Original subtitles

"Welcoming the sun of the new century..."

"...we workers at Chengfa raise our voices"

CHENGFA GROUP

"The five-star red flag flutters in the wind"

"How glorious our song of victory!"

"Singing for our beloved motherland..."

"...as she prospers and grows strong!"

CEREMONY FOR TRANSFER OF LAND FROM

CHENGFA GROUP TO CHlNA RESOURCES LAND LTD

Ladies and gentlemen, distinguished guests...

Good morning, everyone

Today, 29 December 2007...

...will mark...

...a new and glorious chapter...

... in the development of the Chengfa Group

For nearly 50 years we have grappled...

...with difficulties and setbacks

and the challenging breakthroughs of economic reform

Now a revitalized Chengfa Group...

... is about to move from the site...

...that it has occupied for 50 years

"The cherished hibiscus of 24 City, in full bloom" - Tang Dynasty poem

Chengdu City

HE XlKUN

Back then, we just thought of '420' as a large factory

But I knew that it did work for the military

It made aircraft, and aero engines

We came in as fitters, our job was to repair...

...all the machinery and equipment in '420'

We were solely responsible for repairs

We did regular maintenance...

...and repairs when necessary

Back then,

he was in charge of Fitter Group 4

Back then...

There's one thing I remember

I'd just arrived

I had no idea...

...that the fitters basically had to make their own tools

By ourselves

One thing we used was called a 'scraper'

It was a kind of blade, shaped like this

And we had to make them ourselves

We cut the metal...

...and then honed the edge

Finished...

... it was about this long

Then, as it got worn down, we re-honed it

When it became this short, it couldn't be used any more

But he kept on using them regardless

When the thing was really worn out, he hung it from his belt

You had to hone the edge...

...very, very slowly

Even when it was all worn away...

... useless...

... he kept on using it

There was one time...

One scraper was worn right down, I couldn't use it, so I threw it away

Then Master Wang said...

"Xiao He..."

"You know..."

"...that this small thing..."

"... has come into our hands..."

"...through the hands of many others"

"lt can still be used"

So he picked up the one I'd thrown away

He re-honed it and used it again

I was so impressed

I felt it keenly

We were too immature

We had to learn not to be wasteful

Master Wang knew well...

"Waste not, want not"

That's correct, and I learned it from him.

He knew how many hands our tools had passed through

How hard-won they were

I feel guilty when I speak about Master Wang

I've been so busy for years now...

...that I haven't visited him

He Xikun, born 1 949 in Chengdu.

Apprenticed in 1 964 in the Fourth Fitter Group of Workshop 61...

in Factory "420". Later joined the army.

"He Xikun, male, aged 30,

work card # 0771 8968"

During the Cultural Revolution years...

...there were some very violent clashes

Most of the factories and mines stopped work

But he...

...carried on working

Hardly anyone else went in to the factory

Talking about this makes me feel a bit sad

It's hard to talk about this

I would have died if you hadn't come

She's hidden everything!

Hid what? Nothing!

What was there to hide?

Mother said the knife was hidden

She hid it all

Even my belt

They took three X-rays

After a long wait

This hospital is hopeless

They suggested we move to the provincial hospital

Give it to him.

- Were the X-rays computer-enhanced? - Yes.

So the images are clear?

Should be

It cannot be this afternoon, in the afternoon it...

What have you got to say?

What have you got to say?

You?

What have you got to say?

Seeing you makes me a bit nervous

Nervous?

Are you happy?

Happy to see me?

Of course I'm happy

It's been so long

Too bad...

I wouldn't have known you if we passed on the street

I wouldn't have

Have I changed?

You look thinner than before

I looked like this back then

Seeing you...

Greeting you...

But I forget

My brain's rusty

Too slow!

It was okay before

I used to remember things well

But not now

You did a lot for the factory.

Back then...

When I started working there... I used to worry

I came here in 1 959

If I ever took a day off, I'd work nights to make up the time

Overtime

I even worked through New Year and at weekends

Every single day

We were under pressure back then

Always the threat of war

Right

ALWAYS FOLLOW THE PATH OF DEVELOPMENT CORRECTLY

SECRETARY GUAN

Guan Fengjiu, born 1935 in Haicheng, Liaoning Province.

Appointed head of security in Factory "420".

