China Enters The Machine Age: A Study of Labor in Chinese War Industry [Reprint 2014 ed.] 9780674433441, 9780674431553

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China Enters the Machine Age

This study is made by the Yenching-Yunnan Station for Sociological Research, National Yunnan University, sponsored at present by the Economic Council of Yunnan Province. The book is published in cooperation with the Secretariat of the Institute of Pacific Relations.

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE A STUDY OF LABOR IN CHINESE WAR INDUSTRY BY K U O - H E N G SHIH National Yunnan University With a Supplementary Chapter by JU-K'ANG ΤΊΕΝ

Edited and Translated by HSIAO-TUNG FEI and FRANCIS L. K. HSU National Yunnan University

CAMBRIDGE · MASSACHUSETTS H A R V A R D UNIVERSITY PRESS 1944

COPYRIGHT, 1 9 4 4 B Y THE PRESIDENT AND FELLOWS OF HARVARD COLLEGE

PRINTED IN THE TOOTED STATES OF AMERICA

Contents PAGE

Editorial Note by Elton and Dorothea Mayo .

.

vii

Foreword by Wen-Tsao Wu

xi

Introduction

xv

ι. Sources of Labor Supply

3

Native Places of the Workers — Locality and the Social Status — Personal Skill and Industrial Tradition

IX. The Nonlocal Skilled Worker

18

Recruitment — Incentives — Educational Opportunity and Family Burdens

πι. Local Workers

33

Original Occupation — Motives for Entering the Factory

IV. Attitudes and Efficiency

49

Local Workers — Nonlocal Workers — Working Efficiency

v. Wage

63

Wage Scale — Payroll — Nominal Wage and Actual Income — Subsidy

vi. Workers' Budgets

78

The Skilled Worker with Family in Factory — Nonlocal Workers without Families in the Factory — The Local Workers

vii. Social Accommodations

94

Mess Hall — Dormitories — Medical Care — Correlative Saving — Education — Leisure and Recreation

vni. Morale

hi

Two Cases of Disturbance — Social Dichotomy in the Factory — Labor's Participation

ν

vi

CONTENTS

i x . Instability of Labor

128

Absence — Labor Turnover — Occupational Mobility — Labor Supply after the War — Apprentice Training X. China's Transition

151

Leisure and Contentment — Transplantation or Adaptation — Social Integrity — The Prospect for Modern Industry in China Supplementary Chapter by J u - K ' a n g T'ien : Female Workers in a Cotton Mill

178

The Background of Female Workers •— Work and Life — The Problem of Management Index

199

Editorial Note

T

HE REAL EDITOR

of this book is Dr. Hsiao-tung Fei himself.

His translation from the Chinese was made at Harvard but, once this major task was complete, he was in need of two editorial collaborators who should go through the text with him "line by line and word by word." This was necessary to assure him that persons of another and a Western culture should not find understanding difficult. Wherever there was an apparent failure of communication we discussed the question, sometimes at length, until a rewritten phrase, sentence, or even paragraph proved satisfactory to Dr. Fei. This occasionally meant more than mere editing; it meant that the inevitable general ignorance here in the United States of the intimate situation in China required further exposition than that of the original text. The principle adopted by Mrs. Mayo and myself has been that of minimum alteration; we have made only those alterations that Dr. Fei himself approved. This, then, is an account of an industrial research written by one of Dr. Fei's younger colleagues, translated and edited by Dr. Fei. The English-speaking reader may in places find a method of expression that is unusual in our customary speech; we do not think that he will find understanding difficult. Certain colleagues who have read the book in manuscript have remarked that Chapter X differs from the rest in that the author no longer confines his attention to the intimate affairs of a small factory in vii Kunming but lifts his eyes to

viii

EDITORIAL NOTE

wider horizons. They add that Chapter X suggests a wide experience of social and industrial study. Perhaps we should explain that Dr. Fei's method of research in China is to accompany a younger colleague to the place where he is to work, to begin the work with him and to remain there until the object of the inquiry and the methods to be followed have become clear and definite. He thus actively participates in the many and various researches undertaken by the YenchingYunnan Station for Sociological Research of which he is Director. He is therefore more than entitled to elaborate and expand a final chapter, especially after many discussions not only with co-editors but with many scholars of Harvard. Chapter X accordingly presents the reader with conclusions appropriate to the particular study; it also ranges beyond this to some of the acute and vexing problems that trouble both China and the Western World. And, indeed, Dr. Fei is right when he asserts that for all our technical progress — and the war has shown how very remarkable this achievement is — we, in Western civilization, have not learned to live together cooperatively in serenity and peace. Indeed our technical skill seems often to have made its advance at the cost of human cooperative capacity. For this there can be only one remedy — and that of a type prescribed by this book. In all humility, we must retrace our steps; we must realize that humanity is not a rabble of self-seeking individuals but a society. And a society is a cooperative institution that disappears instantly upon the emergence of a rabblement. Within the nations of the West, between the nations of a wide world, there is a dangerous disunity which shows itself in such various symptoms as labor troubles or war. Patient,

ix

EDITORIAL NOXE

pedestrian investigation of the situations in which such symptoms occur is the only road by which civilization can travel to discovery of a remedy for the ills by which it is so sorely beset. We therefore extend our congratulations and best wishes to the author, or authors, of this book — and beyond them to Dr. Wu Wen-tsao, whose ideals for China and civilization we learned many years ago. ELTON MAYO DOROTHEA MAYO

Foreword HE YENCHING-YUNNAN STATION for Sociological Research,

T

a joint institute of Yenching University and the National Yunnan University in China, has carried on a series of studies of Social Change in Yunnan, Southwest China. The present study is one of the series. The method followed in these studies is that of intimate local field research. A number of different types of community, such as tribes, villages, towns, and factories, are selected and the investigators make firsthand observations, by living in the community. Each investigator is responsible for one study and seminars are held in the institute for discussions among investigators. As a result, different studies are linked up and each work is in fact a collective achievement.

The conditions in wartime China are least favorable for academic researches. Owing to the effective enemy blockade, Chinese students are practically isolated from the outside world. For several years, there has been no exchange of scientific information between China and other United Nations. Inflation has hit the research workers hard both in the conditions of their daily living and their facilities in carrying on their work. But on the whole in spite of difficulties, hardly conceivable by our friends in the West, scientific work in China carries on. This is made possible only by the moral and financial support of the National government, banks, and private sponsors. In addition to the sustained interest of the xi

xii

FOREWORD

authorities of the two universities, our institute has had grants from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Farmers' Bank in China, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Social Welfare, Mr. Chin-hsi Li, and since 1943, with the generous support of Mr. Yun-tai Miao and Dr. Pai-Tzi Yuan, chiefly from the Economic Council of Yunnan Province. To all of these supporters we are deeply indebted. If we have achieved anything, a full share of credit must be given to them. In 1943, the National Yunnan University was requested by the Division of Cultural Relations, Department of State, U. S. Α., to send a representative to America to promote cultural relations between these two countries in general and to exchange scientific information in particular. Dr. Hsiao-tung Fei, the field director of the research station, was selected for this function. He is entrusted by the station to present the results of the institute to the English-speaking public. The present book is one of the publications that he has been able to translate and edit during his one year's visit in America. A part of the present text has been prepared by Dr. Francis L. K. Hsu, who has summarized the study in English under the title Labor and Labor Relations in the New Industries of Southwest China which was first issued for private circulation in January 1943 with the generous aid of the British Consulate-General and of the Kunming Branch of the Press Attaché's Office, and reissued in America by the International Secretariat of the Institute of Pacific Relations in August 1943· The warm cooperation that Dr. Fei has enjoyed in America deserves our deep gratitude. For the present book, I must acknowledge on behalf of our research station the supervision

FOREWORD

sdii

of Professor Elton Mayo who kindly guided Dr. Fei in his preparation of the manuscript in English. I should like also to mention that the present study of the human factor in modern industry in fact originated from a talk which took place between us in 1936. It is indeed my great satisfaction to see that such studies are at last being vigorously and effectively developed by the younger generation of Chinese sociologists, and that the present study is to be introduced by him in whose mind these studies first took form. To the Graduate School of Business Administration, Harvard University, and to the Harvard-Yenching Institute, we owe thanks for their generous aid in the preparation of this book for publication. I must also express my deep appreciation to Professor Wallace B. Donham, Professor T. North Whitehead, Professor Fritz Roethlisberger, Professor and Mrs. Robert Redfield for their criticisms and suggestions, and above all to Mrs. Elton Mayo for her most valuable help in editing the text. WEN-TSAO W U Head of the Yenching-Yunnan Station for Sociological Research National Yunnan University Kunming, China

Introduction of labor problems in Yunnan originated in a seminar discussion of problems of rural economic life in interior China. In a report, which has been incorporated in Earthbound China, we were very much impressed by the fact that many villagers have left their farms and entered cities. We knew that some of them went to modern factories. Immediately many questions arose : How do the peasants live in the modern factories? How has the new life changed their personalities? Are they good industrial workers? Will their rustic habits influence factory management and industrial efficiency? The discussion ended with a decision that we must make an investigation in the factory.

T

HE PRESENT STUDY

I give this history of the project because I like to emphasize the fact that the present study began thus as an outgrowth of our studies on rural communities. It has remained as an integral part of the inquiry into the trend of social change in China that has interested us. In this general trend of change, agriculture and industry, village and factory, country-side and town are all interlocked. All these must be given due consideration. Any partial treatment will result in distortion. Furthermore, a policy thus narrowly based would be onesided and inevitably a failure. It follows from this that readers will be well advised to take this book as a continuation of the previous publications of our research station.1 1 The Yenching-Yunnan Station for Sociological Research has published the following books and pamphlets in English: Hsiao-tung Fei, Peasant Life in

XV

xvi

INTRODUCTION

The above listed questions, crude as they are, are not merely academic but practical. They issue from the situation of present-day China. For nearly ten years before the present war, Chinese scholars and reformers concentrated their attention on the improvement of rural China as China's main route to salvation. At that time they stressed the importance of agriculture as China's foundation. Today, the general attitude is changed through the lessons of war. The fact that China's salvation lies in industrialization is a foregone conclusion. Most writers now agree that even agriculture must be improved by way of industrialization, and rural communities can be bettered only by the bright lights of city life. To swing public opinion is easy, but the development of industry is not a simple matter. We are quite prepared to accept the view that the ultimate rehabilitation of China's economy resides in her capacity to develop modern industries. Our problems are practical : How can we reach the goal? What are the difficulties that lie in our way? What will be the best

China (Routledge, London, and Dutton, New York, 193g) ; Yu-yi Li, Hsiaotung Fei, and Tse-yi Chang, Three Types of Rural Economy in Yunnan; Kuoheng Shih and Ju-k'ang T'ien, Labor and Labor Relations in the New Industries of Southwest China; Francis L. K. Hsu, Science and Magic, A Study of Introduction of Modem Medicine in a Rustic Community. The above three are distributed by the International Secretariat, Institute of Pacific Relations, New York, 1943; Hsiao-tung Fei and Tse-yi Chang, Earthbound China, prepared for publication. The following studies have been published in Chinese and will be translated into English later: Yu-yi Li, Economy of a Mixed Community of Chinese and Lolos; Ju-k'ang T'ien, Age Structure and Religious Ceremony of Tai-sfeaking People in Yunnan; Pao Ko, Power Structure in Rural Community, A Study of Local Government; Francis L. K. Hsu, Ancestor Worship and Kinship Structure; Kuo-heng Shih, Education and Industrial Workers, A Study of Apprenticeship in Modern Factories; and Kuo-heng Shih, Mine Workers; Chin-kwan Yang, Market Economy in Rural Community.

