24 City Page #5

But by 1984 or 1985, the war was over.

Armaments manufacture fell on hard times.

I found no one.

Those were hard years for the factory.

Later on, the plant moved over

to civilian products.

Double Swallow brand fridges

and washing machines.

Suddenly we needed sales people.

As I was from Shanghai,

they made me a saleswoman there.

I drank with clients every day.

It ruined my stomach.

And I wasn't making money for myself.

So I took unpaid leave

and started my own company.

I did some business,

but I didn't get very far.

I was a wholesaler of Tianfu peanuts.

I found it quite tough

so I moved back to Chengdu.

By 1989, when I got back here,

my sisters already had kids in school.

So I thought I might as well marry

a Chengdu man.

Well...

I was in my thirties by then.

I was only introduced to divorced men.

The thought of being a step-mother

made me uncomfortable.

So I passed on all of them.

I was introduced to another one recently.

Good in all respects. He's a boss.

But after we'd met a couple of times,

he told me something.

He'd been a mason when he was young.

He'd passed our factory gate,

pulling trolley-loads of stones.

He'd seen me often and knew

I was the flower of the factory.

He liked me a lot.

But he was poor then.

And the factory had a high reputation.

So he felt that I was beyond his reach.

But he promised himself

he'd come to me when he got rich.

Hearing all this made very uncomfortable.

Maybe I'm no longer

a "standard component",

but I'm not a "reject" either.

I have my own standards.

I thought it over and ended it.

Now I'm single,

I live a happy life.

Some of my workmates who married

are now divorced.

They live alone, just as I do.

We go out to sing karaoke,

we play mahjong. It's fun.

Gu Minhua, born 1958 in Shanghai

Worked as quality inspector at Factory 420

Film "Little Flower", 1978

A girl is looking for her beloved

She is sad, tears in her eyes

She cannot see him

Sadness grips her heart

Sadness grips her heart

Why do you blame me

for being thus afflicted?

Half of me cherishes the spring

The other half despises it

Dream of the Red Chamber

Poem - The burial of flowers

Young lady!

-What's your name?

-Yang Mengyue.

-ln school?

-Third grade.

Anyone in your family in Factory 420?

That one? Yes. My Pa and Ma work there.

-Ever been there yourself?

-No.

China Resources Land Ltd: 24 City

The land area of Chengdu City

is still expanding.

The center of the city was

no longer suitable for a factory.

CR Land Ltd is spending

Soon a modern, living community,

named 24 City

will arise on this site.

Factory 420 will use the money

to modernize its technology.

Its aeronautics technology

will not become obsolete...

Zhao Gang

These white bits

are for housing developments.

The gray bits are for commercial use.

And in the south-west corner,

these red bits

are the buildings

from the old factory that we'll retain,

Iike the old mill buildings

and the watchtower.

Why is it called 24 City?

It comes from an old poem:

"The cherished hibiscus

"of 24 city in full bloom

Chengdu shone and prospered"

We have other models.

-Will you follow me?

-Thank you.

Over here.

Zhao Gang, born 1974

News round-up presenter on Chengdu TV

I was a student

in the College of Technology.

Our teacher introduced us and gave us

the rail tickets from Chengdu to Jilin.

We'd never been on a train.

We were told to give the tickets

to our parents.

They were scared we'd lose them.

It was the kind of ticket

they had in the 1980s,

a through ticket,

all the way from Chengdu to Jilin.

I looked at it and was amazed to see

one station en route was Beijing.

I'd never been to Beijing,

I was really surprised.

It meant I was going a lot further

than 20 miles.

I was really leaving Chengdu.

We were in a state of excitement

all the way to Jilin.

The semester began on 1 September.

I looked forward to it.

It snows in Jilin, right?

First time in the north-east.

Everything was exciting.

I spent that semester

Iearning new things non-stop like

one who'd never left the family.

Everything was great.

I compared my life in Chengdu

with life in Jilin.

Compared with Factory 420,

the environment I grew up in,

this was very different.

Chi Chin's song The Outside World

expresses my feelings.

-Had it come out then?

-ln 1990, I think.

It was so great. Just great.

After the first semester,

my thinking changed a lot.

The first half-semester

was all theory, heat treatment

of metals, engine building...

In the second half-semester, three months,

I did an apprenticeship

and had to put on work clothes.

My whole attitude changed.

As a kid, I'd watched my father

put on his uniform.

At the time,

only policemen and soldiers wore uniforms.

I was always impressed

when I saw people in uniforms.

It meant high social status.

So I liked factory uniforms.

But when I put on the work clothes

the teacher gave me,

I didn't feel any different.

Took my lunch-box,

with a spoon rattling inside

and went to the factory.

Once there, things changed.

Your status was different.

You'd been a student.

You'd seen workers, right?

Now you were wearing work clothes.

It was not the same.

I remember one episode

that really affected me.

Another boy from Chengdu and l

were apprentices to a north-easterner.

He taught us metal polishing

with a big stone wheel.

He gave us a basketful of parts

straight off the production line.

Our job, he told us,

was to smooth away the rough edges

of these component parts.

I'm quite a sensitive guy.

I did 10 or 20.

I guess I thought it was quite interesting.

I focused on the technical skills.

But when you've done 50 or 100 of them,

something snaps in your mind.

You get exhausted, really exhausted.

I was covered in sweat.

In his north-eastern dialect,

the old worker said something

I can't forget to this day: "No need to worry.

"lf you can't finish this morning,

you can go on in the afternoon.

"This basketful is for the two of you.

"lf you don't finish today,

there's always tomorrow."

That really got to me.

I was so bored.

The component parts bored me rigid.

I got through 100 of them

and there were many more.

But he said that would be my job

from then on.

It was no fun anymore.

So I told him I was quitting.

I wanted to be a student again.

I said:
"I'm a 16-year-old student.

"l don't want a uniform anymore."

My parents were against it,

jobs were scarce.

But I did quit. I left without my luggage.

Zhao Gang and his father

Long, long ago

I belonged to you

You belonged to me

Long, long ago

You left me

Flying high in the sky

The world outside is wonderful

Li Xuemei, 2003

Exam Registration Paper 10100010532

Arise!

Ye prisoners of starvation

Arise!

Ye toilers of the earth

For reason thunders new creation

'Tis a better world in birth...

Things we have thought and done

Must ramble and thin out

Like milk spilt upon a stone

W. B. Yeats

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