At the time he retired, he was deputy secretary of the Communist Party Committee.

We were implementing Chairman Mao's strategy

Moving military factories to inland areas

Sheltered by the mountains here

Originally, the armaments factories,

the aeronautics places were all in the north-east

During the Korean War, that was the front line in the action against the Yanks

In line with the new strategy...

...we built factories in the south-west

We picked this place

We were under contract to Factory '1 1 1 ' in Shenyang, in the north-east

We repaired aircraft engines there

MlG-1 5s, during the Korean War

They were used in the attacks on the Yanks,

by the Chinese and North Korean air forces

We were fighting American lmperialism

So Factory '1 1 1 ' built Factory '420'

It was Factory '1 1 1 '

On 3 November, the General Assembly was mobilized

That was when our factory was charged with building '420' in Chengdu

We needed 60% of the staff

That is, 60% of Factory '1 1 1 ' staff...

We all had to move down here Over a period

A certain amount of the equipment from '1 1 1 ' was moved here

And the people to run it

Various specialists, technical staff, cadres

Mobilized after 3 November

I transferred here in December

I was in charge of the Security Section

I was one of the first to arrive

At that time, there were more than four thousand workers

Hou Lijun

After Mum came here...

...every year I thought of visiting home

I wanted to see my grandparents

My Mum's father and mother

She wanted to visit them too Always thought about it

Year on year...

But then...job, family, kids...

Not to mention...

The cost of it

We always wanted to visit home, but couldn't afford to

The bottom line

After coming here in 1 958...

... I have been back

When did we first go back to Shenyang?

It was in 1 972

Nothing had changed...

...since 1 958

In 14 years!

I was 18 or 19 by then

I'd finished middle school

Yes, I'd left middle school...

... by the time I first went back to Shenyang with Mum

The first time back in Shenyang

Do you remember Shenyang at that time?

Sure I do

I remember it vividly

Vividly

What was it like?

Well, it was...

Coming home like that...

It was 14 years since Mum had left

Her first trip home

As soon as we got there,

my Grandma and her husband broke down in tears

They really cried

One time in 14 years

I was still too young to really understand

I didn't appreciate...

...why they felt so strongly

I don't understand...

what they felt

Hou Lijun, born 1 953 in Shenyang.

Worked as repairman in Workshop 63 in Factory "420"

And when we were about to leave, they all said...

"You've come back only once in 14 years

We must see you off at the railway station"

"lf you stay away this long again,

we'll be more than 70 years old next time"

"Will there be another chance to meet?

This might be the last time"

Then I understood...

...why my Grandpa cried like that

When the train started moving,

Grandpa broke down...

in tears again

As the train pulled out of the station, Mum kept her composure

But l...

... began to cry myself

In the train, I began sobbing out loud

I felt so sorry for my grandparents

They seemed so pitiful

Mum lived so far away from them

She couldn't visit them

It was so hard for us to go back even once

The great thing is that Grandma...

...was lucky

Near the end of her life, she said...

... her greatest wish...

...was to go to Chengdu to see her eldest daughter

That is, my mother

She finally came here in 1 985

By then she was 86 years old

She finally made it

The next year, she went back

And that was the year...

...she passed away

How many in your own family?

My own?

We're...

...a normal three-person family

- Your husband works in the factory? - Yes, he does

- he does - What's his job?

He does...

It's kind of...

Surface treatment In the Coating Workshop

Surface treatment

You have a son or a daughter?

A son.

When my boy was in the sixth grade of primary school...

... I was laid off.

- How old were you then? - I was 41.

41 years old

Was it a policy decision or for some other reason?

Policy, they wanted to reduce staff numbers

They didn't need so many people as before,

so they cut back and increased efficiency

The factory needed fewer people,

so we were laid off I was one of the first to go

Back then,

I recall ten or more of us...

in our workshop were laid off

More then ten others...

Ieft with me, more than ten

We had a last dinner together...

at Hekouwei Restaurant

We'd been there for many banquets

But that night, many of us couldn't eat

They couldn't eat, they just cried

They cried openly

Everyone pulled at Director Cao Pumped Director Yang's hands

They were saying...

"ln all these years, I've never come late for work"

Director Cao agreed that they hadn't

And "ln all these years, was there ever a time

when I didn't do my best?"