INTRODUCTION

xvii

measures to take to overcome them? In answering these problems, an analysis of the industrial development in the interior during the war is of great significance. Since the present study was made in Yunnan during the war, a brief account of the conditions there is necessary as a background. It must always be borne in mind, as we read the following pages, that China has been at war with a strong military power for a long time. It is difficult to set a date for the beginning of our struggle with Japan, but the present open conflict was started in July 1937. At the end of 1938, the Japanese had occupied all the seaports and most of the large cities in coastal and central China where our industry was concentrated. To get supplies necessary to carry on the war, we have had to depend entirely on the undeveloped interior. Yunnan is our southwest frontier province, with Indo-China on the south and Burma on the west. A railway and a highway respectively connected it with these neighboring countries. Being located far from the battle front and having transport facilities, Yunnan was considered the best place in which to build our defense industries. Moreover, owing to the peculiar status of the foreign concessions in Shanghai, which had remained partially neutral before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, the Chinese in the occupied area could escape by that port, and enter Free China by way of Hongkong and Indo-China. A large number of people moved into Yunnan by that route. Many factories of differing size grew up around the city of Kunming in 1938 and 1939. The war went against us year after year. Life in the interior became harder and harder. The worst came in 1942 when our enemy took possession first of Indo-China and then of Burma. The blockade

xviii

INTRODUCTION

was then complete. Allied Nations were retreating on every front. Inflation increased; air raids were frequent. Victory seemed remote even after five years of war. The morale of the people remained good under great tension. It was in these circumstances that the present study was made. Although wartime conditions are abnormal, this study proves convincingly that modern industry can be developed in a region hitherto agricultural. In this sense, the interior is typical of China. Essentially, the whole country is going through a process of transition from agricultural to industrial economy. Just as laboratory experiment is vitally necessary to clinical medicine, so this inquiry presents as problems of a small factory those major issues that will be all-important for the reconstruction of postwar China. This is especially true since when we recover our lost territories we may find that the enemy has wholly destroyed our industrial bases in coastal and central China. In such a situation, an intelligently assimilated wartime experience should be a useful guide. One of the difficulties in China's industrial development, clearly manifested in the interior, is the lack of sufficient trained industrial workers. We do not like to over-emphasize this aspect, but as compared with other difficulties such as lack of capital, communication, and supply of raw materials, it seems that this may become a bottleneck. Supply of industrial workers cannot be dependent on foreign aid and adequate supply cannot be made available within a short time. How to build up a labor basis for our industrial development is thus a particularly pertinent problem in planning a scheme of reconstruction. In the present study, it is our intention to seek the answers

INTRODUCTION

xix

to a number of questions on the labor aspect of industrial development in China, particularly in the Chinese interior provinces as seen in the course of several periods of field investigation. The first and major series of questions to be answered are: What class of people come to be factory hands in interior China? From what groups are these laborers drawn? How do they come? What forces are at play or may be invoked in this Chinese situation to make the potential labor force leave the land, since the social forces retaining it on the land and at home are so strong? When the labor force has left the land, does it go straight to the factories or into other occupations first? In other words, do factory workers come from the farm or from other intermediate walks of life? And lastly, through what mechanism (e.g., recruiting from distant areas through the factory's representatives, organized labor market, technical training schools, open examinations, or introduction by friends and relatives, etc.) have some of the people now employed come to enter factories? The second series of questions are : What are the aspirations of the workers now in active production? We know that the problem of labor is more than a matter of technical skill. Do aspects of his work other than the exercise of skill attract him to his occupation as a permanent way of living? In other words does the factory worker hope to stay on indefinitely in the particular industry in which he is engaged? Does he wish to change from the particular industry but not from industry as a whole? Does he use the work in factories only as a stepping stone, as a means to go on to something "higher"? Or does he use it only as a temporary refuge, to tide over a difficult period? In the traditional scheme of things, one is

XX

INTRODUCTION

normally either a craftsman who commands very little social respect or an official-scholar-landowner who commands a very high social standing. There was in the old society no proper place for the workingman, as the West understands the term, who plays an active role in a large organization and has to do with vital tools of the nation. Do Chinese manual workers in the interior feel that they are a new "class" of workers, with a hitherto unknown occupational prestige and responsibilities, or does their mental attitude present more of a continuing adjustment to the old social order? There is yet one more aspect of the question. The skilled workers now working in the interior come mostly from the industrial areas of the coastal provinces. They may already have built up among themselves a sense of occupational dignity and responsibility and behave accordingly when performing their proper roles in these areas in which they have grown up occupationally. But once transported to the difficult conditions of interior China, into the midst of a war-generated quickly moving and crude social change, do the factors of general instability and scarcity of labor influence adversely their occupational behavior? Or do these skilled workers from outside serve rather as a stimulus to better industrial standards for the raw labor recruits of the interior? The third major question is this: Are there any peculiar problems that labor in the interior of China today presents to management? If we know something of the laborer's aspirations, we shall also know something of the problem of labor management. But the latter implies more. From the types of aspirations that various groups of workers express, we should be able to surmise what type of manual workers will form the

INTRODUCTION

best foundation for the future development of the industries. But that type may not be sufficiently numerous to fulfil the expanding needs of an urgently necessary industrialization, and the management may have to design means to utilize less favorably disposed labor groups. What are some of the ideas on this subject among labor managers in China's new industries? It may be possible for China to learn from the experience with labor of Western countries in the early days of their industrialization. Yet, even a type of labor found to form the permanent foundation for China's growing industries will present not merely the usual but also some unusual problems of their own. The fourth and last major question to be answered is: What prospect, then, does the present labor situation hold for the future? In view of the various factors listed above, what forecast can we make as regards the future of China's industrial labor in the interior provinces, and what possible line or lines of action should be followed to further the stabilization of industrial labor in these provinces? There have been many discussions, both academic and practical, of this matter. Already there is a growing realization on the part of factory managers of the seriousness and magnitude of the problem. For instance, there is a growing opinion in favor of apprenticeship or some form of technical training. And such ideas, as will be partially evident in the main body of this book, are finding more and more concrete expression in the industrial world. What are the advantages and drawbacks of these developments? Such, then, will be the main questions to which this book will attempt to find the answers. And there are two chief types of possible answers. One is based on an extensive but

INTRODUCTION

for the most part cursory survey of the entire field; a bird's eye view, usually taking little account of the individual unit. The other looks at the subject from the lower strata, and within a limited field, giving an intensive and rather detailed picture of the unit covered, a microscopic view, without however losing sight of the wider implications. Owing to the limited personnel and resources at our disposal, we have kept our observation to the latter mode of enquiry. But the choice is not just a matter of ability and economy; we firmly believe in the value of this method. B y thoroughly understanding the conditions in one or two factories and then looking at the wider issues through the gates of these factories, the investigator will have arrived at a considerable measure of insight into the situation in its proper perspective. The factory I have studied will be referred to, for convenience, as Kunming Factory. It is government-owned and operated. It is a plant with four shops in addition to the central administrative office, where the general manager of the factory is in control. All the shops turn out electric supplies. Three of them, as well as the central office, are located in the same compound in Kunming, with about 500 workers. The conditions described in this book concern this compound only. The three shops will be referred to, according to their official order, as A, B, and C, as the case may be. The reason for choosing this particular factory for observation is threefold. First, because the governing and executive officers of the factory happen to be acquaintances and friends. Second, because it is fairly typical of the publicly owned new factories in interior China; it is the second largest in Kunming, and is known for its sound management. Lastly, it is a public enter-

INTRODUCTION

prise and does not regard profit-making as its sole concern. The governing and executive bodies of the factory are eager to work out ways and means of improvement. This is shown by the way in which they have received my preliminary reports which are far from compositions of praise. Before I undertook this investigation, several meetings for discussion were held in our research station. Those present included Professor Leonard G. Ting of Nankai University, Professor Seigen Chou and Professor Tong Shen, both of Tsinghua University, and Professor Hsiao-tung Fei, Director of our research station. The purpose of these discussions was to gain illumination from the economic, psychological, nutritional, and sociological points of view in order to reach a more balanced scheme of research. This group had made several visits to a number of factories, and interviewed a number of factory managers. On August 25, 1940, I entered Kunming Factory and remained until the 10th of November. This was my first period of investigation. During my stay in the factory, I lived in a dormitory of the skilled workers. I slept in a bed in the midst of workers, and ate at the same table with them. By means of a close participation in the common life of the dormitory, tearoom, workshop, and games, I contrived a close intimacy with them. I remember we had great fun in spending the night together sleeping on the same floor after the dormitory was bombed in an air raid. One worker out of sympathy with my bachelor life even offered his girl friend to me and promised to be a matchmaker between us. When there was any disturbance among the workers, I was usually the first to be told of it and often acted as peacemaker between the disputing parties. There was endless noise of

xxiv

INTRODUCTION

gossip and discussion in my sleeping quarters. Workers would come to me asking for assistance in writing letters and for killing their dull time. After I returned to my research station, I received letters and visits from them constantly. My connection with the factory people was not limited to the workers only. The chief manager, who showed a genuine interest in my investigation, was ready to see me at any time. In the office, I had a number of schoolmates and old acquaintances. I enjoyed their hospitality. They were also exceedingly frank in supplying me with information and material. I revisited the factory several times in the year 1941, for a few days or a month at a time. Since the factory is not far from the universities and our research station, I frequently had opportunities to discuss my problems with the above-mentioned professors and other friends. They also visited the factory while I was there. However, in the middle of my investigation, I lost my best guide, Professor Ting, who met death suddenly in an accident. He is a great loss to all students who are interested in industrial problems. Many projects much in need of his leadership have remained unrealized up to the present time. I presented my preliminary report to the chief manager of the factory and on his initiative a general meeting of high staff members was called to discuss various problems I raised. Their enthusiasm encouraged me greatly and convinced me that only through close cooperation of research workers and practical industrialists can industrial development in China be made effective. Not only will this be more effective but it will also limit the cost and diminish possible sources of unpleasantness. Let us seek to demonstrate this in the present and subsequent enquiries.

China Enters the Machine Age

CHAPTER I

Sources of Labor Supply I entered the Kunming factory and took up the investigation, I met a friend of mine casually. He was working in the Bursar's office of a certain factory. We began to talk about my plan for investigating the lives of the workers in the factory. I noticed, from his attitude, that he was doubtful about the success of the plan. He told me at length about his experience in his own factory. He said that at that time most of the workers in the modern factories came from Shanghai. Proud because they felt themselves to be indispensable, and real patriots because they had worked themselves all the way to the interior of Free China, such workers did not readily submit to discipline. Indeed they had been known when disciplined to start fist fights with the foremen or throw away their tools and walk out. Owing to the scarcity of skilled labor the factory management is obliged to overlook or be lenient to this undisciplined behavior. During this talk with my friend,-1 could see the difficulties of dealing with the "spoiled" skilled workers and could understand the cautious attitude of the management. It seemed that my friend was giving me fair warning: "Don't disturb the troubled waters." The first day I arrived at the factory, I had a conference with the staff, and they expressed the same attitude with

B

EFORE

3

4

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

regard to the skilled workers. They asked me to be careful with the nonlocal skilled workers. They did not emphasize the problem of the local workers. It seemed that this latter native group was not at all important to them. I was very much impressed by the distinction frequently emphasized between the local and outside workers. That evening I took up my lodging in the workers' dormitory. I visited the men there and I noticed that they were grouped into sections according to the different localities from which they came. When they first came to work at the factory they were assigned sleeping quarters by the management. But they soon discovered that the management was not strict about the rules for keeping their original beds. Gradually different groups of men would move into sections according to their local relationships. For instance, in the first room of the second dormitory there were thirty men: among them, four came from Szechwan, one from Hupeh, one from Hunan, and the rest were all from Yunnan. The Yunnan workers again separated into groups according to the districts and even villages whence they came. Later, I discovered that this was a common practice in all the dormitories. From the discussions I had with my friends, with the managers of the factory, and from my own observations in the dormitories, I was even more impressed with the importance of "locality" factors. The workers coming from different places are brought up in different environments and carry with them different characteristics and perspectives. They enter into the same factory and work together. The differences in their background cause frictions in their mutual adjustment.

SOURCES OF LABOR SUPPLY

S

It is more so in those factories which have been newly organized in the interior during wartime, because the workers in these factories are recruited from widely different places and social classes. The aspirations of the workers vary between extremes. Some come into the defense industries for patriotic reasons while others come to escape active service in the army. The complicated labor situation of the present is unprecedented. To analyze this situation, we had to find out the individual differences among the workers. The locality factor first demanded our attention. I. NATIVE PLACES OF THE WORKERS

We shall begin our study with analysis of first, the native places of the working force in Kunming Factory and second, the last localities where they had worked or stayed before being engaged in this factory. There were about 500 manual workers in the factory during the several periods of my study. The fact to be kept in mind is that the number of employees is constantly changing. In a normal factory in the West, the investigator can rely on the records of the factory for much information concerning the individual employee. But in the factory in question the difficulties in this respect are twofold. On the one hand, the record system is not yet worked out to anywhere near perfection; on the other hand, the labor turnover is very high. Sometimes the enrollment is increased heavily and suddenly, and the office finds it impossible to take records of all workers. Furthermore, those workers whose records have been kept may leave the factory after only a short period of work, thus rendering the record sheets out of date. These difficulties are common to all factories that I

6

CHINA

ENTERS

THE

MACHINE

AGE

know in interior China; they are not peculiar to the enterprise in question. My hopes of a complete registration list of all workers in the factory failed to materialize. Limitations of finance and personnel have restricted my efforts; I have had to be content with whatever record was available, checked TABLE I NATIVE PLACES o r WORKERS

Skilled

Semiskilled

Kiangsua WuHsib Shanghai Changchow Other localities'*

8 5 3 7

Chekiang Ningpo Shaohsing Other localities

6 4 7

Hupeh Han Yang Other localities Hunan Changsha Other localities Kwangtung Yunnan Anhwei Hopei Honan Szechwan

23

17

8 6 2

Yunnan Kunming Chu Hsung* Hsuan Wei* Tali I-liang* Lu-liang* Sung Ming* Other localities

Unskilled 31

8 3 3 2 2 2 2 9

Szechwan 6 Suining* 2 Other localities 4

Yunnan 33 Fuming* 0 12 Yuan Mo* 6 Y u Hsi* 3 Hsuan Tien* 2 Lu Feng* 2 Other localities 8 Szechwan An Yao* Other localities

4 3 1

Hsik'ang

2

Kueickow

ι

Hufeh

χ

Hupeh

1

Chekiang

1

Hunan

χ

4 3 1 4 3 ι ι I I 63

40

» All those shown in italics are names of provinces. Names without an asterisk are those of cities. ' Names followed by an asterisk (*) are those of rural districts. d Those districts or cities that have only one each are grouped into "other localities." b

