Tiexi：the Ruhr of China
1.The Ruhr：an Important Manufacturing Base in 20th Century Germany
“The district of Tiexi is known as the Ruhr of China.”I felt a little embarrassed when hearing this description of Tiexi in Shenyang, for I have no idea where the Ruhr is. Somehow I know that it is related to Germany, yet I was too shy to ask.
I returned home and searched for the Ruhr on the internet that night. I was enlightened to know that the Ruhr, a region consisting of 11 cities and 4 districts in Germany, has played an indispensable role in modern Germany.The Ruhr contributed a great portion to the production of military goods, which supported Germany's sweep over Europe during the two world wars.However, the glorious days of the Ruhr had passed, leaving the region in a painful recession that lasted for 20 years：the coal mining industry fell rapidly due to the rise of the oil industry, followed by the decline of the iron and steel industry.The recession had cast a great shadow on Germany and Europe.In its old days, the Ruhr was referred to as a place of hope, where many industrial miracles were created.Yet between 1950s and 1960s, the Ruhr represents unemployment, misery of the working class and a polluted river with its dark, odorous flows.The legend of the Ruhr had turned into a nightmare.
Nevertheless, the Germans, with their persistence, commitment and reasons, after 20 years of great efforts, have driven away the dark flows and brought back clear water to the river in the Ruhr.
The story of the Ruhr is yet seen again in the district of Tiexi in Shenyang, China.
The past and present days of Tiexi is indeed a Chinese version of the history of the Ruhr. The district of Tiexi was endowed with its role of an industrial and manufacturing base of Manchukuo, a Japanese puppet regime in Northeast China during 1932-1945，after the Japanese army sieged Northeast China.Originally“the Old Marshal”Zhang Zuolin and his son occupied the district and started their military factories.After the Japanese invasion marked by the“September 18 Incident，”Japanese settlers arrived at the area and brought about city planning and industrial development.Established companies including Hitachi, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and Sumitomo occupied and exploited the White Mountain and Dark River[1]at a mere expense of no more than 20 million Yen.The first generation of industrial workers in Northeast China turned their flesh and blood into a golden empire for the Japanese.Endless trains with crops and coals, known as the black gold, traveled to Japan.
Over a decade of development has shaped Tiexi's role as an industrial site. At the end of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Agression, the Kuomintang government took over the district and started producing iron and steel, guns and canons, in preparation for the civil war in China.
Before long, the People's Liberation Army, with its ten thousand soldiers, entered into the White Mountain and sailed across the Dark River to fight against the Kuomintang
Four battles were fought between the two armies at Siping before the People's Liberation Army surrounded Changchun and took over Jinzhou. Officers and soldiers of the China Expedition Army that won their reputation in the victory over the Japanese army were defeated by the PLA's Fourth Field Army, and the People's Liberation Army took over the whole of Northeast China.The industrial advantages of the district have brought about the dawn of a new China with guns and steels provided to the battlefields in Peking-Tianjin and Huaihai to secure yet another two important victories.
After a hundred years of pain and humiliation, China has once again held its noble head high. The newly established People's Republic of China put its passionate efforts into industrialization.As a result, in Tiexi, the Ruhr of China, more than 350“firsts”in the industrial history of modern China were made, and numerous miracles were created on the ancient land of Northeast China with a fresh, young spirit.
Tiexi is indeed living its name as the Ruhr of China. Leaders of the supreme government in the early days of People's Republic of China have visited the industrial site.The glorious moments have etched an everlasting inscription in many Chinese workers'memories.
However, in 1980s, China shifted its industrial goal to that of a market economy. Large state-owned companies found their traditional advantages lost in the market：a factory with more than 10，000 staff would break even before a mass production；those with some luck struggled to stay in the market, yet most had to exit due to their very low cost-efficiency.
In 1990s, unemployment and bankruptcy plagued Tiexi. The tragedy of the industrial site seemed exactly the same as that of the Ruhr.However, beginning in 2004，the government's plan to rejuvenate old industrial bases has promoted Tiexi to its revival, which again seems exactly the same as the Ruhr.
Tiexi and the Ruhr.
China and Germany.
The two great nations from the East and the West have walked a parallel path for a hundred years to realize men's great dreams of the industrial civilization.
Tiexi in Shenyang was once a Chinese epic that has sent the blood pulsing through many Chinese veins.
2.Father and Son in Tiexi
Yin Zhongfu turned 80 this year.
It was a mid-autumn morning in 2011 in Shenyang. The sky was clear and the sun was shining beautifully over the conference room in New Workers'Suburb in Tiexin.Amongst several old men, Yin Zhongfu sat with his back straight.His grey hair was combed carefully.He started talking about the past and present life of Tiexi, the Ruhr of China, to me.I was amazed by the forgotten epic.The old man, who has never been taught for a day about literature, eloquently revealed to me the narrative story of a father and his sons, of a factory, a manufacturing base and a family from an intimate, personal perspective.In my ears, the story is a reflection of an era.It is Tiexi's own Arabian Night.I sighed for the fate of Tiexi and the generations of people living and serving the Ruhr of China.
Sixty years have passed since the start of the story. History has shown us an era of pure passion that is so different from Tiexi and China of today.
The gate of Shenyang City was open. One by one, soldiers of the Fourth Field Army marched inside.People in the city put on red ribbons on top of their cloths and welcomed the soldiers, as well as a new era, with the traditional singing and dancing of yangko（a popular rural folk dance）and Errenzhuan（a song-and-dance duet popular in Northeast China）.
The city was reechoing with the sound of gongs and drums as the young platoon leader Yin Zhongquan of the Fourth Field Army of the PLA dismounted his horse with a Maucer C96，known to the Chinese as“the box pistol，”under his belt. He walked into the glassware factory owned by the Kuomintang government and held his head up to observe the tall chimney and the myriad of industrial buildings.He felt at the same time amazed and excited，“Such a large factory！Today the Liberation Army will take over.No matter who used to own it—the Japanese in Manchukuo or the Kuomintang, from today on, it belongs to the people, until the end of all time！”
The next day, a large sign decorated with red satin was hung out in the loud sound of firecracker. The glassware factory was officially named“Glass Instrument Factory of the General Logistics of the Fourth Field Army.”