Director Cao said "Never"

In fact, nobody was in the wrong

Nobody 'd come to work late Nobody 'd not given their best

He said I never failed at my job

Director Cao said I'd never failed

Not even once

And I'd never come late

Not one mistake

But they simply didn't need so many people

There was less work They were earning less money

They couldn't support such a large workforce

The company had to pay its own way

All it could do was lay off staff Give us all small pay-offs

When we got home that evening...

...dinner was really...

We cried Some of us didn't eat at all

I did eat, just to encourage the others

I was just pretending...

Urging the others to tuck in

That's what I did

That's called "Smiling through your tears"

That's what I did

I really did hide my tears and pretend to be happy

Why cry?

Let's eat!

In 1994, I was 41 years old

A middle-school graduate

A 41-year-old woman

My kid is just in the sixth grade of primary school

I have to pay his tuition fees

A three-person family has to eat

I have just about...

...200 yuan to live on

When I went out job-hunting...

... I put up a motto on the wall

It read like this...

"Come rain, come shine,

I must go forward"

I went out looking for a job every day

Always had my motto in mind

Anyhow...

I went out looking for work

I tried all over Chengdu

Again and again

I tried at the Job Center

In Chengdu City, there's a Job Center...

in the Workers' Cultural Palace

You sign up there...

You look everywhere

You ask old friends for help

Maybe an old friend has work for you

It's so hard, really not easy.

It's really not easy to find a job

Finally I gave up

I couldn't find a job, so I tried selling on the street

What did I sell?

I sold yellow michelia flowers

You can pin them on your chest

I sold yellow michelias at Qingshi Bridge

Early every morning I bought yellow michelias

I set up near the Dongfeng Road bridge

On the roadside, by a little tree

I had to be discreet

If the traffic cops saw me, or the city superintendents...

...they would confiscate the flowers

After that, some friends introduced me...

...to other jobs

Slowly, step by step...

Are you working now?

Nowadays...

Nowadays I do some tailoring at home

I'm retired, retired

I qualify for a pension

I have a pension, but I still do some tailoring work

- You do what? - Tailoring

Still tailoring

At home

Didn't you notice at my home?

I put up the sign "Tailor"...

in the window

I still do a bit at home

Just a little

Do a little

It's better

I earn a bit

And I have something to do

If people have something to do

...they age more slowly

IF PEOPLE HAVE SOMETHlNG TO DO, THEY AGE MORE SLOWLY

"l have a date tonight"

"l will not sleep tonight"

"When the bell sounds across space and time..."

"... it wakes the new millennium!"

"Regulations for Retired Persons' Cultural Room"

WANTED

Dormitory Area in Factory '420'

Going out, Dali?

Yes

Feel better?

Much better

DALl

Aunty...

Shall I hang the drip for you?

Please

You called me "Aunty"?

You should call me "Granny".

Granny...

This Director Song...

Has he come in yet?

He has

He's probably in a meeting with the bosses

I see

Are you new here?

Yes

I just graduated

These days...

...you can wear make-up to work?

Of course

Foreign enterprises expect it

Otherwise they won't hire you

Foreign enterprises?

Isn't this state-owned?

Factory '420'...

...was a state secret

The original name was "Xindu Machinery"

Later it became the "Chengfa Group"

Its code name has been '420' all along

Like a military designation

That never changed

I remember...

When we got our wage packets...

...there was a five yuan bonus for maintaining secrecy

Pretty good!

Back then...

At the time of the 'Natural Disasters' (around 1 960),

many people outside didn't have enough to eat

But our factory gave us...

... 1.5 kilos of meat every month

Our work was vital

Aeronautical stuff

No negligence

Hao Dali, one of the original workers

in the Finished Product lnstallation Workshop in Factory "420",

once held the national title of "March 8th Red Banner Holder"

VEGETABLE RATlON COUPON

I still remember that on pay days...

...the bank...

...set up a desk at the factory gate

It was just a table, really

For us to deposit our wages

Back in 1 975...

... I was paid 58 yuan per month

I deposited 30 yuan every month

Aside from meeting our own needs...

... I also sent things back to Shenyang

I sent back money

My sister...

... Iiving in a village there...

... had many children

So I sent her all my old clothes

She altered them for her kids

The factory provided us with gloves

For our work

Special work-gloves

I never threw them away

I collected the used gloves

When I had a bundle, I sent them to my sister

She washed them

Unpicked them

Unravelled the thread

Made balls of it

And wove garments...