SOURCES OF LABOR SUPPLY TABLE

7

II

LOCALITIES WHERE THE WORKERS H A D LAST WORKED OR STAYED BEFORE COMING INTO THE INTERIOR

Skilled

Semiskilled

Shanghai WuHsi Nanking Hankow Changsha Kunming Hangchow Kwangchow Hongkong Wu Ho Other localities

Kunming Other localities

30 4 4 4 3 3 2 2 2 2 8 63

Unskilled 32 8

40

Kunming Filming* Yuan Mo* Other localities

21 12 2 6

41

and supplemented by my personal interviews with the men. The proportion thus covered corresponds to a little less than one-third of all the workers employed in the factory. Tables I and II respectively indicate the places where the workers, whom I have interviewed, were born and worked immediately before they came into Yunnan. In each table, the workers are classified into three groups according to the official grades in the factory, namely, skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled. The skilled workers have definite jobs in shops. The semi-skilled is a transitional class. Theoretically, after six months of training and if he merits it, a semi-skilled worker will be promoted to skilled rank. The unskilled are assistants to the skilled workers. They work on odd jobs, such as cleaning the shop and moving materials from one place to another. Because good mechanical facilities are lacking in the workshop, this kind of manual labor is in great demand; unskilled are about one-third of the working force. This is the official classi-

8

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

fication of the three groups of workers. As a matter of fact among the workers themselves there are only two classes — mechanical and manual workers. The former rank is superior to the latter. The position of the semi-skilled is not rigid; it varies according to individual qualifications such as his associates, the work he does, and his appearance. In the following discussion, the semi-skilled will be included among unskilled or manual workers unless otherwise stated. In comparing these two tables we can see that these workers had been attracted from widespread country areas to towns and cities before they entered Kunming Factory. Those who came from Shanghai were not necessarily born there and those who were recruited from Kunming were not necessarily permanent residents of that town. One example is sufficient to illustrate the movement of these skilled workers. There were a group of workers born in Han Yang, Hupeh. They worked in a big steel factory there. When this factory was closed the workers moved en bloc to Shanghai with their families. About one hundred of them were employed by a steel factory in Shanghai where they remained for more than ten years. Very few went back to their native places, even for short visits. Then came the war. The Japanese took over their factory. They refused to work for the enemy and so they came to interior China. Eight of them entered Kunming Factory. Their native place can be traced back to Han Yang, but since they have spent a long time in Shanghai they may be treated as Shanghai workers. From these two tables we can see some of the important features of labor supply in the industry of the interior. The most obvious is that, with only few exceptions, practically

SOURCES OF LABOR SUPPLY

9

all native workers of Yunnan province are semi-skilled and unskilled, while practically all those from Eastern and Central China are skilled. The second feature is that about one-half of the skilled workers last worked in Shanghai, and another 30 per cent of the total number come from other large towns or provincial capitals. The third feature is the preponderance of workers from the lower Yangtze in the skilled group. However, this may be true only in this factory, because we have not sufficient data for comparison with other factories in the interior. From the information I collected from my friends, I know that in one of the munitions factories near Kunming there are several hundred workers most of whom come from North China. It was difficult for Eastern workers to remain there because the personal relations between the two groups were not often congenial. 2. LOCALITY AND THE SOCIAL STATUS

The fact that most of the skilled workers had worked in Shanghai (the largest city in China) and almost all of the unskilled workers were drawn from the country districts of Yunnan, gives rise to certain psychological distinctions. Among the workers, those coming from lower Yangtze and later those from any parts of coastal and central China are called "downriver" men. Because almost all of them are skilled workers, who are respectfully called "master," these two terms "downriver" and "master" associated together command prestige. On the other hand, the local men of Yunnan province are mostly unskilled and are called "small workers." The term "native small worker" carries with it a sense of contempt. Therefore, the distinction of locality becomes a distinction of

IO

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

skill and prestige; a distinction conspicuous also in difference of dialect. So in ordinary conversation a simple reference to locality will convey the speaker's attitude of respect or contempt. The laborers themselves are very conscious of this discrimination. For instance, worker #41 1 entered the factory as an unskilled worker. He was the only instance of a nonlocal worker who started from that lower rank, but was very quickly promoted to a third grade skilled worker. From his appearance no one could tell his status because he always dressed, although an unskilled worker, in overalls which are usually worn by skilled workers, and carried in his pocket a rule which was not at all useful on his job. He spoke conspicuously in the slang of a Shanghai dialect. In this way he won a certain high regard from his fellow employees. During an attempted strike, I saw several Hupeh men, #27 and others, talking with superintendents in pidgin Shanghai. Some of the native workers thought they were Shanghai men and so looked upon them with respect. But another Hupeh man #39 was less fortunate. He was assigned to work on the hammer (a rough job). The foreman in talking to me insisted that this man was a native. This mistake indicates how the association of the social status and the place from whence one comes is taken for granted. The association of lack of skill and native worker is unavoidable in the newly established modern factories in the interior, because in the interior there were no modern industries and consequently there were no skilled workers. But on the other hand it would be too expensive to transport unskilled workers 1

The numbers given to the workers are taken from my original field notes.

SOURCES OF LABOR SUPPLY

II

from the outside. So those workers recruited from the outside by the factories are most likely to be skilled. The distinction between the nonlocal skilled worker and the local unskilled worker is a factual distinction. But the factual distinction soon develops into a psychological discrimination, which in turn creates a superiority complex among the "down-river" men and an inferiority complex among the natives. For instance, the workman #41, mentioned above, was a soldier who had been only three months in the factory. Although he had been promoted very quickly to skilled rank, he was still dissatisfied. Once he told me " I have just seen the employment manager. If in the next few months he increases my wage by two or three cents only, as they do with native workers, I shall leave the place for good." At the time I thought that this demand would not be made because I knew that he was not really skilled, but later he told me that the management had accepted his demand and he was very proud of it, because he felt that after all he was not treated as a native. Some of the Hupeh skilled workers always looked down upon the natives. On one occasion, gossiping about them with me, they said, "How can these natives learn skill? They do not take it seriously. They lay down their tools and take a rest whenever they can. They are stupid. Even after repeated instructions they are still stupid." Other workmen from Changchow when they talked with me spoke slightingly of the natives because of their lack of common sense. For instance, one of them said, "They don't even know enough to put a wooden plate under their feet when they repair electric wires, so of course they get into trouble." I met many workmen who laughed at the natives for their incompetence, and said

12

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

they were only good for rough work, and they would never become skilled workers during their lifetime. Under this psychological pressure, it is not surprising to find the natives trying to evade being called natives. One man told me that he knew a number of local people who had worked outside and when they entered this factory, reported as Kiangsunese. I personally met a Yunnan workman in an experimental factory in the college. He spoke broken Shanghai and he complained that the wage of a friend of his was higher than his for no other reason than that the friend was a "downriver" man. They entered the factory at the same time and, according to him, were of equal skill. He regretted that in registration he had not changed his birthplace. These facts reflect the prejudice against natives among the workmen. 3 · PERSONAL SKILL AND INDUSTRIAL TRADITION

The difference of ability among the workmen in different localities has been discussed by various authors and responsible persons in modern industry. Mr. Yang Tuan-liu, Professor of Economics, writing about the labor situation in interior China, says : "Take Hunan for example. The general populace are not clever at commercial undertakings but are quick with their hands. To train workers from this region would seem to be easy. As to Szechwan, the conditions are somewhat different. . . . At first sight the people seem to be easy to train. But their common difficulty is their resistance to instructions. Perhaps this is because of their tradition. They feel that their old ways are the best." I have heard an industrial leader express similar opinions. He said: "The best areas for industrial labor are Shanghai and Ningpo, which are noted

SOURCES ΟΓ LABOR SUPPLY

13

for alert intelligence. The second best areas are Shantung and Honan, which are noted for good physique. The next best are Kwangtung and Hunan, which are noted for initiative. The other provinces are insignificant in these respects." According to these views, differences of workmanship are related to the factor of locality. But what is the nature of the localities mentioned by them? First of all the term " interior" is vague. It does not refer to a definite geographical region. Few will agree on any clear-cut boundary of the so-called Interior China. For instance, Professor Yang has included Hunan, but not Hupeh, in his discussion on labor in the interior. From the viewpoint of geography, the northern part of Hunan province is a part of the middle Yangtze Valley close to Hankow area, Hupeh. Although the author does not explain why he treats Hunan and Hupeh differently, it seems that the reason is because Hankow is an industrial center in Central China and does not fit into the concept interior as he uses it. But the industrial leader mentioned above rates the people from Hunan highly. It is doubtful whether he would consider this province as part of Interior China. Secondly, both of them speak about provinces. But a province is an administrative unit, like an American state. It does not form a racial or a cultural unit. Although there are variations in physical characteristics among the Chinese population, even anthropologists are reluctant to distinguish distinctive racial groups among them, with the exclusion of minor aboriginal groups and the people in Tibet and Mongolia. In China, there are different dialects some of which are mutually unintelligible, but the linguistic areas do not coincide with provinces. Therefore the distinctions mentioned above are not

14

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

confined to geographical regions, or racial groups, or linguistic areas. They are based on social and economic characteristics. The word ' ' interior ' ' refers to an area less accessible to Western influence and therefore backward in industry. The two views quoted above may then be more simply restated: It has been generally observed that the people from districts where modern industry is undeveloped possess no acquired facility for mechanical work. If we go back the last few decades to the industrial history of China, we see that Chinese industry has been developed mainly along the coast and along the few big rivers and railroads. Kiangsu, Chekiang, Kwangtung, and Hupeh have been the centers where modern industry is better established. People living near the industrial towns have more opportunity of getting into industry. They are brought up in an environment where there are modern factories and modern machines with which they acquire an easy familiarity. For instance, worker #38, who came from Shanghai, is proud of his long connection with modern industry. His father was a motor repairman. His brother was also a skilled worker. They lived near a shop and during his childhood he often went there with his father and spent time playing with various gadgets. He made toys from the scraps. They had a set of simple tools in their home and they took orders for repairing and making small articles. He is, therefore, experienced in operating modern machines. One evening I was talking with another workman, #40. Suddenly the light went off and he stood up and said: "Something is wrong again. I will go and repair it." He did repair it and did a very good job, and all the native workers simply

SOURCES OF LABOR SUPPLY

stared at him in amazement. When I asked him how he could do it, he said: "That's quite easy. When I was in my own house in Hankow I never spent a single penny for my electricity, because I know how to connect the wires to get it into the house." Native laborers from the villages are familiar only with crops and the soil. They are not to be compared with farmers in America. They work on the land mainly by hand with the aid of simple tools, such as hoe and sickle. In Yunnan, the plough is commonly used only after the soil has been broken by hoe and watered. Loads are carried on human shoulders; sometimes animals share a part of the burden. Carts are rare. Certainly no motor truck or tractor has ever been used in agriculture anywhere in China. In the house, iron tools are few; axes, knives, scissors, stoves, tongs, and pokers probably complete the list. Carpentering tools are borrowed from those few who happen to possess them. Under such circumstances, Chinese farmers have had no chance to acquire an elementary knowledge of mechanical tools. When they enter the factory they are completely lost. They are countrified, farming people, less active and less intelligent in a completely strange environment. They seem to behave foolishly, because they have no industrial tradition. Without training in factory work they must of course begin at the bottom. They receive a lower wage and have less opportunity for promotion. This inevitably gives rise to an impression of inferiority. It is perfectly justifiable for management to make discriminations based on skill, but this is interpreted by the workers as a discrimination based on locality. For instance, in the case we have mentioned, the native worker

16

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

complained that he got a wage less than outsiders who in his opinion had no greater skill than he. It is obvious that his opinion in this matter is prejudiced and unreliable. Another case may be cited. A local worker #24 entered the factory through examination (a special test for literacy and skill). I t was said that he had a high rating, so he was assigned to the planing machine. One month later he was replaced by a nonlocal worker. His removal, which was not explained, was attributed by the natives to his local origin. They also felt that he had not been properly taught how to operate the planing machine. They thought that outsiders do not like to teach natives machine operation. The real difficulty, however, is that the natives do not understand what the instructor says. They do not even dare to ask questions; they are therefore handicapped in learning their work. Still another instance is that of a boy from Shanghai. He was a new hand, but in one and one-half year's time he was promoted to second grade of skilled worker. This promotion was at once taken by the natives as a case of favoritism. This general belief, that promotion is related to place of origin and not to skill, is widespread. This is supported by the numerous complaints and rumors which I have gathered. Such rumors may be without any factual basis. When, however, these beliefs find wide acceptance amongst the workers themselves, the misinterpretation of the situation is aggravated. I t is no doubt as a consequence of this that we find certain natives pretending to be of outside origin. T o them the acquisition of skill has become a secondary consideration. Those who are too honest to make this pretense feel that skill is beyond their reach and become discouraged. It must be

SOURCES OF LABOR SUPPLY

17

recognized that native workers are, in fact, unskilled. I know that management is anxious to help them remedy this defect. The critical question is whether a sufficient number of them can develop sufficient skill to merit promotion and so dispel the general prejudice. If this can be done quickly enough the identification of promotion with place of origin will vanish. But the situation is not quite so simple. I was surprised after interviewing them to find that many did not wish to become efficient workers. Their interest lay not there but in their homes on the land, and the desire to be a landlord or a small trader persists. They explained frankly that they did not like regular work. Their inefficiency is to some extent due to this lack of interest. The question then follows, how can they remain in the factory without becoming interested in their work? If they do not like factory work, why should they enter the factory? To explain this I must go further and look for their motives. Only thus can we better understand the complexity of the labor situation during the war. We shall return to this question in Chapter III.