Despite his yellow army uniform, the color of which was fading already, Yin Zhongquan was no longer a man holding his sword against the enemies. Instead, he would hold on to his industrial hammer as he had been appointed as the Director of Workshop.During that snowy winter, he realized that Tiexi was not different from the China reborn from the ashes of war：all that had been left undone was to be done.
Standing below the chimney as tall as the pine trees on the Changbai Mountain, Yin Zhongquan felt that his fortune had brought him under the shade of peace. However, when he looked from afar into the Shenyang train station, one after another, coaches full of Chinese People's Volunteers were sent fast towards the Yalu River.Amongst them sat his father and little brother.
Yin Zhonquan was from a rural village in the county of Dongfeng in Jilin Province. When the curtain of the War of Liberation was lifted, he, his father and youngest brother successively joined the army, leaving behind only his mother and his second brother Yin Zhongfu.
It was a time when the Korean War was raging alongside the northeast Chinese border. Yin Zhongfu had seen his father and younger brother off on the trains when he started dreaming of their majestic strides marching over the Yalu River, as well as the glorious shedding of their blood on the battlefield against the heavily armed Americans even though fried flour and snow were all they would have for food.He dreamed of joining his father and brother and become a soldier with the red flower of honor on his chest.His wish was not granted：there had already been three soldiers in his family, and two of them were already sent to Korea to protect the nation.His father was a company quartermaster, in charge of food supply for his company in Korea.His younger brother, on the other hand, was an orderly in the army, where all efforts were spent to stop the Americans from marching further.By then, described as“the most lovable，”Chinese in Korea were proud children of the nation.They fought and died for the New China, for their families and friends who had just been endowed with land and properties, for their aged mothers and young wives waiting for their return.Yin Zhongfu's dream of glory never came true.He was tortured by his jealousy and longing whenever he saw another young man in the village stepping on the army train with a red flower on the chest.He was beyond despair every time the village returned to its usual silence after a grand send-off.
It was by then that a letter from his older brother in Shenyang arrived. He was told that the whole city was under an industrial construction and there were countless factories and opportunities in the district of Tiexi.“Take our old mother with you and I will find you a job.”
His hope of becoming“the most lovable”was therefore replaced by the dream of working amongst the first generation of industrial workers in China.
Covered with dust from his journey, Yin Zhongfu arrived at the district of Tiexi with his mother on a spring day in 1953 to seek opportunities with his elder brother. Yin Zhongquan had already been promoted to the position of Director of Production of the factory.He had inspired the workers to constantly progress into new legends.The year when Yin Zhongfu took his first step into the city of Shenyang was also the year of China's first Five-year Plan, announcing the age of industrialization.Due to the high demand of workers in the glass instrument factory, even men from villages outside of the city could easily find a job.Yin Zhongfu, being the brother of the Director of Production, also found his opportunity amongst the recently employed workers.
Yin Zhongquan's experience as a young platoon leader during wartime had helped him receiving his promotions from Director of Workshop to the positions of Party Branch Secretary, Deputy Director and eventually, Director of the factory. Inspired by his elder brother, Yin Zhongfu found his career quite a successful one：starting from an average worker in the factory, he was promoted to Director of Workshop and Party Branch Secretary；he retired, when his year had come, as the former Director of General Affairs of the factory.
Though he did not become a good soldier as he had wished, Yin Zhongfu chose to become a good worker. His days in the factory were past during the golden age of industrial workers.Amongst all industries in the newly established PRC, workers earned most respect, especially in Tiexi, the Ruhr of China.The newly revived industrial and manufacturing center was by then building towards various industrial miracles on top of the ashes of war.In order to win over the Americans in the Korean War and suffice the large demand of glass instrument for the passionate construction of China, the glass instrument factory, after renamed as“Northeast Glass Instrument Factory”，earned its name as national top of the glass instrument industry.Almost all laboratory glass instrument was produced in the factory.
Yin Zhongfu told me that 1950s was an age of miracles in China. Workers in Tiexi were the true masters of the factories, amongst which ardent production competitions have created various“firsts”in China.
The glass instrument factory was the first to produce quartz glass, which enjoyed a price equal to gold.
I was amazed by how precious quartz used to be. I knew that the precious Tianhuang stone in China is more valuable than gold.But quartz！What is the value of quartz?
Yin Zhongfu told me that quartz glass was essential in the production of laboratory glassware due to its high hardness and thermostability. The fact that China was one of the very few countries that were able to produce quartz glass had shocked the world.
It was indeed an age of miracles. Quartz glass was therefore one of the most important and exclusive products of Tiexi.At the same time, Northeast Glass Instrument Factory itself had also become a company of high valule in Shenyang.
Father and sons not only fought together in the battlefields, they also contributed to the industrialization in China. After the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed, Yin Zhongfu's father and younger brother returned with their fellow victorious soldiers.The two of them reunited with the family in Shenyang, proud of the two brothers holding important positions in the glass instrument factory.
I asked Yin Zhongfu if his father and younger brother were also employed by the factory.
He shook his head and told me that his father, due to his experience as the quartermaster in the army, worked as an invoice clerk in First Station in New Workers'Suburb.
I asked，“What is First Station?”
“A grain shop，”answered Yin Zhongfu.“Many national Model Workers used to work there. First Station itself was a model shop in China as well！”
“How about your younger brother?”
“He worked in the security department as the porter of Shenyang Pneumatic Tools Factory.”
“That's today's Shenyang Blower Works Factory, right?”
“Exactly！”Yin Zhongfu answered with an exclaimation. Workers were the most respected and strongest during his time.In 1954，his elder brother Yin Zhongquan was promoted to Director of Production in the factory.Two apartments in Unit 2，Building 50，No.80 South Zhaogong Street in New Workers'Suburb were allocated to the Yins.It was a time when owing an apartment with“two storeys, a telephone and electric lamps”was an important symbol of communist lifestyle in China.The three Yin brothers and their parents moved into the stylish New Workers'Suburb.The elder brother chose the apartment of 37.8m2，leaving the larger，48m2 to Yin Zhongfu and the parents.