...for my nephews

Clothes, trousers

This year, my sister...

Her youngest son...

...sent me 500 yuan

So I rang her...

...to ask why he was sending money

"What's it for?"

My sister answered...

"l know things are tough in your factory"

My sister's youngest boy...

... back in the village...

... runs a small grocery store

It gives him some extra income

It never crossed my mind...

...that I'd need help from my sister in old age

When did you join the factory?

Factory '420'...

In 1 958, from Shenyang...

We moved here in groups

I was in the last group

Yes, in the last group

My boy was three years old

I was 1 8 when he was born

So I'd be 21

Yes, 21 that year

Not yet an adult, in fact

I'd never left home before

I'd never been on a boat

That year...

...the Chengdu-Baoji railway collapsed

No route overland, so we came by river

First a bus from Shenyang to Dalian

Then a boat from Dalian to Shanghai

Then changed to a river-boat...

...along the Yangtze...

...to Chongqing

And then a bus from Chongqing to Chengdu

It took 1 5 days in all...

...to get to Chengdu

I remember...

...as we approached Goddess Peak

There was thick fog that day

We went on deck to see Goddess Peak,

but we couldn't see anything

Nothing at all.

As I said, I'd never been on boats before

I felt seasick and threw up

Kept throwing up

It was chaotic on the boat

My husband suggested that...

...that I take a rest for a while

But I couldn't sleep

Kids were running around

I still felt seasick

Still kept throwing up

And the boat was juddering

We finally reached Fengjie

In Fengjie...

...we docked on the wharf

We went on land

They gave us two hours there.

It was nice to take a breather

But aside from the passengers,

the boat was carrying important equipment

So we couldn't stay long

During the short stop...

...everyone went ashore

It was like a small community

Everyone knew each other

Because of that...

... I was off-guard

Anyhow, they sounded the first siren

It meant that there was half an hour to departure

My husband and l...

...were buying some local specialties

And some oranges

I suddenly realized that my boy...

...wasn't there

I panicked and started calling him

I called and called

But I couldn't find him

I was getting desperate

My husband tried to reassure me

He said, maybe the kids who'd been playing together

had gone back to the boat together

So we went to the boat to see if he was there

All the other kids were back, except him

All the other families were together

Except us

My husband panicked too

He and his workmates...

... Iooked for our boy everywhere

I was at my wits' end

My husband and l...

... rushed back ashore to look for him

But we couldn't find him

And then...

...the second siren sounded

Some women comrades dragged me back to the boat

They forced me to get aboard

As you know, back then,

when we were transferred from Shenyang to Chengdu...

...we were working for the military

Part of the war effort

We all knew that everything

we did had implications for national security

That made me all the more nervous

People said Chiang Kai-Shek planned to try to retake Mainland China

So when that siren sounded...

... it was like an army bugle

We had to go

Then

They

A big crowd of people, dragged me back to the boat

I leaned on the railings

Seeing the boat going farther and farther offshore

The houses turning smaller and smaller

I felt that my child became farther and farther away from me

I felt that I hate myself

My heart was flurried

empty

Jaguar!

The Commies are taking the bait!

The Commies are taking the bait!

Captain Morgan...

Act in good faith!

No. 2!

A flotilla of small planes on the right!

Enemy planes in the South-west!

Enemy planes in the West!

It's clear...

Enemy tactics have changed

They're using small planes as decoys

Prior to a bombing raid!

"OBSERVE SAFETY, TREASURE LlFE"

"lf the aeronautics factory is like a huge eyeball..."

"...then the labouring is its blackest part"

(from a poem by Ouyang Jianghe)

SONG WElDONG

The money we get from selling this land

will be used to build a new industrial park

Our workshops will move there, one by one

In the future, our place here...

will become a five-star hotel

Song Weidong, born 1 966 in Chengdu.

Assistant Director of the General Management Office of Chengfa Group.

Factory '420', the whole of it...

... is rather large

The whole place...

... is kind of a world apart

Take me, for example

From kindergarten...

Primary school, middle school, high school

I went to all of them within the factory precincts

The schools were run for children of the workers

All of us who grew up here had the same experience

Within the factory precincts, there's a cinema, a swimming pool

In the summer...