CHAPTER II

The Nonlocal Skilled Worker I have shown that among the workers in Kunming Factory a distinction is made between the "down-river masters," the nonlocal skilled workers, and the "native small workers," the local unskilled workmen. This distinction has acquired certain psychological and social connotations and is important in analysis of the labor situation in the factory. We shall now proceed to see who they are and how they came to the factory. We shall discuss these two groups separately in the following two chapters.

I

N CHAPTER Ι,

I . RECRUITMENT

After the Battle of Shanghai in 1938, there was a great exodus into the interior of the coastal population, including a number of factory workers. Many factories also moved in with their workers to avoid being taken over by the Japanese. These formed the initial stock of nonlocal skilled workers in the interior. But as soon as the Japanese consolidated their occupation in the Yangtze Valley, the mass migration stopped. However, there was still a relatively open exit from Shanghai where the foreign settlement maintained its restricted independence from Japanese rule. Steamers were running regularly from Shanghai to Hongkong and Haifang in Indo-China. B y that route one could get into Free China. 18

THE NONLOCAL SKILLED WORKER

But because of the difficulty of securing transport and the expense of travel, few workers could afford to go that way. It was therefore necessary for the factories which were in urgent need of skilled workers to facilitate recruitment by offering help. Kunming Factory was new and was organized in the interior in 1939. I t had to recruit all the workers it needed. It had established an agency in the Shanghai settlement even when the Japanese had already taken possession of the outside areas. This agency could not work openly because the Japanese were watchful and tried to stop the migration of workmen into Free China. Moreover, to protect itself from taking suspicious persons the agency could depend only upon reliable introductions. The workers, on the other hand, who had been cut off from communication with the interior, were suspicious of all agencies since some were known to be "black agencies" working for the enemy. Middlemen therefore saw their opportunity to exact a commission for safe introductions. We may cite a case in illustration. A group now working on this planing machine were out of work when the war broke out. They stayed in relief centers and there was no hope for the reopening of the old factory. Their former employers gave them $5.00 1 a month allowance for living expenses. This was 1 Monetary values in this book are expressed in Chinese currency: one Chinese dollar is equivalent at the present time to five cents in American currency. The exchange rate is 20 to 1. But before the war, it was 6 to 1. Owing to inflation, and controlled exchange, the present rate does not indicate the relative purchasing power, which is determined by the increase in price. In Kunming the effect of inflation began to be felt in 1940. In a few months, prices doubled and rose rapidly. B y the middle of 1542, the price level was about 30 to 50 times the prewar level. One Chinese dollar was worth in fact about three cents in American currency.

20

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

not sufficient to maintain their families. Through a middleman, they approached the recruiting agency of Kunming Factory with the proposition that they would come to the interior if they were accepted as a group. B u t among them there was an old man nearly fifty years of age who was not qualified according to the specifications. After some negotiation the agency agreed to take them en bloc. They also agreed that the head of the group should have a monthly wage of $150 and each of the others $70 to $80 per month. These wages were much higher than the prevailing wage scale in Shanghai. But this middleman demanded a commission of $30 a month from the head of the group, and $5 each month from the rest. The money sent by the workers to their families in Shanghai was to be delivered through the middleman in order to assure his commission. The head of the group refused to come in under these terms. However, some of them accepted but when they attempted to take with them their families from Shanghai, the middleman interfered. This is an instance of the way in which the lack of good organization of recruitment and the peculiar conditions during the war retarded migration. There was no free flow of the highly needed workers to the interior and the supply from outside could not meet the demands of the rapidly developing defense industry in Free China. According to the regular arrangement, the factories were responsible for the passports and visas through Indo-China and for health and inoculation certificates. The factory would pay one month's wage in advance to the workers and, if they were accompanied by their families, a loan of $100 was allowed. The whole trip from Shanghai to Haifang by steam-

THE NONLOCAL SKILLED WORKER

21

boat (steerage) and then from Haifang to Kunming by train (fourth class) would be arranged and provided by the factory with the addition of $100 for expenses on the way. The total expenses for recruiting a skilled worker in 1939 were $250; at the end of 1940, $350; and in the middle of 1941, $400, excluding the loans, the wage advanced, and the expenses of the recruiting agency. When the Japanese occupied IndoChina in 1941, the expenses of recruiting a worker from Shanghai by inland route increased enormously. The cost became prohibitive and the migration of workers actually stopped. Direct recruitment from Shanghai was always cumbersome and at last too costly. There was another way by which the factories of the interior could increase their complement of skilled workers. In addition to the relatively few skilled workers who had brought themselves in from outside, there were many already at work in other factories. From the point of view of any one factory, it was far cheaper to hire a man already in the district than to bring him in from outside. B u t owing to the scarcity of skilled labor few were unemployed. The individual factory therefore had to induce such workers to get a release from their existing contracts. This could only be done by an offer of higher wages or some other inducement which led immediately to conflict between employees and factories for the very limited supply of skilled labor. I t speedily became clear that if all factories adopted this method of "digging" (a new term commonly used by the Chinese at that time) each other's employees, no factory in the end would benefit. So when direct recruitment from Shanghai was still possible, there was an informal agreement between factories that they would refrain from such action. Beyond this there

22

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

was a definite agreement between the worker recruited from Shanghai and his employer that the former must complete two years in the factory before he could get a release. However, when the migration from Shanghai stopped and the factories were still developing rapidly, the shortage of labor became acute. As a direct consequence of this, the informal understanding between factories and the definite contract between worker and employer were often violated. The individual factories, for their own benefit, tried to "dig out" workers from other factories by offering better terms. This was done, of course, secretly. The workers managed to get released from their existing contract either by running away or by bad behavior or by inefficient performance on the job in order to get "fired" from the factory. When the management realized that it was impossible to enforce the contracts they automatically gave up the two-year agreement and took positive measures to retain their men by increasing wages. But this did not stop a high turnover of workers in the period. We shall return to this point later. Table III summarizes the ways by which the skilled workers that I have interviewed were recruited. The number directly TABLE

ΙΠ

RECRUITMENT o r SKILLED WORKERS

Directly recruited from Shanghai Moved with other factories from occupied China . . . . Came voluntarily to the interior Moved in from other parts of Free China Moved in with a factory later incorporated with Kunming Factory Natives returned from outside Recruited from Shanghai by other factories . Oversea Chinese

17 17 10 8

S 4

ι ι

THE NONLOCAL SKILLED WORKER

23

recruited from Shanghai should be larger than that given in the table because, first, I interviewed only about one-third of the workmen, and second, many of those directly recruited from Shanghai had already left. Since direct recruitment from Shanghai ended in 1941, the numbers in this class decreased with the passage of time. However, it is clear that at the time when the study was made, this class had already become a small fraction of the skilled workers.

Most of them had

come from some other factory. Another feature to be noticed in the table is that most of the migrating workers were brought into Free China at the expense of this or other factories, either during the great exodus or recruited later by their agencies. Only a few came voluntarily to the interior at their own expense. This seems to me rather a general phenomenon, because even during the time of flight in the war only those who were well off could finally reach their destination. This explains why the industries in Free China have suffered greatly from inadequate labor supply. The failure to withdraw our labor force from occupied China was a grave mistake. 2. INCENTIVES

The migration of skilled workers from the industrial centers in coastal and central China into the interior is a direct result of the war. The Japanese seized and destroyed our factories in the occupied areas. A number of workmen took flight in the period of confusion. Many who remained in the occupied areas were unemployed. When the Japanese reorganized the factories under their own rule, many Chinese workers refused for patriotic reasons to work for the enemy. When the

24

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

Chinese government and private enterprise began to develop industries in Free China they needed skilled workers of which the supply in the interior was extremely limited. They appealed to the workers in occupied areas. The inducements offered included economic as well as patriotic incentives. Different appeals attracted different types of persons. So the migrating group included a wide variety of persons with different motives, interests, and outlook in work. An inquiry into their psychology will be helpful when we come to the problem of factory management and stability of labor. The differences between the skilled workers may be seen in daily contact with them. I remember one morning I saw a notice on the board announcing a public lecture by a scholar from Academia Sinica (The National Research Institute). This lecture was to be delivered that evening on the problem of how to develop Northwestern China. A t lunch-time several young workmen invited me to attend the lecture with them. So that evening I went to the lecture hall with five of them. On the way, I met several Hupeh men and casually invited them to go with us. They replied frankly, "No, we won't go. We don't understand that sort of thing." A few minutes later we met another worker, #26, and invited him to go with us too. He made excuses and went on up the street. The five young men who accompanied me said, "These old guys are only good for drinking and gambling. They are not interested in anything intellectual." In the lecture hall, I looked round and there were about one hundred in the audience. Most of them were office clerks; only about ten were workers, all of them young men. Later I discovered that two groups of workers always made

THE NONLOCAL SKILLED WORKER

25

derogatory remarks about each other. The young men said these old men were backward in intellect, unpatriotic, and were going to the dogs. The older men accused the younger men of being superficial, fanatical, and supercilious. They said, "They are not skilful at all. If they were in Shanghai there would be no chance for them to have such high positions. They are taking advantage of the war." From an outsider's point of view there is truth on both sides. The younger men are less experienced in work than the older men, and the older less educated than the young. On May 1,1941, Labor Day in China, I saw an article on the "wallpaper," which is a regular weekly paper, edited by the workers and posted on the wall. This article was written by a young worker whom I know very well. The title was "Two Different Types of Workers from Shanghai." This article reflected a point of view personal to the writer but characteristic of the younger group. The following is an abbreviated translation of it: Suffering from shame and physical torture our brothers had seen no bright days for a year. At last news came that modern factories had been opened in the interior, news which made them jump for joy. The steamers running from Shanghai to Haifang are loaded with very many of our brothers, who have left "miserable" Shanghai. On their proud faces are expressions of hope and enthusiasm. Deep down in their hearts they have plans for a new future. These young workers have passed long days under the exploitation of the capitalists; but now they are free! They look forward to breathing free air in the national factories. Here in Free China men who work with their minds and men who work with their hands are equal ; they are all for war. The attraction of a new life is calling them. But, look at these old men. What have they in their minds? Only money, money! They came because wages are higher in Free China.

26

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

They are bargaining for better support for their dependents. They are planning how to save. They are selfish, venal, without moral ideals. They are insensitive to the new stimulus. They care nothing for the new age which lies ahead. These poor men, victims of the demoralizing life of Shanghai, are far behind the young.

Although the author of this article may have exaggerated the contrast, the distinction in outlook between old and young is to a certain extent confirmed by facts. The following cases illustrate this. A Wuhsi worker, #18, whom I knew well was planning to marry a girl who lived near the factory. His brother told me that whether this marriage took place or not, it was certain that he would marry a local girl. The reason was simple. He was a strong character. He could not tolerate the Japanese rule of his native place. He swore he would never go back unless the Japanese were defeated, so he planned to marry and settle down in the interior. One day while interviewing him I purposely mentioned the conditions in occupied China. Instantly he reacted strongly and with emotion. He said: "After the Japanese occupied the area around Shanghai I returned to my native place. The Japanese were horribly cruel to our people. Everyone had to bow low to the Japanese soldiers to show submission; we were obliged to change our banknotes for theirs in order to buy a ticket. We had become slaves, so I stayed in my home only a week before deciding to come to Free China." Actually he did not go to Free China at once. He was employed by a factory in the Shanghai Settlement. One day he met his old master (from whom he had learned his skill) who scolded him angrily be-

THE NONLOCAL SKILLED WORKER

27

cause he considered that by working in the factory in the Shanghai Settlement he was indirectly aiding the enemy. His master gave him a letter of introduction and persuaded him to go to find work in the interior. Another man from Changchow, #21, who had worked in Annwei, came to Shanghai when the fighting was over. At that time the Japanese began to open up their own factories. Every morning in the industrial quarter large crowds of workers stood waiting for employment. This man witnessed the desperate condition of the refugees in Shanghai; he was very distressed. He himself remained unemployed for a period because he refused to work in a Japanese factory. When he got in touch with the recruiting agency of the Kunming factory he accepted a job and came with two other friends like himself. One of them became sick and died on the boat. In the Labor Day issue of the "wallpaper" he wrote an article in memory of his friend. He wrote of him as " a warrior who died for his mother country." Another worker, #23, lived in the suburbs of Shanghai. One day after the Japanese occupation of that area, he happened to have his hands in his pockets. Suddenly there appeared two Japanese soldiers who slapped him in the face and warned him to keep his hands out of his pockets to show that he carried no pistol. This made him furious; he was so upset he ate nothing for a whole day. He joined the guerrillas and after the latter disbanded came to the interior at his own expense. Another worker, #41, was a native of Kwangtung who worked in a munitions factory there. He also, after the Jap-

28

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

anese occupied this place, joined the guerrillas and fought with them for some time. When the guerrillas were defeated by the Japanese he came to the interior. Many more stories might be told of workmen who have arrived in Kunming Factory from distant parts. T o illustrate the variety I shall cite one more case of a young Chinese who was working in Batavia at the outbreak of the war. He had never met any Japanese but his patriotic feelings were stirred by their attack on his mother country. After the capture of Canton by the Japanese his Dutch employer laughed at him saying: " I s China still fighting on? What is the use?" He felt this as a slur on his country and when Germany occupied Holland he retorted by a similar question to his master who promptly " f i r e d " him. This moved him to return to China with the purpose of serving in the war. With this group of younger workers I found it was possible to talk frankly on a wide range of subjects from factory management to international affairs. The more we discussed these topics the more interested they became. This was not true of the older workers, who were bored and not interested. Sometimes in tearooms when sitting with a mixed group of old and young, I found it very difficult to get a common topic. The older people would sit silent when we talked of current affairs and of the war. Only occasionally would one of them make some comment; when this happened the younger group scoffed. The older men were very conscious of their lack of knowledge and would often make some excuse and leave. As I came to know these older people better I realized that they were not actually inferior in intelligence; usually they were heavily preoccupied with family and personal difficulties.