“People talk about reaching the sky in a single bound，”said Yin Zhongfu.“I felt I did reach the sky when moving into New Workers'Subrub；as if a breeze from paradise simply sent me high up.”Life was convenient in New Workers'Subrub as well.“We had electric motor in 1957. Workers traveling in the electric motor to work was a landscape in this suburb.”
It was the first time I heard the term“electric motor.”
Yin Zhongfu told me that it was the nickname of trams. He visited his hometown with his mother in Dongfeng County of Jilin Province that year and stayed there for some time.His mother's elder brother, who had lived his whole life in the rural village, asked his mother，“Little sister, I heard you all live in paradise in New Workers'Suburb in Tiexi.What's so good about that paradise?”
They had their two-storey apartments, their telephone and their electric lamps. That constituted a communist paradise.They were sheltered in a tall building of bricks and they traveled directly to work on their“electric motor.”They used gas to cook and there was no more need of fire made by sorghum stalks.
That was a strange world to his mother's brother.
Yin Zhongfu's mother took her mother and brother with her and traveled all the way from the rural village. They took the bus, then the train, and eventually, the“electric motor”and arrived at No.80 South Zhaogong Street in New Workers'Suburb.Seeing the sunset on that evening, Yin Zhongfu's grandmother asked his mother，“My daughter, tell me where the kitchen is so that I can build the fire for cooking！How can I cook as I see no firewood here?”
Her daughter answered，“We don't use firewood anymore. We have gas.”
Grandmother did not believe that. She rose from the bed and went into the kitchen with her daughter.There was no sight of stone stove or firewood.She asked her daughter again，“How to you build the fire here?You don't even have corn or sorghum stalks！”
Her daughter explained that with gas, it only took a match to make cooking fire. She then picked up a match, turned on the gas stove and made a fire out of a small“poof.”Grandmother was taken by surprise.She stepped back in fear and cried out，“Ghost fire！Ghost fire！My daughter, where did you attract this ghost into your house?”
Mother covered her laughing mouth with her hand and said，“Mother, this is not ghost fire. This is gas.”
“Gas?Your can burn air now?”asked grandmother, fully amazed.“The world is indeed different now. What auspicious day is it today to burn your air?”
Her daughter burst into laughter again, knowing she could never fully explain her life to her mother.
As the night fell, the sky dimmed and brought the room into darkness. Yin Zhongfu's uncle stood up and went into the bathroom.Standing in the dark room, he turned to ask his sister，“My sister, do you have a soy oil lamp for the toilet?”
Mother answered，“We don't use soy oil lamp anymore. Why don't you try pulling that line next to the door?”
Uncle took the switch line in his hand and pulled it. The room was brightened by the electric light on the roof.Uncle stared at the bulb for a while before he closed the door to use the toilet.After he was done, he stood up and pulled the line connected to the water tank.The flush made a loud sound which frightened Uncle.He quickly ran out of the bathroom whilst pulling his trousers up.He was still panting when returning to the living room and said，“I was scared！Even the toilets are strange in the city！”
Mother burst into another laughter.
There were more funny stories of Grandmother and Uncle's first visit to New Workers'Suburb in the city.
After that, every autumn after his harvest in the mountains, Uncle would visit Tiexi with his gains. He would take the bus from the small station in the rural village since there was no fee for a villager to travel into the city.Then he would take the“electric motor”to Tiexi and started his small vending stand in New Workers'Suburb.After everything was sold out, he would stay for a little longer before he headed back home.Every time upon his return, he would boast to his fellow villagers，“My little sister surely has some good karma from her last life—she now lives in paradise！Tiexi is where communism truly lives！”
Father and sons had their honor and dreams realized in Tiexi.
Inspired by his elder brother, Yin Zhongfu grew quickly as a worker in the factory and was appointed as Section Chief and then as Director of Workshop in no time. During the age led by workers, May 1st Labor Day and October 1st National Day of the PRC were the two important holidays when workers would join the festive parade.Floats were driven proudly from Tiexi to the Municipal Square, resonating with the workers'strides of honor and pride.
It was an age of passion. Workers that were not selected to join the parade would go to Yin Zhongfu for an explanation，“Why can't I go when all my colleagues are there?”
“Every factory could only send that many people，”Yin Zhongfu would answer with a smile.“We can't send every worker to the Municipal Square.”
Yin Zhongfu also founded his own family in paradise. He married the northeast Chinese young woman Wang Guizhen in a group wedding held in the factory.Four newly wedded couples bowed first to the portrait of Chairman Mao, then to their leaders and colleagues.The factory gave each couple a wedding gift—an enamel basin decorated with the double happiness character.The gift had been with Yin Zhongfu's small family throughout its days.
The next year, the eldest daughter, Yin Chunrong was born. In 1958，Wang Guizhen found her job in the plastic board factory half an hour away by bus from home.After that, she gave birth to one baby girl almost every year until the fifth daughter was born.In 1968，the birth of the sixth child and the only son, Yin Chuncheng, had given the family's productivity a happy ending.
3.A Forgotten Story from the Manchukuo
Ominous dark clouds covered the sky. The cold wind blew up ashes from the past.
After breakfast, we started driving towards the Municipal Archives of Shenyang. After driving past the crossroads in the city, we parked the car outside the Archives at around 9 am.We were the first readers in the Archives that day and we were there to read more about the district of Tiexi.
I made the book list after sitting down. The list included documents of big factories and industrial companies in Tiexi such as Shenyang Aircraft Factory, No.1 Machine Tool Factory, Shenyang Zhongjie Machine Tool Factory, Shenyang Blower Works Factory, Northern Heavy Industries Factory, Shenyang Smelter and Refinery of Nonferrous Metals, etc.Whilst waiting for the librarian to get the books, I took a stroll around the reading room.On the square pillar in the center of the room I found various old photos of the city, then known as Mukden.Most of those photos were taken during the late Qing Dynasty and Republic of China by a French doctor before the Russo-Japanese War.My friends working in the municipal government later told me that the doctor's family had donated the photos to the Archives after his death.The ancient city walls and watchtower of the city stood next to the majestic city gate of Huaiyuan, guarding the proud city of Shenyang, which was such an outstanding area east of Liaoning.I had to take a sigh for the Qing Dynasty, which was in its decline even during the time the photos were taken：with all the majestic buildings symbolizing the power of the emperor, the empire had seen its biggest defeat in this city of dragon.