...the factory made its own soft drinks

Each family took bottles to bring them home

Soft drinks

You can see why we're proud of the factory

And we never thought...

that Factory '420' had any connection with Chengdu City

That's how we saw it

Actually, we didn't need any connection with the place

No need

We had a great life

The only way...

...we connected with local kids...

...was when we had fights

...especially the eastern suburbs...

... has a long history of fighting

Even before Liberation in 1 949,

there were a lot of pitched battles here

Anyhow, back then...

...we took on the local kids

There were non-stop conflicts and clashes

All around the Double Bridge area

We almost always won

Because there were more of us

And we all came from the one place

Whereas they were much less unified

But they hit on a strategy what strategy?

What strategy?

It was like this

Ambushes

They'd hide somewhere

And if there were not many of us,

or if one of us was alone

They'd ambush us and beat us

And then we'd counter-attack

If you beat me today, tomorrow I'll beat you back

I remember...

...one time in particular

I was in primary school, grade three

1 976

I'd just learnt how to ride a bike

Very exciting

One afternoon I took my father's bike, a Phoenix 28

I took it and rode it away

But then I made a big mistake

I rode the bike a long way

Quite far from Factory '420'

Somewhere else entirely

I realized my mistake and turned around

Too late! A gang of boys trapped me

They caught me...

Then they escorted me...

to their base

They have a leader

His name is Zhou Chao

I'm brought in front of him

I'm fearing the worst

Everyone is jeering at me

Copying something in a movie

"l represent the masses and I sentence you to death!"

I'm sure they're going to beat me up

I just want my bike I have to get it back

Or my father will never forgive me

To my surprise...

...Zhou Chao said to me...

"I've thought it over"

"Premier Zhou Enlai passed away today"

"So I'll let you off"

Then he and his boys left

I was amazed

I rode home in a hurry

And when I got home...

... I found my parents making...

Iittle white paper flowers

Premier Zhou really had passed away

I went through puppy love too

Puppy love

I was 16

In grade two of Junior High

At that time we did two years in Junior High

Around the time I graduated, I had a girlfriend

Her family were...

also North-easterners came here from the North-east

When she graduated,

she was offered a place in South-west Medical College

Actually, I wanted to go to university too

But my family didn't agree

Because back then our factory...

offered really good benefits to its staff

If you went off to university...

...you might be assigned to somewhere else after graduating

So they insisted that I stay in the factory

To take my father's place eventually

To learn his skills and reap those benefits

So I stayed in the factory

Back then, our factory was really pretty good

In 1 978, you know...

After the Cultural Revolution, there were battles

The "Counter-attack in Self Defense" against Vietnam

They needed a lot of munitions

But after that, there was a decline

I remember how...

...the factory's profits went down

So her family wanted her to break with me

One day...

I remember this very clearly...

One day she came to break up with me

I was roller skating

She came to find me

There was a kind of wire netting around the skating rink

A wire-netting barrier

I was inside it, she was outside

She had an ice popsicle

And she passed it to me...

...over the railing

I ate it there and then I'd taken two bites from it...

...when she came out with it

She said...

"We're so young"

"Our love is not mature"

I knew what she meant right away

I interrupted her

I said

"So, it's over between us"

And she said...

"You said it first"

She implied it was my decision

I said she was right I said it first

Then she left

She turned and left, didn't look back

I remember those times One impression is very strong

There was a TV drama on at that time

A Japanese TV drama called 'Bloody Suspect'

That was it It starred Yamaguchi Momoe

Back then, she set the fashion everyone wanted a "Sachiko hairstyle"

My girlfriend had "Sachiko hair"

She left

She left without looking back

I still remember...

...when she gave me the ice popsicle

She had a red handkerchief...

...tied around her wrist

I remember it clearly

A few days ago on Hunan TV...

...they showed 'Bloody Suspect' again

My wife...

...she's the file manager in the factory...

... really likes it

She watches it every night

I do too

- Which year were you born? - 1 970

I was born in 1 966

"Though leaves are many, the root is only one"

"Through all the lying days of my youth"

"l swayed my leaves and flowers in the sun"

"Now I may wither into the truth" -- W. B. Yeats

Site for Stage One of '24 City' (Former Factory Basketball Court)

"Basketball court now site of high-rise building,

these machines will be moved in three days."