29

T H E NONLOCAL S K I L L E D WORKER

It is also true that they were not used to abstract terms and high-sounding ideas. They had had less opportunity for education as they started working in the factories when they were very young. 3 . EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY A N D F A M I L Y

BURDENS

The difference in personality and interest between the young and the old skilled workers seems to be correlated fairly well with the difference in their education and marital status. An analysis of this problem is given in Table I V . From those I have interviewed, it is clear that better education has been given the younger and particularly the unmarried group. There is not a single illiterate in the age groups under twentyfive and there is not a single man in the age groups of thirty and above who has had high school education.2 M y personal contact with the workers confirms this generalization that the younger men have had better educational opportunity. B y chance I became intimately associated with the young group mentioned.

It happened that the management an-

nounced that certain workers were to be fired because they had been fighting. One of them, #19, a young man from Changchow, came to me and discussed the matter eloquently and at length. I was much impressed by his clear reasoning. 2 The Chinese educational system is as follows: 3 years in lower primary school, 3 in upper primary, 3 in lower high, 3 in upper high, and 4 in college. A student who has graduated from upper primary school should be able to read newspapers and write simple letters. A high school graduate should have no difficulty in reading and writing Chinese and a certain amount of simple English which is started in the first year of the upper high school. During the war, primary education has been developed rapidly in Free China. Each village, consisting of about one hundred households, has a primary school and each district, equivalent to an American county, has at least one high school.

3o

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE TABLE

IV

M A R I T A L STATUS AND EDUCATION AGE

UNMARRIED

,™ „High ° , Jmary ° School

Sch o1

Under 19

IUit

MARRIED

"

T„tai lotal

erate

ι

—

—

TO 24 25 TO 29 30 TO 3 4 35 TO 3 9 4 0 TO 4 4

·—

12

—

45 to 4 9

—

—

—

—

6

13

—

19

20

TOTAL

Hi

h „ ,gB . Schot)1

1

—

12

2

mary I"itSchool e r a t e

_Total . , Grand _ . Total

1

—

1

2

4

—

6

18

S

Ι

—

Ι

6

Ι

8

14

—

—

—

—

—

13

3

16

16

—

—

—

—

—

3

4

7

7

2

Ι

3

3

—

—

3

3

3

3

29

12

44

63

_

_

_

6

_

_

His choice of words gave evidence of his educational background. I asked him where he came from and he informed me that he had been a student in a high school. He introduced me to his friend #8 who discussed constitutionalism and party politics in China very intelligently. Apparently he was very well informed and genuinely interested. He had graduated from high school and had worked in a research institute as a clerk. He was proud of his association with his former employer, who was a well-known physicist. Another worker, #40, was a typesetter for a newspaper in Nanking. When the Japanese captured that city, he left his family and escaped to the interior. He is the best educated of all the workers. The young workers form a group which contributes articles to the "wallpaper" which gives expression to the feelings and opinions of labor. To this paper, worker #41 mentioned above contributes very attractive modern poetry. The first difference then between the two groups is that of

THE NONLOCAL SKILLED WORKER

31

educational background. The second is that of family burden or responsibility. Most of the young workers are bachelors. They are free to go anywhere and do what they please. But older workers who have families cannot take risks as do the younger ones. Their main problem is to support their wives and children. Young men, without such obligations, can be less economically minded; they can spend their money freely. Worker #21 once asked me to take some of his money to help a friend who was studying in a college near our research institute. Worker #40 who had been away from his home for two years had not received any letter from his parents; but he did not worry because they have property and there are people who take care of them. It was said that he also gave money to help friends. Worker #41 has a father in his native place in Kwangtung who does not need his support. Worker #59 who came from Batavia had brought his wife with him, but as soon as he found he was not in a position to support her he sent her back to the care of his father in Hongkong. It must not be supposed, however, that none of the more active and enthusiastic young men are without family burdens. For instance, worker #23 who came from the suburbs of Shanghai has an old mother, a wife, and child in his native place. His wife works in a rented garden. They are unable to live on the returns from the garden produce and are dependent upon money he sends them. On the other hand, those who have no family burdens are not necessarily progressive. For instance, two Shanghai workers, #13 and #38, who have no family obligations are nevertheless always very depressed and uninterested in talk of world

32

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

affairs. They confess that their coming into the interior was partly due to the attraction of high wages. Generally speaking, however, it is obviously easier for one who is not oppressed by family burdens to develop eager interest in the future of China. Among the older men one sees more clearly the effect of family burdens on their attitudes. The group of Hupeh workers belonged to that class. In talking with me they always returned to the subject of prices and family conditions in Shanghai. They regretted that they had not brought their wives and children with them and asked my assistance in writing letters and sending money to their families. The story was always the same. Another worker, #53, from Hunan was always frowning, his clothing ragged. His habit was to pace the floor and not to participate in public gatherings. I was told that his father was very ill at home; having no money to send he was perpetually worried. Can one expect anyone in such circumstances to be cheerful and work efficiently?

CHAPTER ΠΙ

Local Workers we have shown that the skilled workers in the Kunming Factory come mostly from outside, and the unskilled from Yunnan. This is because there were no skilled workers in the interior before the war, and it was too expensive to bring unskilled workers from outside. Looking forward we see that this situation cannot be permanent. Industries of the interior cannot depend upon a continuous supply of skilled workers from outside. Even those at present in the interior may not all wish to remain when the war is over. The interior must therefore build up its own labor supply. Moreover, economic change in China makes it essential that some peasants from the village be taken into industry to relieve the high pressure of population in rural areas. But the recruitment of industrial workers from rural areas is not an easy task. Unlike the army, industry cannot resort to the draft or conscription. Strong inducement must be offered to attract them to the city. In China the attachment of the individual to his home and homeland is strong. The tradition discourages the movement of population. Let us see who are the local workers and why they enter the factory.

I

N THE LAST CHAPTER

A brief description of the ways in which local workers enter the factory is appropriate here. The factory accepts new men 33

34

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

all the time; the chief source of this unskilled labor is private introduction. A worker brings in his friends and fellow-villagers; there is a constant flow of coming and going. In addition to this, semi-skilled workers may be admitted by way of what is called "open examination." This represents an attempt by the factory to get local men of better education to train them as skilled workers. The rank of the "semi-skilled" worker was thus instituted. At times the factory advertised for such men in local newspapers. Certain tests were given to applicants who were then placed according to their test ranking. Because of the use of the word "examination," the applicants frequently mistook the factory for some sort of industrial training school. We shall return to this point later. I. ORIGINAL OCCUPATION

First we must ask whether these local workers were originally farmers. If not, what was their occupation before entering the factory? In Tables V and VI, I record the previous occupation of some native workers I interviewed. In these tables, it has been necessary that I should distinguish between the original prewar occupation of every individual and his various occupations immediately before entering the factory. Many had changed occupations several times during the war period. Generally speaking, prewar occupations were more stable; this is described in the tables as " Original Occupation." The variety of subsequent changes, described in the tables as "Immediate Occupation before Entering the Factory," were due directly or indirectly to the war and to industrial development in the interior. Another comment should be added. Many workers had held

LOCAL WORKERS

35

more than one job simultaneously. For instance a native from Yuenmow worked on his own land during the busy period of farming and also worked as a mason during the slack period. From the point of view of his family, his work as a mason was only supplementary, but from the point of view of income it was more important since he earned more money than he could make on the land. Many of those classified as farmers in these tables were not actually farm workers. They were landowners and employed workers to work on their farms. So they actually approximate those described as having no previous occupation. The class of " Traders and Merchants" covers a wide range. For instance, Liu was a sugar merchant. Another man called Wu peddled brushes from house to house. With these difficulties of classification, I can set down only that claimed by the worker as his main occupation. These tables show first, that although farmers occupy the leading position in numbers as compared with any other single occupational group (28 out of a total of 8 χ workers, or 34 per cent of semi- and unskilled workers taken together), this proportion cannot be considered highly significant when we consider the fact that over 80 per cent of China's population is agricultural. When we take Table V, the previous occupations of semi-skilled workers, we find that farmers are proportionately still fewer. This fact shows, on the one hand, that cultivators of the land are not easily attracted by other work and, on the other, that if they leave the land they cannot expect immediately to enter the ranks of skilled workers. Second, these tables seem to show that farmers, more than any other working group, had to go through a second and

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

36

TABLE

V

PREVIOUS OCCUPATIONS o r SEMISKILLED WORKERS

Immediate Occupations before Entering the Factory

Original Occupation Not occupied (students)

.

.

Farmers

• 15

•

Craftsmen

9

•

S

Traders and Merchants

.

.

•

4

Policemen and soldiers . No previous occupation

. . . .

•

5 2

.

40

TOTAL

Straight to the factory . . . On police force Attempted to enter a higher school Laborer in survey bureau . . . Truck driver On police force Straight to the factory . . . . Police in government bureau . . Road laborer Straight to the factory . . . . On police force Trader Straight to the factory . . . . Police in government bureau . . Straight to the factory . . . . Straight to the factory . . . .

5 5 3 I I

4 3 I I

3 I I

3 I 5 2 40

intermediate occupation before coming to the factory. This implies that farmers are more remote from industry and need to go through a transitional period of training by doing other work. So far as I know from the existing literature on industrial history in advanced Western countries, the question has not been considered as to whether, in the early periods of industrialization, farmers wandering into cities went straight into the factories or whether they took up other occupations first. The general assumption has been the former of these alternatives. It may be, however, as indicated by the present study, that agricultural workers in most countries have not been, and will not be, the best direct source of labor for factory industries.

LOCAL

WORKERS

TABLE

37

VI

PREVIOUS OCCUPATIONS o r U N S K I L L E D

Immediate Occupation before Entering the Factory

Original Occupation Farmers

19

N o t occupied (students)

Carpenter Trader N o previous occupation Unemployed Minor official (clerk)

. . . . . . .

TOTAL

WORKERS

6 S 3 1 1

Straight to the factory . . . . Trader Road laborer Hired laborer Laborer in school Domestic servant On police force Laborer in survey bureau . . . Straight to the factory . . . . Guard or laborer in government bureau Straight to the factory . . . . Straight to the factory . . . . Straight to the factory . . . . Laborer in a school Straight to the factory . . . .

8 4 2

3 3 6 5 3 1 1 41

41

Furthermore modern industries are usually concentrated in a few centers. In a .primitive country there are difficulties in the way of getting to these centers. In England during the early eighties, the difficulties of transport and poor law regulations prevented the destitute southern farm laborers from going to the north for employment, and, as revealed by the census returns of the early nineteenth century, " f e w of the workers employed in the developing factories of Lancashire, Cheshire, and Yorkshire came from the Southern Counties. They came rather . . . from the adjoining counties . . . while the Scottish industrial areas were filled up with Irish migrants as well as with dispossessed Highland crofters. . . . " 1 The 1 Cole and Postgate, pp. 123-24.

The

Common

People,

1746-IQ38

(London,

1939),

38

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

farm laborer of interior China suffers from some difficulties similar to, and others different from, those of the English laborer of the early eighties; a glance at Table I shows that about a quarter of the semi-skilled laborers from Yunnan and one-third of the unskilled were born in Kunming. And most of the rest were born in places within reach of Kunming by rail or motor or by a few days' journey on foot or horseback. In Table I I the point becomes more obvious. Of the 40 semiskilled workers 32 had last worked in Kunming, and of the 41 unskilled 21 came from Kunming and 12 from the town five miles west of Kunming. Although the numbers are small, the parallel with the early English situation is striking. TABLE VII MOTIVES FOR ENTERING KUNMING FACTORY

Motives Deferment

Economic

Improvement of social status.

Social troubles

TOTAL

Original Occupation • 45

.

.

.

16

10

10

. 81

Farmers Unoccupied Traders No previous occupation Craftsmen Policemen Craftsmen Farmers Unoccupied No previous occupation Unoccupied No previous occupation Minor official Craftsman Traders Craftsmen Unoccupied

• 25 . .

• •

3 3

•

•>

• •

5 3 I

. .

