earthquake,
receive a percentage of the money they are soldfor in the market.
Since 2006, iMart, the touring free bazaar has attracted over 1,000
young and promising artists to sell their designs. Production problems
always trouble designers like Liu Yu because few factories accept
small orders.
With the help of China's fair trade organization, iFAIR, Liu sent his
design, samples and materials to craft worker housewives in Dujiangyan
who then assembled the materials into the finished product. After
receiving the finished items, Liu paid not less than one tenth of the
retail price to the producers, as required by iFAIR.
Fair trade is a social movement that works with disadvantaged groups
such as women in remote and undeveloped areas to help them move toward
economic self-suffciency and stability. The spirit is much like the
old Chinese saying, "teach a man how to fi sh, instead of giving him a
fish".
When it comes to helping disadvantaged groups in China, the first
thing that comes to mind is donations of cash and clothes. But
sometimes people don't like receiving charity, as it can be demeaning
to them. They would prefer to help themselves. "But products from
these low skilled workers don't sell well due to a lack of good design
and quality. Getting designers involved will end in a win-win
situation," Chen Lecong, General Director of iFAIR, told the Global
Times.
Designers are happy to see their production problems solved while
underprivileged groups can make an honest living without having to
accept charity. According to Chen, seven handicraft workers
associations from poor areas in Hebei, Sichuan and Guizhou Provinces,
have agreed to work with iFAIR. More and more young artists want to
get involved in this project. Feng Long is one of them.
"It's very difficult to find factories that will accept small orders
of only 1,000. Learning from Liu Yu's story, I turned to iFAIR for
help and asked the underprivileged groups to assemble the individual
necklaces parts," said the 26-yearold designer, whose stall only sells
handmade products made from pop cans.
Fair trade, which started in the United States in the 1940s is very
popular, but it is very new in China. For Chen and her members, how to
persuade people to buy "fair trade" products is still a big problem.
"Good quality, reasonable prices and individuality are what we usually
consider when buying a product. But few care about the story behind
it. We need more time to promote fair trade and let people understand
that purchasing a product can also put money in the makers' pocket,"
added Chen, in the belief that "it is time to make a change".