"Every day..."

"l am wandering..."

"Every morning and night my heart is adrift"

"How I long for someone to be with me"

"To make my heart stop drifting..."

"Sister Lin comes down from heaven"

"Like a wispy cloud from behind the mountain"

"He who loves her seems outwardly dissolute"

"But he is actually pure in heart"

Little Flower...

You brought nothing to eat this morning?

I climbed up Qingcheng Hill with my brother yesterday

I got home exhausted didn't feel like cooking

So you'll go out to eat?

Does your brother like spicy food?

Yes, he does

He's been everywhere...

...and tasted everything

Long before Liberation in 1 949...

...there were Sichuan restaurants in Shanghai

My Grandpa used to say...

The Jinjiang Hotel in Shanghai...

...served good Sichuan food

He also said...

...there was a time...

...when Sichuan food was fashionable in Shangha

You know why?

I don't know

At that time...

...Sichuan was the home front in the war of resistance against Japan

When the Japanese invaded Shanghai,

many Shanghainese fled into Sichuan

And when they went home after the war...

...they saw themselves as battle-scarred

They liked eating spicy food in public...

...to show that they'd been in Sichuan!

Shanghai has changed a lot

I went back once in 1 993

There's a street where they serve lamb stew in brown sauce

Do you know it?

I never ate lamb when I was young

Because it was always cooked with garlic

Where are you two going to eat?

My brother left for Shanghai this morning.

His work-unit boss wants him back at work

Okay, then, Little Flower

I'll be off

I need to get changed

LlTTLE FLOWER

A while later, don't be nervou.

I'm alright as usual, but always nervous after getting changed.

Sister Wang, can you bring my bag upstairs?

I left my phoenix in it

"Beside the green lake"

"Under flowing willows"

"Along the flower-strewn path"

Yue Opera: Dream of the Red Chamber

"All at once"

"A flute's lament"

"ls heard on the breeze"

I was...

In 1 978...

I was assigned to Factory '420' from Shanghai Aviation Academy

Around graduation time...

...we heard that some of us would be sent to Chengdu

All those who didn't want to go...

... used all their connections to find a way to stay in Shanghai

But I didn't

Around that time...

...the people who'd been "sent to the countryside" began returning to Shangha

My brother came back from Jiangxi

My elder sister came back from Heilongjiang

And my second sister from Anhui

So the family was reunited

And the house was full of people

Including the three of them

And my kid brother, who was in middle school

There were seven of us in all

But the house in Yangshupu was only 20 metres square

How could all seven of us live there?

We had to divide each room in half

And build a temporary attic

There's a Shanghai saying...

"Putting an elephant in the stomach of a sparrow"

I slept in the attic with my two sisters

So I thought I should leave

At that time...

In Factory '420'...

There were far more men than women

Girls from Shanghai, like me were very few

On my first day at work...

... I went to Canteen 2 for lunch

It was terribly crowded

I later found out why

The men who were supposed to eat in Canteens 1 and 3...

... had come to Canteen 2 to see the girls from Shanghai

Especially the younger men

They made comments about us

Things like that...

...went on for quite some time

Later some guy, I never knew who...

...gave me the nickname "Standard Component"

What does that mean?

To begin with...

... I had no idea what it meant

Later I came to know

It meant "Flower of the Factory"

After that...

... people began calling me "Little Flower"

There was a movie named 'Little Flower' at that time

That's right.

It starred Joan Chen, Tang Guoqiang and Liu Xiaoqing

Our factory...

...showed that movie for a whole week

Many people saw it several times

They came out saying I looked like Little Flower

That is, the movie's heroine, played by Joan Chen

At first, they used the name behind my back

Then, to my face

After a while, my real name...

...was known to very few people

What is your real name?

Gu Minhua

"Min" as in "Mingan" (sensitive)

"Hua" as in "Zhonghua" (China)

I guess you had many admirers?

Back then...

... people weren't as open as they are now

And everyone was so busy

Overtime every day

One time...

On the workshop notice board

Someone put up a photo

There was no caption

It showed a young guy

Good-looking, sporty type

Anyhow...

During break times...

...we all gathered round to look at it

Some of the girls began guessing who he might be

Some thought he was...

...from the Communist Youth League and due to visit the factory

Others thought he was the representative we'd chosen...