6 2

. .

fi •

3 81

LOCAL WORKERS

39

2 . MOTIVES FOR ENTERING THE FACTORY

During my interviews with unskilled workers I tried to find out why they had left their villages and entered the factory. Their motives were usually complex; for purooses of classification I have chosen the motives that seemed dominant and classified them in Table VII. In what follows I shall illustrate each motive with actual instances. a. Deferment Deferment, more often than others, is the important motive for entering the factory. More than half of the local workers are in this class even if we exclude those who were indirectly influenced thus. This should not be taken as evidence of reluctance on the part of the Chinese as a whole to serve in the army. I need only point out the fact that China has built up a huge army in the last few years, exclusive of the guerrillas. Moreover, it should not be forgotten that replacement and expansion of the present Chinese army depend entirely on the few provinces in the interior. The drainage of man-power from the interior is very heavy. The success in maintaining an effective fighting force through the long-drawn-out war speaks strongly for the morale of the people. However, it is only natural that some of the war-weary people should seek to escape from active combatant service by taking jobs in factories by which they get deferment. If we compare the number of the semi-skilled and unskilled local workers we find that more of the unskilled than of the semi-skilled have come to the factory to get deferment. This is because most of the deferment cases were originally farmers and

40

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

there are more farmers in the unskilled group. The draft system is better organized in the villages; villagers therefore who do not wish to serve in the army have had to leave their native places and find employment in defense factories. A whole group of men from Fuming, for example, left their native places for no other reason. These men were very frank with me; one named Wang said to me one evening before an assembled group: "All these friends of mine are from the same valley. I introduced them into the factory one by one. Each time news of drafting leaked out in the villages, a group of men would come to me for introduction to the factory. Oh! if there were no such silly business, how happy we should be in our own homes!" He himself is no exception. He was a teacher in a primary school who subsequently became a trader, selling dry goods. Later he learned to cap teeth with gold, which is a fad among the village girls. While he was planning to start this business he could not remain in the village since he knew that his name was on the draft list and he did not want to go into the army. He came to Kunming but could not find any good job. By accident rather than plan he entered this factory as a semi-skilled worker. After three months he asked for leave of absence. He did not return when he had said he would, so was compelled to change his name and reenter the same factory as an unskilled worker. But this did not bother him very much as his main object was to stay out of the draft and any kind of factory work would serve that end. Subsequently, he became a species of intermediary between the villagers and the factory, thus helping his fellow natives to evade the draft. Similar cases can be described in a group of native workers

LOCAL WORKERS

41

from Yuenmow. One of them named Huang once sighed: "This world is really very trying. We leave our old people and our youngsters to be cared for by our wives. They have to do everything, even those who are not accustomed to work, and we ourselves are kept away and cannot help them at all. I wish for nothing except that the war may end soon and that we may go home." Another, named Chao, has thirty-five mow (about six acres) of land which is sufficient to afford him and his family a good living. He was drafted and he did not want to go, so he spent $300 (illegally) to get an impostor-substitute. He left his home and did not dare to return. A worker named Mo was the owner of a hat store in Kunming. When he had to shut down the shop he returned to his native place, Chengkong. He was within the draft age limit, so he left home and after going to many other places finally entered the Kunming factory. Once when I was going to Chengkong I asked him to accompany me, but he said: " M y name is still on the draft list and I don't want to make trouble for myself." So he refused the invitation. Another, named Li, whose family lives near Kunming and who has about 20 mow (about three acres) of land, used to transport fireworks to the city prior to entering in the factory. Afraid of being drafted, he came into the factory and since then he has had to employ a laborer to work on his farm. Still another worker, Chen, complained to me: " M y parents are very old now, and it is my duty to take care of them. That is our traditional duty. But how can I do it?" He was kept from home as he preferred to break with his traditional moral duty rather than run the risk of being drafted into the army.

42

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

Out of 45 cases, I have found that most are from landowning families. Quite a few of them were constantly asking for money from their homes because the wages they earned in the factory were insufficient to meet their expenses. I t is clear that the economic incentive does not play a dominant part in their choice of factory work. B u t where are the poorer farmers? W h y do they not come to the factory? It is not true that only the well-to-do are unwilling to join the army. I t is because the poorer farmers are attracted by other types of work. A t the time of which I speak, there was a great demand for rough laborers in the construction of railroads, and payment for this was high. Only those gentlemen farmers who were not used to heavy work chose factory jobs which they thought would be lighter and would carry higher social prestige. This accounts partly for the inefficiency of the local workers because the factory had selected men who had not been workers before leaving their villages. b. Economic Reasons The second largest group in Table V I I is described as those who entered industry for economic reasons. For example, the workers who had been policemen came to the factory because wages were better and living more comfortable than in the barracks. Another instance is a worker who came from Lufong. He had been a landless peasant and so entered the armed services while he was still a boy. During the war the cost of living increased and he found he could not live on a soldier's pay. Deserting from the army he entered the Kunming factory. All of these people came into the factory because they were attracted by higher wages in industry.

LOCAL WORKERS

43

There were also workers who came to the factory directly because of poverty. For example, one named Liu was an orphan and was brought up in his sister's family. As a child he was made to work in a mine. After years of heavy toil he escaped; he was penniless, since he received no wages while he worked in the mine. So he came to the Kunming factory. Another, named Ho, was the shabbiest in the whole group and always looked very unhappy. Before coming into the factory he had worked in a canned goods store; when this store shut down, he was unemployed for a long period. Another, called Liu, was the son of a schoolmaster in the village. His father died suddenly, leaving the family in poverty. He had a mother and a sister dependent upon him for support; he also entered the factory. This latter group, as compared with those who came to the factory for deferment, were more easily satisfied with living conditions and more willing to work. But since, as beginners, they were not able to command high wages or even enough to support their families, they were easily attracted by better paid occupations. They must thus be classified as less stable than the first group. c. Improvement of Social Status The next class is made up of those who have left their original occupations with the hope of improving their social position. I t is customary for a young man in China to leave his village for a period to enlist in the army or perhaps enter a government office. B y doing so, he hopes to form a connection with influential persons in the government from whom he may ask personal favors. Thus the young man acquires power

44

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

and prestige in his own community. This is a traditional way to improve social status. Since the defense industries are owned by the government and are administered by civil servants, the local workers start with the belief that the same prestige would attach to the factory as to any other government department. In this belief they are mistaken. This misunderstanding is strengthened as a result of government propaganda which emphasizes the importance of the industrial worker in the national war economy. However, the modern factories are not a part of the local political system. The managers have no influence over the local government and are not in a position to give personal favors to the employees or to assist them in their village affairs. So it is clear that being a factory worker will not give any power or prestige in the home community. It is interesting to note that the industrial workers have not yet acquired a recognized social standing in the rural community in spite of the government propaganda. There are two separate social ladders: one in the industrial organization and the other in the rural community. They are not yet linked together. Therefore it is not possible to improve one's social status in the rural community by securing a position in the industrial organization. In industrial organization, an unskilled worker is at the bottom of the social ladder. If opportunity for promotion were open, a worker might seek to improve his social status within the industrial organization. However, as I shall show later, promotion is difficult and uncertain. For a native worker, it is not easy to reach the skilled ranks. And for a skilled worker, it is nearly impossible to become an engineer or an executive.

LOCAL WORKERS

45

Consequently, the feeling of frustration is widely spread among the factory workers. As an example of this frustration, I may mention a native from Kaihwa. He was a graduate of a primary school in his home town and had been a clerk in his town government. Later on he became a clerk in a government office in Kunming. Still unsatisfied, he entered the factory. But he soon discovered that his present job did not promise him a better position and, when I saw him, he was preparing to enter a higher school. I have frequently seen this man after work burying himself in an elementary book of useful knowledge, which he believed to be helpful in taking the entrance examination of this school. d. Social Troubles Workers who left their original occupations on account of "social troubles" were either those who have incurred debt to others or those who have violated the general standard of conduct at home or in the clan. As an example of the first group we may quote a case of one man who entered the factory under the following circumstances. He had borrowed some capital and started to trade in sugar between his home town and Kunming. On the way to the latter place his driver sidetracked the horses carrying his sugar and escaped with all the goods. Fearing pressure from his creditors, the unfortunate merchant came to the factory to await the capture of the thief. A similar case may be quoted of a worker from Wuting. In 1938, he smuggled a lot of opium from Kweichow to Kun-

46

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

ming. On the way he became afraid of being caught, so threw the opium away and escaped. He could not go back since he had lost his property; so to avoid further risks entered the factory temporarily until such time as he could feel safe in returning to his home town. An example of the second group is an opium addict, who sold the major portion of his inherited large farm of about ioo mow (or 16 acres), and had to leave home because he was implicated in a murder. All his clan members and relatives disliked him, and the implication in a murder case added to their disgust. When his mother's brother assumed office as chief of the district he decided to arrest his nephew and make him pay for what he had done. So the nephew ran away to Kunming and sought a job in the factory. Judging from the motives of the local workers, the factory apparently had not made a sound beginning. The wrong sort of people, it would seem, had been recruited. How can work run smoothly with many unenthusiastic employees who have entered the factory only as a temporary refuge? Perhaps this is inevitable in the infantile stage of industrial development in an economically backward country. The local people have been conditioned by their traditional life. They are bound to the land by many ties, and are strongly attached to their native places. They have developed an attitude of unadventurous content. They are willing to accept a low standard of living at home rather than venture into a new field. What attractions do modern factories offer? Economic rewards? No — the factory wage is not high enough; for unskilled workers it is even lower than that of a farm hand. Social status? Again no — manual workers are despised according to prevail-

LOCAL WORKERS

ing traditional standards.

47

City life? Perhaps yes, but few

have any conception of a modern city before they enter it. Possibilities for a career? Again perhaps yes, but there is no convincing evidence in support. Lack of positive, and some negative inducements, such as deferment in drafting, protection for debtors and outcasts, and cheaper cost of living than in hotels — these more nearly describe the situation studied than ambition and opportunity. It is interesting to recall the situation in the West at the dawn of industrial development. In England it was the enclosure of common lands which was largely responsible for the creation of an urban proletariat. English factories reaped advantage from the disturbance in rural areas and secured sufficient cheap labor for development. The situation in Chinese coastal industrial centers was similar. The progressive deterioration of economic conditions in the villages drove large numbers of peasants into the cities. But the situation in interior China was different. During the first phase of inflation before the introduction of land taxation in kind, the burden of the tax was in fact decreased. The rapid rise in the price of rice brought higher actual income for the producers. The drainage of man-power into the army again stimulated a rise of wages in farming. For a time at least, there was a war boom in the remote country districts. Unless factories offered deferment or other advantage it was doubtful whether they could get an adequate labor supply. In the fall of 1940, the factory advertised an open examination for forty semi-skilled workers; only eight persons applied. Shortage of labor supply limits the capacity of any factory to select its workers. Nevertheless the factory can do much to aid in the creation of a

48

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

sound labor basis for the development of modern industry. For example, the existing system of recruitment can be reorganized and improved; better incentives also are sadly needed. We must admit, however, that any such attempt is, at present, seriously handicapped. The general social background of interior China and conditions imposed by the urgencies of war — these alike operate as limitations upon intelligent development.

CHAPTER IV

Attitudes and Efficiency

T

HE PRESENT

industrial incapacity of local workers should

not necessarily be a vital setback in the creation of a sound

labor base in the interior. If proper care and training are

provided, a man may develop his interest in his work and become efficient whatever may have been his original motive. Moreover Kunming factory, like most other factories in the interior, does not at present entirely depend on local workers. It has recruited from outside a number of men experienced on skilled jobs.

Selected local workers are given training;

they are assigned to work under skilled workers with the promise of promotion after a period if they acquire sufficient skill. If the nonlocal workers had been conscientious and had trained the local workers effectively, an efficient labor force in the factory could have been established reasonably quickly. Let us now turn to see how the men were working on their jobs. I . LOCAL WORKERS

I could not but be impressed by the passive and indifferent attitude of the local unskilled workers to their jobs. I have mentioned above an instance of a man who did not care whether he was put in the unskilled or semi-skilled rank, because his main purpose was to get deferment. 49

Quite a

50

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

number of the local unskilled workers are like him. They came to the factory without positive incentives and found nothing to attract them. They are placed at the bottom of the social hierarchy; they are looked upon as inferiors who can be replaced at any time; they have small hope of promotion. Their jobs are the carriage of loads from one place to another, sweeping floors or cleaning generally. They have no chance even to touch the machines. They live in a dormitory exclusively for unskilled workers which is much less well equipped than that for skilled. They eat in a separate mess hall; the food is usually poorer. Under these conditions, it is difficult for them to feel any hope for development in their new career. On the other hand, as they do not expect very much from the factory, they are easily satisfied. They are content with escape from the draft or persecution. Moreover, their jobs are not new to them; they have worked on similar odd jobs while they were on their farms or in their craft shops. Although they have entered a modern factory, there is no essential change in the nature of their work. Indeed their jobs are less monotonous than those of the machine workers in the shops. Perhaps this is why we do not often find dissatisfaction among the local unskilled workers. Among the local semi-skilled workers, however, the situation is different. Most of them are recruited into the factory through " examinations," a word which suggests to the Chinese mind an entering gate for promotion to higher positions. I know a case where a father sent his son into the factory because he thought he would be thus started in a career towards high officialdom and would become very rich. Overexpectation and undue enthusiasm are shared also by some of