There were some other photos taken by photographers during the occupation of the Japanese and Russian armies. The photos showed the first train station in Shenyang, the first tram rails and the tram led by horses in the street, the market full of small merchants and prostitutes dressed according to the latest fashion.Inside the city gate, the busy local Chinese were joined by Russians, Japanese and Germans.Shenyang seemed to be an international city from a hundred years ago.
However, memories from that time were forgotten after a hundred years.
I stopped for a long while in front of the old photos of Mukden. The time of Mukden was an era of“the Old Marshal”Zhang Zuolin's.It was by then Zhang Zuolin had established weapon factories in the city.All guns and canons used in Zhang Zuolin's war against the Zhi warlords were produced here.Zhang Zuolin and his son Zhang Xueliang had chosen the west of the city as the site for their planned air force academy as well.
Through the old photos, I felt as if I was feeling the pulse underneath the iron shell of Tiexi.
It is certainly very interesting that the first tram, known as the“electric motor，”was not powered by steam or electricity. It was led by four white horses.In Jiang Wen's movie Let the Bullets Fly, there is one scene that resembles the photo a lot.Maybe it was inspired by this photo in front of me.
Twenty minutes later, the librarian returned with a trolley of local chronicles. One after another, I read through all of them.In that windy autumn morning covered with dark clouds, I revived the forgotten story of Tiexi.
During the reign of the Manchukuo, Tiexi was destined to become an industrial district.
I could not feel the temperature and pulse of history through cold data and recordings in the chronicles. All was dead in the books and I could only touch the corpse of history in the Archives.Where can I find someone that lived the history?I started my search thereafter.
In March 2012，on the day attributed to the memories of Comrade Lei Feng, after the first snow of spring, I finally found a“living fossil”familiar with life in the factories during the Manchukuo time.
Li Lishui, at the age of 88，sat in front of me with the look of a stone Buddha. He revealed the forgotten story to me in the easy, intimate style of a traditional Northeast Chinese.
At the age of 13，Li Lishui followed his acquaintances in the Nanxiaoying village in Hengshui County, Hebei Province on an adventure into Northeast China to reunite with his father, who, during the time, was working as an electrician in Manchukuo Machines Kabushiki Kaisha.
The old man, in his loud, clear voice, asked me，“Do you know the meaning of the word‘Kabushiki?'”
I shook my head and confessed that I only knew it was how the Japanese call their companies.
“It means state-owned！”
It was the first time I heard of the true meaning of Kabushiki.
Li Lishui, fluent in Japanese, started explaining to me in half Chinese and half Japanese，“It does mean state-owned. Only the Iron Works companies, called‘Tetsu Kochyo，'and Foundries, called“Chuzoshya，”are private-owned enterprises.”
“So Zhongjie Machine Tool Factory had already been specialized in machine tools since the Manchukuo time！”I suddenly found talking with this old man very interesting, as if I was facing a living scroll of history. This man would be sure to explain his experience in Manchukuon factories.
“Of course！”answered Li Lishui as his face lit up. His eyes seemed like bright torchs, casting bright light on my path in the dark tunnel of history.He gazed at me and said，“It has always been a factory of modern machine tools.It specialized in‘cans'.”
“Cans?”I did not understand the word.
“Those are machine tools without visible leather belts. They were made using the imported Ikegai machine tools.‘Cans'are known for their high working accuracy and they were sold majorly in Northeast China.In the Manchukuon factories, us Chinese engineers did all the hard manufacturing work whilst the Japanese were in charge of people.”
“You started working at the age of 13. Was your job in the former Zhongjie Factory, Manchukuo Machines Kabushiki Kaisha?”
“No, I worked for Dawns Munitions Factory, for“the Old Marshal”Zhang. Then the Japanese came and changed its name into Mukden Munitions Kabushiki Kaisha, where my father worked as an electrician.My father once got himself into a fight with one of the Japanese director's child.The Japanese director of the Mukden Munitions was very upset with him：how dare you filthy Chinese cross my precious Japanese child?To avoid punishment, my father used a fake identity to work in Manchukuo Machines Kabushiki Kaisha.The director of the Mukden Munitions could not find him, so he went for his son, me.I was working as a footman in his house.He found me and slapped me very hard.”
After that, one of his father's former colleagues found Li Lishui's father and told him，“Take your son with you！If they still can't find you, they will hurt your son！”
One dark night, his father secretly took his 13-year-old son out of the munitions factory. Li Lishui therefore started working as a fellow electrician in Manchukuo Machines Kabushiki Kaisha.
In 1943 Li Lishui was joined by his mother and little brother who came from his hometown. His father rented a small cottage from a local lord proprietor.It was only 18m2.In front of the cottage there was a vegetable plot next to the old temple where people in the neighborhood would temporarily place the corpse inside after putting it in a coffin when someone in the family died.
Li Lishui told me，“After the establishment of the PRC, my father purchased this cottage from the lord proprietor's nephew for 300 Yuan. After several decades, I exchanged this cottage for an apartment of 55m2 in the newly build residence area Colorful Gardens.”
“How much could you earn per day in the Manchukuon factory?”I asked again.
“40 cents per day for me, and 60 cents for my father. Two large pancakes with sesame seeds cost 10 cents then.”
The 88-year-old man amazed me with his good memory and his eloquent, clear demonstration of the past.
He also told me that in 1943 no one could have foreseen the decline and fall of the Japanese army. Yet Chinese people living in the Manchukuo could only get crop supply of sorghums and corns.No one was allowed to have rice.
“Why was that?”
“Because Northeast Chinese rice must be shipped to Japan. Any Chinese having rice would commit economic crimes.But around their surrender time in 1945，the Japanese could not afford to have any rice.They ate sorghums like we did.”
“What was the staple food of the Chinese?”
“Acorn flour！”
“What is that?”
“It's flour made of oak seeds. You can't even take an easy dump if you eat nothing but that.”
