China makes more toys than any other country in the world. In fact, a whopping 75 percent of toys come from the nation of nearly 1.4 billion people.
But China's rise in the world of manufacturing comes at a price.
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Even though China has had rapid economic growth in the past decade, more than 482 million Chinese — that's 36 percent of the population — live on less than $2 per day, according to global anti-poverty nonprofit War On Want.
Plus, 85 percent of China’s poor live in rural areas. Extreme poverty forces many of them to leave the countryside in search of employment in urban areas.
German photographer Michael Wolf has taken a phenomenal series of photos he calls "The Real Toy Story" that shows what workers' lives are like as they make all those toys.
Wolf's photographs come from visits to five toy factories around mainland China. He has given us permission to share them with you here.
Every day, the workers have to arrive 15 minutes before the regular work shift begins for a work assembly.
Source: Sacom
Their living conditions are prison-like with up to six people sharing small cramped dormitories and up to 50 people sharing one bathroom.
Source: War On Want
Student workers are organized by schools to do “internships."
Source: Sacom
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