...to commiserate with the army after the defeat on the Vietnam border

Staring and speculation...

...went on day after day

Then it went even further

Someone said to me...

"This guy is handsome"

"He's as good as Tang Guoqiang" (film star)

"You two should become a couple"

My colleagues in the factory back then...

...were all matchmakers

Two people who didn't even know each other...

...as long as they had matching names, would be put together in a love story

Some of them really did get married

I was pretty annoyed at first

I thought...

How dare they try to match...

a living person with a photo?

But later...

Very gradually...

My thinking...

... began to change

I imagined that he really was...

...a Communist Youth League secretary coming to our factory

In fact I imagined him...

turning up the very next day

I was 20 years old

I'd never been in love

Some days later...

...there was a big meeting in the factory

The leaders asked us...

... if we'd seen the photo

Did we know who the man was?

Everybody stayed silent

The Party Secretary said...

The young man was a pilot

Our country had spent eight years, and more than 200,000 yuan...

...on training him

Something went wrong with his plane

Trying to save the plane...

... he didn't parachute to safety

And he died

He was just 24

Anyhow...

The Secretary went on...

The accident, he said...

...could be blamed on us

Some components we'd produced...

... had gone wrong

He added...

Amongst all of you...

...there's someone who was responsible for this tragedy

We should reflect on our mistakes

Anyhow, after that...

Many people introduced boys to me

And I started going out with one boy

He taught on the factory's educational TV channel

The son of high-ranking officials They worked in ministries

So he had a good family background

But then something bad happened

In the neighboring workshop, #34...

...there was one guy...

...who was apparently in love with me

This guy...

...wrote love letters to himself in my name

Hard to understand, no?

But that's exactly it, he wrote to himself

And signed my name at the bottom of the page "Gu Minhua"

Then he showed off the letters to his workmates

Soon enough, everyone was talking...

...about our supposed love affair

And everyone thought I'd taken the lead

My boyfriend heard about this

He got quite angry

I tried to explain to him, but he wouldn't listen

So I had no choice...

... but to break up with him

After that, I thought I might as well go back to Shanghai

And if I got married in Chengdu...

...that would be an obstacle

Back then, the easiest way to move was to make an exchange

I had to find someone in Shanghai...

...who wanted to move to Chengdu

But there was hardly any military activity by 1 984 or 1 985

Armaments manufacture fell on hard times...

Nobody wanted to exchange with me

Those were hard years for the factory

Later on...

...the plant moved over to civilian products

Such as...

Double Swallow brand fridges and washing machines

Suddenly we needed sales people

I was from Shanghai

So...

They made me a saleswoman in Shanghai

I had to drink 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

I was a wholesaler of Tianfu peanuts

But I found it quite tough

So I moved back to Changdu

By 1 989, 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

And all the men I was introduced to were divorce

The thought of being a step-mother...

... made me uncomfortable

So I passed on all of them

The latest one I've met...

He was also introduced by others...

He's 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

And he'd seen me often

He knew I was the "Flower of the Factory" and liked me very much

But he was poor then

And the factory had a high reputation locally

So he felt...

...that I was beyond his reach

But he promised himself...

...that he would 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, right?

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 in the precision workshop of Factory "420".

Feature film 'Little Flower' (1 978)

"A girl is sad"

"Tears in her eyes"

"She cannot see her beloved"

"Anxiously waiting"

"Thy image lingers in my heart..."

"Amid conflicted feelings about the spring"

-- Cao Xueqin (from 'Dream of the Red Chamber')

Young lady...

what's your name?

Yang Mengyue.

In school?

Third grade

Anyone in your family working in Factory '420'?

That one?

Yes

My Pa and Ma work there

Ever been there yourself?

No

CHlNA RESOURCES LAND LTD: 24 ClTY

The land area of Chengdu City is still expanding

Factory '420' was in the center of the old city

An area no longer suitable for a factory

CR Land is spending 21.4 billion yuan to redevelop

the 560,000 square metres of the factory's land

Soon a modern, living community, named '24 City'...

...will arise on this site

Factory '420' will use the income from the sale

of the site to reform and modernize its technology

This will ensure that its aeronautics technology

does not become obsolete in the next half-century

ZHAO GANG

These white bits...

...are for housing developments

The gray bits are for commercial use

And in the South-west corner...