The Japanese surrender had drawn the end of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. Yet for a long time after that, no sight of the Kuomintang army could be seen until the arrival of the Kuomintang Northeast China Take-over Army in 1946.
Manchukuo Machines Kabushiki Kaisha was taken over by the young Major General Xu Qingxin. He changed the company's name into Vehicle Maintenance Center of General Affairs of Republic of China Northeast Headquarters.The factory undertook a major production of AZP S-60 canons and machine guns for the Kuomintang army.Later on the factory was also put in responsibility for army vehicle maintenance.It was by then that Li Lishui's father was awarded with the title of Specialist Staff Sergeant.Li Lishui, at the age of 18，became a Specialist Sergeant, though he could only wear his uniform with no rank decoration on top.
Prior to the victory of the Liberation Army in the Liaoxi-Shenyang Campaign, the Director of the factory was a local official Liu Kuidou. It was a time of serious inflation.Despite the Kuomintang government's issue of special notes and exchange coupons, one could not afford even just a small bag of flour with anything less than a gunnysack full of cash.Li Lishui and his father had not received a dime of payment for two months before the dawn of liberation in Shenyang.On Sunday October 31st they went to Director Liu's house with other workers and asked him for the payment of their salary.Director Liu promised that he would make the payment the next morning after withdrawing cash from the bank.The second day, as the sun rose as usual, workers found the house of the Director, as well as the factory, left in emptiness.Liu Kuidou made his flee on a private jet whilst the city of Shenyang was shaking in the thunderous sound of canons almost deafening everyone.The Liberation Army had marched into the city gate whilst only one division of the Kuomintang troops was left behind for defense.During the evening, the sound of canons and guns gradually ceased.The city was cast into silence and the sky painted red by the gunfire was no more.
The next morning at 4 am, November 2nd, someone was knocking on the gate leading to the Li's vegetable plot. A soft voice of a Liberation Army soldier was heard，“My pal, may I borrow a water barrel please?”
Father was too afraid to answer. Li Lishui, on the other hand, jumped out of bed and opened the gate.He saw the young soldier standing outside of the gate.He asked again，“My pal, I'd like to borrow a water barrel, a ladder and a broom, please.”
Seeing the soft, friendly smile on the soldier's face, Li Lishui decided to trust him. He knew that he was not one of the Kuomintang soldiers that would beat the citizens and forcefully recruit anyone into the army.He took the barrel and the broom and handed them to the soldier whilst apologizing for not having a ladder.
The soldier bowed to him and said“thank you”before he turned and left.
Li Lishui remembered the next morning very vividly. It was still dark when he heard the sound of someone sweeping the ground in the courtyard.He looked through the crack on the wooden door.In the first light of dawn, he saw a soldier cleaning their courtyard.
What a friendly army！In the morning, when Father stepped out and saw the clean courtyard, he was amazed and told everyone that this army is indeed fighting for the benefit of the people.
On that day, workers gathered together to visit the army. They found the soldiers very friendly, in contrast to the impatient Kuomintang soldiers that would beat them with the gun handle whenever they disagreed.The city was in a friendly ambience as the citizens got to know the soldiers.
On November 5th, a poster was put out in front of the factory, asking the workers to report with their working certificates issued by the Kuomintang government. Li Lishui and his father were walking towards the factory when they saw the soldiers feeding their horses：they used the borrowed barrels for water, and put the ladders horizontally on the ground as stables.Seeing the strong, fierce army horses, the workers were more than excited to step into yet another new era.
Li Lishui told me that he lived through the history of Zhongjie Machine Tool Factory. After the Liberation Army took over, the first Director appointed was Huang Weimo.He took an engineer with him and gave the position of Secretary of the Party Committee to Xie Jiangwei.Huang's wife, Wan Li, was 10 to 20 years younger than him.She was beautiful and friendly, and she spoke with a wonderful Harbin accent.One time she was looking for water to wash her face when Li Lishui fetched water for her.
“Thank you, little brother！Please show me the well so that I can fetch water myself next time.”She spoke in such a friendly tone without the faintest air of the wive of a director.
They came to the factory from Harbin. Huang Weimo only worked in the factory for less than two years.In 1949，he followed the army South.The next director Liu Bin was the one that started the career of Zhongjie.
Li Lishui later found out that he was endorsed by an undercover communist comrade that had worked in the factory since the Manchukuon time. The comrade found Li Lishui a reliable young worker and recommended him as a supervisor in the Electric Department.
Li Lishui told me the story in a proud and happy mood. I was sure that he was one of the very few living fossils in the city of Shenyang.
That night I returned to the hotel and flipped through the pages of my notes. Li Lishui was not only familiar with the history of Zhongjie, he also knew the stories behind all the large factories in Tiexi like the back of his hand.Thinking about the stories he told me, I turned to the notes I made in the Archives and checked the location of every factory.I could see the long forgotten story of the district, covered in ashes of the past, vividly showed itself in front of my eyes.
The old industrial base of Northeast China originated during the reign of“the Old Marshal”Zhang Zuolin. The first factory in Tiexi was founded in 1920s.Zhang Zuolin was defeated in the First Zhili-Fengtian War.He marched past the Shanhai Pass of the Great Wall of China when returning to Shenyang.He took a long look at the Great Wall and he cried out loud，“I will go back to Mukden.I will start mines and steel factories.I will make guns and canons.Then I will fight my way back to Beijing.I will revenge！”
Zhang returned to Shenyang and founded Mukden Mining Machinery Factory, Mukden Munitions Factory and Mukden Foundry with help from his foreign friends. However, the raw material needed in the manufacturing of guns and mortars was exclusively produced in the steel factory in Benxi, which was under the monopoly of the Japanese army.Zhang had to rely on the German imported Krupp steel to produce the weapons.The situation did not change until mid-1930s when Yang Yuting founded Tycoon Steels in Dongguan, Shenyang.
Zhang Zuolin saw his ambition at peak after owning his own munitions factories. Large batches of weapons were manufactured to arm his soldiers.As he promised, Zhang Zuolin took over Tianjin and Beijing after winning the Second Zhili-Fengtian War.However, when he returned to Mukden again, he was assassinated in the bombarding of Huanggutun.The Japanese saw Northeast China as“the lifeline of Japan.”In 1932，at the issue of Outline of Developing the Economy, hundreds of Japanese companies had their sight on the district of Tiexi.With their advantages in the army, they established various companies in Manchukuo and drafted the first chapter of Tiexi's history as an industrial base.