ATTITUDES AND EFFICIENCY

51

the workers themselves. Several semi-skilled men who were previously employed as guards in a government bureau provide most illuminating cases in illustration. When these individuals saw the advertisement of the factory for semi-skilled workers they at once decided that it offered better prospects for advancement than did their old jobs. After some further inquiry they became even more excited. They learned that they would be promoted according to the quality of their work, which meant that they would sooner or later become skilled workers. They learned also that in this factory they would be given ample opportunity to work with machines, and would learn all the various processes involved in the manufacture of motors and other electrical supplies. They entered the factory in a group. After some time, not one of them was satisfied with his work. They were made to do various rough jobs, to carry machinery and material, to take care of a single nickel-plating machine, to handle a large hammer in the iron shop. Some had no fixed duty but to be at the service of a skilled worker and to run miscellaneous errands for him. When I arrived in the factory this group, after six months of training, had been promoted to the lowest rank of skilled worker but the nature of their jobs had not greatly changed. One man named Ho complained all the time. His job was to cut iron tubes or to assist a skilled worker to cut iron plates. Sometimes he carried the material from the storeroom to the shop. He was dissatisfied because he was not permitted to operate the machines. He was only allowed to touch the machine when cleaning it after use. He saw that his work would not help him towards the acquisition of skill even in a great length of time. Consequently he was no longer inter-

52

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

ested in remaining in the factory. Whenever I visited him in the shop he would stop work and tell me: " I have not the slightest interest in this work. They keep me on the same job from morning till night." The men doing finishing work and repairing rubber on wires felt that their work was monotonous and that it demanded little skill. All the machinery is run and repaired by engineers. Others are given only insignificant work to do. This convinced them that they were unlikely to learn anything about the machines. Once a worker from Kueichow asked me to arrange with the management a transfer from his present job since he did not believe that the mere repairing of wires could lead to promotion. I speedily discovered that the main cause of their feeling of frustration was that they had carried with them the traditional concept of skill. What they wanted to learn was the actual technique of manufacturing from the beginning to the end of the full process. They thought that when they had learned this whole process they could be independent manufacturers. In the traditional sense, skill implies secrecy. If they acquired this skill they felt their positions would be secure and that they would be indispensable. There is a saying among workers that skill makes them indispensable and assures them a permanent position. Jobs like cutting tubes and repairing the rubber covering of wires, which can be done by anyone, could not in any sense be considered skilled by these workers, because even if they learned such work thoroughly, they could not go to another factory and demand higher wages or set up businesses of their own. This traditional concept of skill does not fit into the modern conception of industry which emphasizes division of work and coordination.

ATTITUDES AND EFFICIENCY

S3

In traditional craft man is of primary importance and tools are secondary, but in modern industry machinery is the essential factor in manufacturing while workers merely tend the machines. This fundamental change in industry has not been understood by workers. Consequently their dissatisfaction cannot be taken as a merely personal matter; it results from the discrepancy between traditional and modern types of production. Further evidence of conflict between traditional and modern industry may be seen in the complaints expressed to me by a worker, formerly a basket weaver. He remarked that it was much better to work at his former craft. "When it was cold I could work beside a fire and when it was hot in the summer I could always find some shade under a tree. I could change my place as I liked. But now I have to stay in the same place all the time regardless of the weather." Men who had worked on the land found work in the factory too monotonous. They objected to the unvarying routine of the work. On the farm there are periods which demand heavy work but there are also slack periods, and each period differs in the type of work to be performed. Farmers can arrange their own schedule. They are responsible for their own farms and there is no interference from other people. Habits formed in their village life prevent these farmers from accepting wholeheartedly the new work of the factory. They still look back regretfully to their "good old days." If we examine closely the dissatisfaction among workers who are new hands in the factory, another aspect of the conflict between traditional social and modern industrial organization becomes clear. Each worker had his social position in the com-

54

CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

munity where he had lived ; and this in some degree persists. The role he played in his community has given him certain social attitudes and beliefs. When he enters the factory, he is assigned a new role in a new organization which implies a wholly different status in the new social hierarchy. Having enjoyed a higher status in his own community, he is definitely unhappy in a lower one in the factory. This explains the dissatisfaction of those who come from the middle class of the traditional community. For instance, a worker named Hsu was a graduate of a high school and had worked as a clerk in a district government. In the eyes of his fellow countrymen, he belongs to the "long-gown class" (this means high social prestige). In the factory he was assigned work among unskilled manual workers on odd jobs. He dislikes the implication that he is a common "native small worker." He frequently explained to me that he was assigned to his present position because he did not get a good introduction to the factory. His work uniform is neat and his hair is oiled which makes his appearance outstanding among his poorly dressed barefooted fellow workers. It is my belief that he was actually eligible for promotion to a higher grade; in failing to give this, management missed an opportunity. His fellow workers were less educated and less intelligent than he. This man, being dissatisfied, became lazy, and his general resentment about management's attitude finally influenced the morale of his fellow workers. On the other hand, those who had lower social status, such as policemen, farmers, and mine workers, appeared to be better adjusted to their jobs; they did not complain much. For instance, a Szechwan man named Wang worked on odd jobs

ATTITUDES AND EFFICIENCY

55

in Shop C. I usually saw him polishing the machine and carrying generators to the storeroom quite cheerfully. His fellow worker, who peddled brushes before coming to the factory, worked hard and did not complain. If ever I asked him about his job, his invariable answer was: "Quite all right." Hsu, who was a policeman, works on an air pump and I was impressed by his smiling face. According to the other workers, he is too honest to complain of the hard work and the dullness of his job. There are many workers of this kind. This shows that if management assigned workers to jobs in keeping with their social background, better adjustments would be made. 2. NONLOCAL WORKERS

The nonlocal skilled worker's attitude and manner of work are somewhat different but present no less of a problem. He does not intend to go home after a brief stay in the factory; nor usually does he want to change to another occupation. He has a larger stake in his work than the unskilled villager. But just because of this, he likes to " show off " ; he shows little desire to improve his technique. Not only does he resist advice or demonstration of new and shorter methods of work, but he positively insists on recognition of his superiority by other workers. The special value attached to skill is well illustrated by the following incident. I happened to watch a fight between two skilled workers. Upon inquiry I found that the reason for the fight was very old and ran deep. Weeks ago the two had examined a revolver together in the presence of others. Both had claimed full knowledge of the weapon, but one of them really knew very little about it. The other worker detected

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CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

this and exposed his rival's ignorance then and there. This little incident had sown the seed of an antagonism which was to find expression weeks later. This is by no means a unique case. In the eyes of the skilled workers who have come from outside, the most important thing is superiority of skill. This is shown by their criticisms of each other. Industry and output are never the points of discussion. This means that each skilled worker is mainly interested in playing to the gallery with himself as the soloist, and is little concerned with the work and well-being of the team as a whole. This obviously is contrary to the basic principle of modern industry. We see even more clearly the seriousness of this situation when we realize that these skilled men have not had their training and experience in the same place and therefore possess varied standards of technique and varied views concerning technique. With most of them insisting on their individual superiority and their own ways of work, the difficulty of supervising their work is very great indeed. I am not prepared to say that the individual views of the skilled workers in these various matters are always wrong. Nor am I prepared to conclude that the desire for showing off technical superiority on the part of individual men is always to be discouraged. Some incidents have led me to see that the factory's higher technical supervisors (e.g. engineers) are often much too stubborn in asserting the superiority of their views over those of the skilled workers. And not infrequently the result proved the engineers to have been wrong. It is obvious that the consequences of such an attitude on the morale of the skilled men in question are adverse to the interest of industry.

ATTITUDES AND EFFICIENCY

57

Worker #57 once commented on the matter. He said: "These engineers come from schools and have only bookish knowledge. If we make any suggestions for improvement they feel we are mere laborers and our suggestions are ignored. Later on, even though we have good ideas we don't like to mention them. The engineers can afford to make mistakes as the expense is borne by the government and not by themselves. When we worked in privately owned factories, engineers liked to have our suggestions and sometimes tried them out. We felt proud. The engineers in private factories understood our psychology." At a time when three workers were leaving the factory, a friend of theirs, #55, expressed disgust with the factory to me. "Working in this factory is very unpleasant. We as workers are not permitted to express our thoughts. We receive blueprints from the engineers and we sometimes discover errors or that the work can be done better but they will not give us a hearing. Later if it develops that the finished product is wrong, they make us remake it. This is not only a waste of our time and energy, it actually hurts us. Those who see us dismantling the article do not know that the error was not ours. They laugh at us. That is why we want to leave." In view of the high importance they attach to their own skill the embarrassment of these skilled workers in such a situation is understandable. One evening I met the three men who had left the factory in a small restaurant outside and we began to talk about one of the supervisors. One of them, speaking with great feeling, burst out: "That good-for-nothing supervisor has done me a dirty trick." He related that he had been assigned by this

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supervisor to tighten several screws in a given way. He could not do it and used Ms own method which worked very well. However, the supervisor did not give him credit for this and reported to his own superior that it was his idea. Although we do not really know the degree of truth in a story like this we can nevertheless see how strong was the reaction against this supervisor. A worker standing by us concluded: "These supervisors are conceited. They put too much faith in Western methods; we learned our skill in Shanghai factories, and we can't get on with the supervisors here." Another common complaint among the skilled workers is the lack of personal and intimate consideration on the part of supervisors. One man named Li told me : "This supervisor did not really care whether I worked fast and well, but whenever he came through the shop he always gave the same order: 'Work faster! Be quicker!' He feels himself important and superior. He considers us too low even to speak with him, so he usually gives orders by a simple movement of his hand." One of the old-timers summarized the psychology of his fellow workers as follows: " I f the workers are given consideration and attention and complimented on their work by a supervisor, they will do anything. Reprimands and punishment do not help at all. For instance, when a rush order is received by the factory if the supervisor simply commands the workers to get the work out quickly, they are not keen to carry out the order. But if the supervisor explains the situation to them in a friendly manner, and pats them on the back saying: Ί know this is a hard job but I can only rely on you and ask your help' ; if he does this, they will be aroused to keen effort to complete the job on time." This worker also said that a

ATTITUDES AND EFFICIENCY

59

good supervisor should understand the personal feelings of the worker. "For instance," he said: "A worker may have slept badly the previous night and next day may doze while on the job. If the supervisor roughly shakes him awake, he resents it. If he is in a bad temper, he will retaliate. If the supervisor awakens him gently and asks if he is ill, his response will be the reverse. He will feel that he is in the wrong and will work diligently." From these conversations, we can see that even the skilled workers who have had experience in factory production in small plants in Shanghai are not free from the influence of the traditional emphasis on independent craftsmanship. In the large-scale production of modern industry, where standardization has been so much over-emphasized, personal initiative and personal relationship still demand, but do not receive, their proper place. The Kunming factory, although it may appear small as compared with those of the Western World, is organized on the principles of large-scale production. Indeed, one of its three shops manufacturing telephones is a direct copy in miniature of a well-known telephone factory in Germany. It is doubtful whether the diminution of personal initiative and individual responsibility in modern industry is necessary or desirable. At present, however, this is not our concern. The point to be emphasized here is that workers who are accustomed to the traditional craftsmanship cannot help reacting against the new system. If the conflict of traditional craftsmanship with modern industrialism were only of academic interest, we could leave it aside with other theoretical discussions. Unfortunately, it has practical and unpleasant results, which are expressed not only in complaints among the workers,

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but more concretely in the lack of efficiency in the workshop and the low morale of the factory in general. Let us now turn to the problem of working efficiency. 3. WORKING EFFICIENCY

In studying the problem of working efficiency, I tried to get the cards recording the length of time each individual had worked in the factory. These records however were not complete, because first, the workshops could not operate regularly owing to occasional lack of raw materials; second, there were frequent interruptions during air raids; and third, workers were frequently transferred from one job to another. The record cards did not help us much. In the following discussion, I cannot therefore present exact figures representing actual efficiency expressed in the amount of work done within a given time. I can only present information gained from workers and executives. The opinion that workers, generally speaking, are not efficient is held both by management and workers. The chief reason that led managers to welcome our investigation was that they are anxious to improve the working efficiency. According to an estimate given by a manager of one of the shops, the addition of three hours of work in the evening does no more than make up what should be the normal work of a nine hour day. Once I saw a letter written by a worker to his friend in Shanghai. In it he said the work in this factory is very easy. "Our work in one day amounts to about one-third of what we formerly did in Shanghai factories." Since no one that I asked disputed the fact that the workers should do

ATTITUDES AND EFFICIENCY

6l

better, it seems that the inefficiency of workers is a well recognized fact. The workers feel no shame for their inefficiency. Once I met #28 in a tearoom just after he had had an argument with his supervisor. He had been drinking and spoke loudly. He said, " T o be honest, I don't like this place. I don't care what they think. I take two hours to do what I can do in an hour. I delight in annoying the supervisor by asking him to tighten and un tighten the screw." He laughed and imitated the supervisor fixing the screws with his two fingers. Inefficiency seems to be contagious, as a supervisor once told me. This is confirmed by a local worker named Wang who told me an interesting experience. He said: "The Shanghai men laugh at us because we don't know how to work or how to be lazy. The supervisors generally catch us if we are not working. The old hands tell us to keep the hammer in our hand and do anything we like, but to keep an eye on the entrance. If the supervisor appears, we can pretend to work without picking up the hammer. The supervisor cannot remain in the shop all the time, so we can amuse ourselves freely." When the morale among the workers is generally bad, even those who like to work efficiently must do so against opposition and difficulty. One from Hongkong named Hua told me: "If ten men are working together, and seven of them don't like to work and the other three work seriously, the seven will send one of their number to say to the three 'What good does it do to show the factory you are good workers?' " This underhand method was effective because workers live together and no one likes to hurt the feelings of his fellow workers. Un-

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popularity among fellow workers is a serious thing and may even bring violent consequences. During a strike, some men went to work. A few days later they were all beaten by other workers on one or other trumped-up excuse. It is not true that all workers are unwilling to work. I know that there are good workers in the factory. The man who came from Batavia is one of them. It must also be recognized that Kunming factory is one of the best in interior China. The fact that it has kept up its regular production speaks for itself. But if we compare it with the factories in Shanghai in the prewar period, we must admit that the general circumstances of the war have brought about a lower working efficiency.