Amongst the yellow pages of the chronicles I found in the Archives, I noticed the names of Japanese companies with international reputation of today：Mitsubishi, Sumitomo, Hitachi, etc. They were the companies which dug out their first barrels of gold in the abundant land of Tiexi.
The Pacific War had pushed Japan into an embarrassing state of domestic production. Munitions factories in Shenyang were therefore assigned to produce war machines.Mitsubishi Irons used to be a major manufacturer of tanks before it was taken over by the Kuomintang government.After the founding of the PRC, it became the No.1 Machine Tool Factory.
Sumitomo Iron Works was responsible for producing weapons and, after the establishment of the PRC, was transformed into Shenyang Heavy Machinery Factory.
All eight major factories in Tiexi were marked by the reign of Manchukuo.
Shenyang Smelter and Refinery of Nonferrous Metals used to be subsidiary to Manchukuo Mining Development Kaibushi Kaisha.
No. 1 Machine Tool Factory of Shenyang Machine Tool Group used to be Mitsubishi Machines in Manchukuo.
Before I took my survey in the old industrial base, I was, unknowingly, competing with a well-known non-fictional writer in China. When I was drafting the outline of my work, I planned to write about a family of four generations of workers：preferably the great grandfather had worked in a Manchukuon factory, the grandfather as the first generation of industrial workers in the PRC, the father had lived through the Cultural Revolution and the grandson a modern industrial worker with higher education.
However, up until the autumn of 2011，when I started conducting the survey, I could not find this ideal family.
Nevertheless, to my happy surprise, after I got to know the forgotten stories during the Manchukuon reign, I met with the ideal families of three and four generations of workers, which will become the main characters of my book.
4.Tiexi：the Eldest Son of the PRC and the Task of Industrialization
Shi Shangwen and several other elderly people walked into the management office of New Workers'Suburb.
There were a group of national model workers, men and women, all over the age of 80，in the meeting room of the office. Their smile was as pure as their white grey hair.
I preferred to conduct my interview on a one-on-one basis. Therefore, I was caught by surprise to see the group of them.However, since I did not want to be mistaken as a writer without his manners by asking some of them to leave the room, I decided that I will interview them as a group.
Shi Shangwen told me that he became a worker in Shenyang No. 1 Machine Tool Factory in 1951.He had had no education beyond primary school level.Two thousand people from the rural villages near the city came for the admission exam and only 180 were employed.It was quite a competition.Shi Shangwen sought help from his old neighbors in the village, who had already been working for a while in the factory.Due to his connection and an outstanding exam result, he was selected from the 2000 young people.He felt quite lucky and happily started his career as an apprentice in the workshop.
Most equipment in the factory was left by the Manchukuon company. Machine tools were powered by leather belts, which was not considered as advanced at all during the time.Despite the challenges, No.1 Machine Tool Factory, not unlike many other companies in Tiexi, the Ruhr of China and the eldest son of modern Northeast China, undertook the task of industrialization of the newborn PRC with great determination.During the Korean War, much demand of weapons came from across the Yalu River.Shi Shangwen and his master worker did not spend a day without working overtime in the factory in order to send enough canon barrels on trucks to the canon factory and other munitions factories.
Shi Shangwen had found himself in paradise since he got employed by the factory in Tiexi despite the fact that he was paid merely 30 Yuan every month as an apprentice, the lowest of the eight ranks of a technician.
At the age of 18，Shi Shangwen married his then 17-year-old wife Zuo Shufang. An apartment close to New Workers'Suburb was allocated to the newly-weds.Though it was not big, to them it was their sweet home.
In 1956，Shi Shangwen rose to the position of Rank 4 technician. As his payment was raised to 54 Yuan per month, his household was considered as a high-income one.It was also in that year when he earned the title of national model worker.He told me that the year had brought him three blissful incidents.
I asked him，“Three blissful incidents?”
Underneath the warm autumn sun, Shi Shangwen counted with his fingers：the first was his attendance to the National Conference of Model Workers and Heroes, which lasted for a whole month in Beijing；all seven members of the Standing Committee of the CPC's Central Committee except for Lin Biao, the later deceased and infamous Marshal, were there to meet with the national model workers. It was a great honor for him.He still kept the photo of him on the conference.
“What about the second happy incident?”
“After I came home, my wife gave birth to a healthy baby boy！My eldest son！”
Receiving a national award before having a child！It was indeed a happy time for him.
“How about the third one?”
“Of course！I was paid even more！They gave me 63 Yuan per month，9 Yuan more than before！We also moved into a new apartment in New Workers'Suburb. It's of 38m2，only high management people could live in such a place！”
That was quite a good salary—he was paid almost as much as a county magistrate.
“That was when us workers were the true master of the nation！The implied social castes went like this：workers first, then the farmers, small merchants, students and soldiers. Intellectuals like you were called‘the Stinky Old Ninth'and no one would respect you.Workers ruled that age！”said Shi with pride.
It was the best time of the industrial base in Northeast China. Tiexi was seen by everyone as the eldest son of industrialization in China as well.“Half of the sky in China is held on the shoulder of workers in the Northeast industrial base，”they would say.Their pride was unsurpassed.
I asked Shi Shangwen，“What did you do to earn the title of national model worker?”
“I was the best！”answered Shi. He looked as if he was still living in his memories.“I was the best technician in the whole factory.I graduated from primary school.I was educated for six full years！I was more educated than most of the other workers.I was an apprentice for merely three years.In 1954 I earned the title of model worker in the factory！”
It was an age of passion. Workers competed with each other in trainings and education.They would go to night schools to finish middle and high school education.The knowledge had no doubt endorsed their efficiency.No.1 Machine Tool Factory was top of the three best machine tool factories in China by then.Some equipment used in the factory was imported directly from Russia and East Europe.Shi Shangwen was young, dynamic and clever.He mastered the skills of working with imported equipment in no time.Therefore, he was promoted to a key position in the workshop to work with the 6m-long axis of the machine installed with many complicated parts.Shi Shangwen worked overtime almost every day and surpassed his own ministory-wise and national production record.Alongside Wang Chonglun, a model worker of Ansteel Factory, he attended the National Conference of Innovation in Machine Tool.
After he returned from the National Conference of Model Workers and Heroes, Shi Shangwen found Workers'Suburb the most prestigious neighborhood in the city of Shenyang. He moved into the Model Workers'Building constructed exclusively for national and ministerial model workers.He became a neighbor of the Director of Factory.It was a glorious time for workers in China.
Shi Shangwen and his wife had five children in the Model Workers'Building：three sons and two daughters. The whole family found its destiny deeply intervened with the factory and the district of Tiexi.
Guan Jing'an sat with Shi Shangwen during the interview. Both of them had lived beyond the age of 80.Though they worked in the same street, North 2nd Street, they did not know each other when they were young.Shi Shangwen earned his fame in his early days in No.1 Machine Tool Factory whilst Guan Jing'an had his days in the neighboring Shenyang Electric Wire Factory.
There were many state-owned companies in North 2nd Street during the time：China's largest wire factory, largest smelter and refinery, the famous No. 1 and No.3 Machine Tool Factory, Shenyang Blower Works Factory, Shenyang Pneumatic Tools Factory, Shenyang High Voltage Switchgear Factory, etc.Every day during rush hour, workers would come through Shengang's streets and alleyways to and from the area on their bikes and made a river of people in North 2nd Street.
Guan Jing'an was one drop in the river. He transferred from Fengcheng in 1951 to work in Shenyang Electric Wire Factory.By then, the first 156 industrial construction projects were just approved by the central government of the PRC.Though Shenyang Electronic Wire Factory was merely a small-scale factory left by the Japanese, it was the only factory specialized in electric wire manufactures.Therefore, the factory was included in the the renovation project.Guan Jing'an started in the factory as a junior fitter.After two years, the renovation project was almost completed when he was transferred again to Transformer Works and High Voltage Switchgear Factory in Anshan to assist construction over there.Five years later, he returned with his wife and children to Shenyang Electric Wire Factory located in North 2nd Street.He took a long stroll in the factory and was amazed by the renovation and development undertaken during the past five years.The factory was no longer a small-scale one left by the Japanese—it had become the leading company in the industry all over China.The factory produced most refined electric wires that were used on fighter jets in the army.It had become a top-ranking factory located in North 2nd Street with endless orders flowing in.
Though Guan Jing'an was from a very poor peasant family with no decent education, he managed to marry a lady, a daughter of a lord proprietor, after his job in the factory. During his time, class struggle and revolution were the biggest topic of the day, so his marriage had somehow obstructed his career.However, he was not affected.Instead, he put his gaze upon the progress and miracles made by the factory.He laid his eyes on the constantly refreshed production records.He would see his fellow workers off on their proud parade in the streets of Shenyang.He would carefully read the Party papers every time the name of his factory was mentioned.He would listen happily to the exciting hoorays made by his proud colleagues.
What an age of passion and progress！Guan Jing'an, also living in his glorious memories, told me that these two words could not be used to describe any time in China other than the 1950s. Each large factory in North 2nd Street had its own advantage；the competition had caused the creation of many“firsts”in the young PRC.The street itself had topped almost all its competitors in industrial construction in China：
No. 1 Machine Tool factory produced the national emblem hung on the rostrum of Tian'anmen；
Shenyang Hydraulic Press Factory manufactured China's first hydraulic press；
Shenyang Smelter and Refinery of Nonferrous Metals made the first furnace of pure gold.
……
All these“firsts”had proved Tiexi's status as the eldest son of industrialization in the PRC. In the first 17 years of the history of the PRC, it had not stopped making one“first”after another.It had indeed taken the future of China on its shoulder.
Guan Jing'an earned his model worker title in 1964，much later than Shi Shangwen.
“Was that a national title as well?”
“No, I was a Shenyang model worker, municipal level.”
“Of course you also moved into the Model Workers'Building in New Workers'Suburb, am I correct?”
“Of course. My place was 37.8m2.”
“How many children do you have?”
“Three，”answered Guan Jing'an.“The eldest was a son born in 1958. The second was also a son.But my youngest was a girl.All three of them worked in Shenyang Electric Wire Factory after they grew up.When the factory is in honor, my family shares it.But if the factory declines and falls, my family will go with it, too.”
The destiny of this family was connected to the factory and industrialization. I will tell their story later.
5.Landmark of Tiexi：the Three Chimneys
The city of Shenyang has a landmark that even people living in the far end of Xinmin Village could easily see：the three chimneys in Shenyang Smelter and Refinery of Nonferrous Metals. The chimneys stood tall, all the way up into the sky.When the fog slowly floated out of the chimneys and joined the cloud, everyone knew that the factory was producing electrolytic copper, gold, silver, lead and zinc.
I was looking to interview someone from the Smelter and Refinery Factory when Secretary Zhao of the Community Office of New Workers'Suburb told me that she could contact the vice secretary and her husband. Both of them worked in the factory.
After a short while, she came in again and said that I could carry out my interview with not only the two of them, but also a supervisor of the gold and silver workshop.
I was very excited and looked forward to the interview, which would surely add splendid pages to my writing about Shenyang Smelter and Refinery of Nonferrous Metals, the well known state-owned company in the city.
That morning I paid a second visit to Ms. Dong Wenjie, who spent her childhood days living only stops away from New Workers'Suburb.For her whole life she had wished to marry into that workers'paradise not so far away.However, after her wish was granted, she had to endure her most difficult days with the fallen paradise.Her story was quite an ironic one.We talked until 1 pm in the community meeting room, where no heating facility was installed.I wore a ski jacket that protected me from the cold.My assistant, though a hiker from the city of Shenyang, could not cope with the temperature.At 12：40，seeing no sign of the end of our conversation, he had to cross his legs in hopes of creating some warmth in the bracing position.
It was a sunny day in Shenyang though the temperature was below-10 Celsius Degree. I thanked Ms.Dong at 1 pm and asked her to go to lunch with me.