CHAPTER V

Wage I have traced the social background of the workers and described their attitudes to their jobs. From these pages, the reader will certainly derive an impression of the difficulties that attend the development of modern industry in interior China during wartime. These difficulties, although they have been definitely aggravated by social conditions due to the war, arise mainly from the rapid change in China's economy. Few in China have any doubt of the general assumption that China will perish if she lags behind the modern age. Nevertheless, her tradition is still strong; human habits cannot be cast aside in a fortnight. Such a tradition takes generations to build up and will also take generations to reform. The whole-hearted change to modern industrialism, for good or for bad, is a recent phenomenon in China. I should hesitate to place it further back than a decade. Except for a few treaty ports, China has been essentially a rural community. The ideology of the millions has been created and maintained by the essential cultural reality. When China began to be aware that industrial backwardness was dangerous, the Western World had already gone far in industrial development. There seems to be no alternative but that of a quick readaptation. Western ideas and practices are adopted in China and are taken as a blueprint for immediate use. A historian of the future may be surprised by what

I

N THE PREVIOUS CHAPTERS,

63

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CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

may then seem to have been the speed and success of change, but those who live in the present may justly feel impatient with what seems too slow a rate of change, and the strong resistance of tradition. As I write these pages, I am fully conscious of my own impatience in this respect. However, there is a Chinese saying, "The more you press for speed, the more slowly will you move." In the last chapter, a clear picture developed of an attempt to run a factory in the manner of up-to-date, large-scale enterprise. But the more consistently the executives tried to follow the blueprint, the less efficient the worker became. The further we inquire into the relation between management and the worker, the clearer will the picture become. On the one hand, we shall see that management tries to improve working conditions by offering higher economic rewards, by providing dormitories, mess halls, medical service and other accommodations for the worker, and we shall see, on the other hand, that the workers ignore these manifestations of the management's good-will and their dissatisfaction apparently intensifies. This of course should not be taken as a criticism of the general labor policy of the factory. I firmly believe in the value of all these well-intended policies. I only wish to point out here that if the situation be broadly viewed it will be found that the difficulties do not lie in any personal defects of the parties concerned but in the general process of the readaptation of a culture. No other point of view can make the diversity of individual reactions in the situation intelligible. The following chapters will relate us more closely to the life of the workers in the factory. What does the factory offer them? The first item is wages.

WAGE I.

65

WAGE-SCALE

Workers are divided into three classes : skilled, semi-skilled, and unskilled, but these do not accurately represent a wage equivalent. The semi-skilled worker is a trainee for the first six months and receives a definite wage of twenty dollars a month. The skilled and unskilled are paid on an hourly basis. There is no uniform rate in either class. The factory decides the rate for each individual worker and raises it from time to time. The variation in each class is high. In July, 1940, the lowest wage of an unskilled worker was 8.5 cents per hour and the highest 19 cents; for a skilled worker the lowest was 23 cents and the highest 40 cents per hour. This variation gives a wide margin for individual bargaining. Table V I I I gives the hourly rates of wages. TABLE

Vni

W A G E R A T E PEE H O T O

Year

1940

1939

Month

June Aug. Jan.

Feb. Mar. April M a y June July

Skilled Workers

Maximum Minimum Average

.210 .130 .190

.276 .140 .230

•340 .190 .280

.360 .220 .290

.360 .260 .300

•39° .260 .320

.410 .260 .320

.410 .200 .310

.410 .230 .320

Unskilled Workers

Maximum Minimum Average

.090 .065 .078

.120 .085 .110

•130 .065 .120

• I4S .085 .120

.160 .085 .120

.160 .085 .110

.190 .085 .130

.190 .085 .120

.190 .085 .140

The personnel office of the factory is responsible for determining the rate for each worker. But at the time when workers were recruited from outside, bargaining took place at the office of the agency. The agency was naturally anxious to secure workers and inclined to meet their demands as far

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as possible. Owing to difficulties of communication, they had to exercise considerable discretion. Sometimes they promised a rate too high to be accepted by the personnel office. When the worker arrived at the factory the personnel office had to revise his rate. This caused dissatisfaction and grumbling among the workers. For instance, a number of workers recruited in Chungking had been promised a high wage by the agent. When they arrived they were informed that they could not be paid that rate since it was above the factory scale. The workers said they had been tricked, but accepted the reduced rate. Sometime later about ten skilled workers were "dug o u t " of another factory; they received a rate of 40 cents an hour. The Chungking group were then receiving only 39 cents per hour. They strongly objected to this inequality and some of them left the factory. Shortage of labor has made it difficult for the factory to have any strict standard of wage determination. Questions of raising wages lead to similar difficulties. It would be far better if the factory had some definite system of promotion — if, for example, length of service, seniority, and merit were the clearly stated bases. This factory has no such established system in practice. On every payday some one always requests an increase; if the request is accepted, other workers also demand an increase. Should these others be refused, they at once become dissatisfied. If management does not refuse flatly but merely postpones the issue, workers feel that management is not making good its promises. Such a situation once became quite serious; it followed an announcement by the chief manager requesting workers to refrain from asking others the amount of their wage. This announcement

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did not help the situation; it merely indicated the embarrassment and incapacity of management to devise a clearly understandable system. It is true that each promotion is supported by a reason from the management's viewpoint but this reason is not explained and not necessarily accepted by the workers. Indeed, it is frequently misinterpreted as an instance of inequality and favoritism. For example, the case, mentioned in Chapter I above, of the promotion of a newly-arrived unskilled worker to skilled rank within a short period of time. This was taken by other workers as evidence of favoritism. They added significantly that during an air raid this particular worker had taken care of the child of an executive officer. Similarly, another case was explained by the fact that promotion was a reward of personal service to the officer who recommended his promotion. The difficulty in enforcing a standardized wage-scale and a system of promotion lies deep in the traditional psychology of bargaining. In Yunnan, villagers buy most of their daily necessities from local markets where thousands of buyers gather at the same spot on a fixed date. In the market very few articles have a fixed price. Buyers constantly compare with each other the actual amount they pay. Great satisfaction will be derived from paying one cent less than another has paid. The superiority in ability of bargaining is the chief concern. The same is true in the hiring centers for farm laborers. In Yunnan, during the busy seasons of farming, hundreds of laborers gather at the same spot in the morning and wait to be hired. The employers pick up those they want and fix the wage through bargaining, which takes place in the

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presence of other laborers. A strong good man will be hired first and get a higher wage. Competition is keen. The higher the wage the higher the prestige. The psychology of bargaining formed in the rural community has carried over to the present factory. Instead of asking a guarantee of a fixed wage scale by collective bargaining, the workers try to outwit their fellows by getting an individual special rate. We have seen that the difference of one cent in hourly rate between the Chungking group and the newcomers was taken by the former as a hurt to their prestige. Some of them even quit their job on that account. Wage means much more to the earners than simple economic gain. It is a token of social prestige. 2.

PAYROLL

The payroll is prepared semi-monthly. The first payroll covers the period from the first to the fifteenth day. Before September 1940, however, wages were not actually paid until the eighteenth day as it took the intervening three days to prepare the payroll. The second pay period is from the sixteenth to the first; the wages were paid on the third of the following month. Payrolls are prepared from shop reports indicating the number of normal and the number of additional hours worked by each worker. Deductions are made for absences where necessary. Since the factory does not have a uniform wage scale, it takes a considerable time to complete the payroll. And as the number of workers increased, the payroll office often found it difficult to complete its computation within three days. In September 1940, it became necessary for this office to extend the time for computing the payroll for another three days, thus making it six days for completion.

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Because of the antagonism existing between office workers and factory workers, the latter take this change as evidence of management's partiality towards office workers at the expense of those in the factory. Some of them told me that the traditional system is better and that the new system of bookkeeping only complicates matters. There had been no delay in wage payment in Shanghai factories that used the old system, a fixed monthly wage. During an air raid, the payroll office was partially destroyed and on the following payday, officers were unable to follow the usual procedure of delivering the wage in an envelope on which were specified the number of working hours and other items. That evening I again heard much antagonistic criticism of management expressed by the workers. They suspected that the payroll office had taken advantage of the raid to make further deductions from their wages. This rumor forced the management to make a public announcement to assure workers that no advantage had been taken of them. But this did not end the emotional disturbance. I heard one say, "If I had pistols, I would kill them all." The system of paying wages on an hourly basis is new not only to the local but also to nonlocal workers. They are accustomed to receiving a fixed amount irrespective of the amount of time they have spent in the workshop. The new system is further complicated by reductions, bonuses and reimbursements for advance payments (explanation of these items will be given in next section). As a result, the workers never know exactly how much they will receive on each payday. When it happens to be less than they expected, they are greatly worried. I saw a group of young apprentices weeping

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CHINA ENTERS THE MACHINE AGE

together on a payday because each had received an envelope practically empty. The envelope indicated that the cost of a pair of rubber shoes, purchased on credit, had been deducted; but this was no comfort to the apprentices. The usual response of workers to such complications is to suspect errors in calculation or corrupt practices among the office workers. Some of them simply grumble, but others demand explanation from the office. But there is no one office that exists to give workers a full and satisfactory explanation. The various offices concerned are all dependent, in some degree, on information elsewhere derived. If some error demanded legitimate redress, it would be a long process to find its source. Since workers have no understanding of factory organization, they become dissatisfied with the management as a whole. 3.

NOMINAL WAGE AND ACTUAL INCOME

In discussing the problem of wage, nominal and real wage are usually differentiated. The nominal wage refers to the amount of money received by the workers during a period. The real wage is the purchasing power of the money paid to workers. In this study, we must make further distinctions in nominal wages: (1) the normal wage, (2) the possible earning, (3) the actual income, and (4) the cash received. In this factory each worker has his own rate fixed on an hourly basis. A normal working day is nine hours, six days a week. His normal weekly wage will be fifty-four hours multiplied by the hourly rate. Workers are encouraged to do additional work at overtime rates. If, for example, they work three additional hours every other day, they will be paid at the overtime rate of four and one-half hours for the three hours actually

WAGE

71

worked. They could work on alternate Sundays and for this one day's work they would receive pay for two days. Bonuses are given to encourage efficiency. If a worker has not been absent during an entire month, he receives two additional days' pay. The normal wage, plus all these additions, is the maximum a worker can earn. But few really get the possible earning; one common reason for this is absences, also the fact that they do additional work irregularly. On the other hand, there are deductions for lateness, early leaving, and absence with permission; there is no pay for such periods recorded on the time card. Absences without permission are fined double. The actual income of a worker is determined by additions and deductions which vary in each case. The actual money received on each payday may be different from his theoretical actual income. Having in mind the financial needs of workers, the factory adopted an arrangement for loans. I have mentioned that nonlocal workers are entitled to get a loan from the factory before they start their journey. Any worker with sufficient reason can also apply for a loan while working in the factory. These loans will be repaid in installments by deductions made from their wage on each payroll. The factory has also arranged to help workers in the purchase of daily necessaries; the factory buys in quantity at a low price and distributes to workers on credit. Workers are expected to repay the amount on paydays. So the amount of cash they receive varies again according to the extent to which they have to reimburse the factory. In Tables IX and X we have listed four types of wage (in terms of maximum, minimum, and average) of the skilled and unskilled workers. Each type of wage is important for the

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CHINA ENTEES THE MACHINE AGE

discussion of different problems. The main subjects of labor legislation are the normal wage, rates for overtime and fines. In considering the living conditions of the workers, we are mainly interested in his actual earning for a short term; the amount of money actually received in a particular period is the most important consideration in this study. In Tables IX and X it will be noted that most of the workers' actual income is nearer to the normal wage than to the possible earning. This means that after the workers have worked additional hours their wage approximates the normal wage which does not include additional hours. This confirms the statement made by management, quoted in Chapter TV, in connection with our discussion on labor efficiency. Although the workers may work three additional hours, totalling twelve hours a day, they normally only accomplish nine hours' work. The real purpose of introducing the additional work is not so much to speed up production, but is first, as the management explained to me, to keep workers out of trouble by occupying their time in the evenings; second, owing to the rapid progress of inflation, the real wage of the workers is decreasing; by giving them additional work, they receive more money. The effect, however, is to lessen the workers' interest in efficiency. Some told me that work which could have been accomplished during the day is postponed until the evening hours. The twelve-hour day decreases the efficiency of the three additional hours as well as that of the whole day's work. This method of making up workers' earnings seems undesirable both from the point of view of the factory and of the worker.

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