She was friendly and quite talkative. When I met her for the first time during my previous visit in Shenyang, she told me that she was having the worst days of her life：she lost her job, and the doctor had found a fibroid tumor in her.She could not afford the surgery and borrowed money from her half sister.
She shook her head when I offered to pay for the lunch，“I am the local here and I have money now！”
She carefully took out no more than five notes of 100 Yuan from the pocket on her chest. She had a big warm smile like the sun on her face.
I almost burst into tears when I saw her smile. I held my chin up to hide my tears.
That day, Ms. Dong neither rode with us nor went to hotpot lunch with us.
We were quite hungry so at 1：30 pm we had a big lunch in a hotpot restaurant in Tiexi.
It was already 2：30 when we finished. I felt a little bit sleepy when the chauffeur dropped me off in Secretary Zhao's community office in New Workers'Suburb.I walked inside and found out that neither of the three interviewees had arrived.I talked with Secretary Zhao for a while before I returned to the car to have a nap.
I leaned against the seat with my vague dreams. I might have dreamt of peach blossoms, but in the cold Northeast China, the closest I could find was the snow.All of a sudden I was woken up by the noise of my chauffeur opening the door，“Your interviewee is here.”
The supervisor of the gold and silver workshop of the factory was not a tall man.
I asked my first question standing up，“May I ask your name please?”
“Don't‘please'me！”I smelled alcohol as he answered.“Who are you?”
My assistant answered on my behalf，“He is the writer, Mr. Xu.He is invited to come here.”
“I don't know any writer. What do you want?”
“I want to know about your experience before and after the bankruptcy of the factory.”
“I can't talk about that！I am from a rich peasant's family. If I say the right words, no one will award me.But if I tell you things that I shouldn't, I will be in trouble！”
He seemed unwilling to help me. I asked him a different question，“How old are you?”
“I was born in 1957.”
“So you are one year elder than I am！”I decided to play with the topic.“How many children do you have?”
“Are you joking?You and I are from the same generation. You tell me, are we allowed to have more than one child?”
I gave him an embarrassed smile before I said，“So when did the factory break?”
“You know about the factory?”
“Did the factory get in trouble in 1997?I heard it was closed in 1999.”I made a conscious mistake with the years.
“Wrong！”He shook his head with no attempt to hide how my mistake had annoyed him.“It was August 8th，2000.”That day was probably when he saw the gate of hell open in front of his family.
He turned to ask me，“The factory was founded by the Japanese. Do you know when it was founded?”
“1939?”I made another conscious mistake to keep him in the conversation.
“Wrong again！”he shook his head again and said，“The Japanese built the factory in 1936. The tallest chimney was built by them.”
“I know. Only one of the three chimneys was built by the Japanese.In 1950s the factory built a second one.The third chimney was built by your people in 1974 to produce electrolytic copper and zinc.”
He stared at me.
“Let's sit down and talk. Where do you work now?”
“I sweep the floor in a school，”answered he as he shook his head again.“I am just a plain civilian. What can I talk about?No one cares about us.You should talk with the Director of Factory.I don't want to be interviewed.”
He turned and left with no hesitation.
I looked at him as he walked away. It was a shame to lose the opportunity of hearing his story, the story of an average worker.
On my way back in the car, I could not stop feeling regretful for not being able to keep him in the conversation. My assistant told me that he might be able to contact his elder sister.He called her and told her that we would like to interview people that used to work in Shenyang Smelter and Refinery of Nonferrous Metals.
His sister was once a leader in the factory. She prematurely retired before the year 2000.She told him that she would call back.
After five minutes, she called back and asked her brother to take me to Yanfen Street, where I could find Big Sister Meng Qingzhen.
We drove towards Yanfen Street.
I could see the entrance to Yanfen Street Primary School as we turned right at the intersection. The chauffeur parked the car in a sunny street.We walked through a street shop where someone was assembling an electric control cabinet.We climbed up the stairs and saw a woman of average height walking towards us.Meng Qingzhen looked younger than her age.After sitting us down, the 1970 university graduate from Northeast University of Technology started showing us the data and stories from the past of the first smelting and refinery factory in the PRC.
During the passionate age of backyard furnaces, Shenyang Smelter and Refinery was considered the leader in the industry of nonferrous metals. During the time, gold and silver used as hard currency of the central bank were all produced here, taking a quarter of all gold production in the PRC with a production of more than 10 tons of gold and 180 tons of silver every year.
Meng Qingzhen told me that production quotas were made by the central government and the mineral stones were delivered to the factory by the government as well. All gold and silver produced would be collected by the national treasury.The factory was one of the wealthiest in the city.
“But the pollution was really bad，”said Meng Qingzhen.“The production created a most harmful environment for the workers. Everyone, upon working for a month there, must go and stay in the nursing home in Shenyang or Xinmin for a month.They would eat a lot of meat and cooked pig blood.They would drink a lot of beer, too.All was done in hopes that the heavy metals could be discharged from their body before they returned to work.”
She verified another shocking piece of information：some workers in the factory could not even write their own names.
“That is true！The job required a good health condition so we recruited peasants from rural areas. They had no skill other than working in the workshops.They did not retire in a happy condition：many of them died young due to heavy metal poisoning.”
“Did they catch some disease?”
“Mostly cancer.”
It was indeed shocking. The glorious dream of industrialization of the new China was at the expense of the workers'lives.
The copper workshop produced the worst pollution. The first chimney built by the Japanese in 1936 would cause difficulties in breathing in the whole district of Tiexi, even the whole city of Shenyang.
Meng Qingzhen told me that when the factory smelted copper, during winter times, whenever there was north wind, the ashes and dust would be blown into Yanfen Street, three to four kilometers away from the factory. During summer times when there was south wind, the dust would paint all white shirts hung outside the factory dormitory yellow.
In 1950s, there were only two chimneys in the factory. The renovation project in 1970s added the third chimney.All three of them were standing tall as the landmark of Tiexi, the Ruhr of China, and the industrial legend of China.
注释
[1]White Mountain and Dark River—refers to Changbai Mountain and Heilongjiang River in Northeast China；also a term generally referring to Northeast China.