...that is, these red bits...

...we retain some of the distinctive buildings...

...from the old factory

Like the old mill buildings and the watchtower here

Why is the development called '24 City'?

The name '24 City' comes from an old poem

"The cherished hibiscus of 24 city In full bloom, a flourishing flower"

We have some scale-models here

- Will you take a look? - Thanks

Over there

Zhao Gang, born 1 974,

"News Round-up" presenter on Chengdu TV.

I was offered a place in the College of Technology in Jilin

Our teacher introduced us...

Several of us...

And gave us the rail tickets from Chengdu to Jilin

We'd never been on a train before

We were told to give the tickets to our parents for safe-keeping

They'd hand them back on the day of departure

They were scared we'd lose them

I looked closely at the ticket

It was the kind they had in the 1980s A "through ticket"

All the way from Chengdu to Jilin

Anyhow, I looked at it

And I was amazed to see...

that one station en route was Beijing

I'd never been to Beijing

I was really startled

It meant that

I was going a lot further than 20 miles

I was actually leaving

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 eagerly

It snows in Jilin, right?

Heavy snow, first time in the North-east...

Everything was exciting

That term I must say

...and I spent that first semester...

... Iearning new things non-stop

Everything was great

It had a gradual effect on my thinking

I began to compare my life in Chengdu with my new life in Jilin

I don't know quite how to put it

But compared with Factory '420'

with the environment I grew up in...

...this was very different

I don't think Chi Chin's song

'The Outside World' had come out by then...

But that song certainly expressed my feelings

When it came out in 1 990, I think it was so great

Just great

Anyhow...

My thinking changed a lot...

... in the second half-semester

The first half-semester was all theory

Technical stuff

Heat-treatment of metals, stuff like that

Engine-building

In the second half-semester...

...which lasted three months...

... I had to put on work clothes

During that apprenticeship...

... my whole attitude changed

Until then, I'd respected work clothes

As a kid, I'd watched my father put on his factory uniform

At that time, you know...

...only policemen wore uniforms

And soldiers

I was always impressed...

...when I saw people wearing work-uniforms

Work-uniforms meant high social status

So I liked factory uniforms,

But when the teacher gave me those work clothes...

...and I put them on...

... I didn't feel any different

Anyhow, I put on the work clothes...

Took my lunch-box, complete with spoon rattling inside

and went to the factory

And during that apprenticeship...

... my way of thinking changed

How to put it...

Your status is different

You'd been a student...

You'd seen workers, right?

Now you're wearing worker's clothes

It's not the same

I remember very well from that time,

one episode that really affected me

Another boy from Chengdu...

...and I were apprenticed to an old North-easterner

He taught us metal-polishing

You use a big stone wheel

He gave us a basketful of parts

Straight off the production line Newly made component parts

Our job, he told us...

...was to smooth away the rough edges of these component parts

I'm quite a sensitive guy...

I did ten of them

Twenty of them

I guess I thought it was quite interesting

I focused on the technical skills

And that held my interest

But when you've done 50 or 1 00 of them...

... it's impossible to feel good about it

Something snaps in your mind

You're exhausted, really exhausted

My head was covered in sweat

The old worker said something,

which I can't forget to this day

In North-eastern dialect, he said...

"Don't worry..."

"lf you can't finish this morning, you can go on with it in the afternoon"

"This basketful is for the two of you"

"lf you don't finish them today, there's always tomorrow"

That really got to me

I was so bored

The component parts bored me rigid

I finally got through 100 of them,

and there were still many more to go

But he said...

...that would be my job from then on

So I told him I was quitting

I meant it, too

It was no fun

I said I wanted to go back to being a student

I said "I'm a 1 6-year-old student,

I don't want to wear work clothes any more"

I told my parents, and they were strongly against it

It was hard to find a decent job back then

But I did quit

I left without my luggage

Zhao Gang and his father

"Long, long ago..."

"l 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"

"Arise!"

"Ye prisoners of starvation"

"Arise!"

"Y e 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" -- WB Y eats

SU NA

It's such a hassle!

The stuff you want is so expensive!

Who can afford it?

Who can afford to show off like you?

Su Na, born 1982 in Chengdu.

THE SCHOOL lN FACTORY '420'

In Grade One, I was 1.66 metres tall

Quite a good figure...

So I thought I could be a model

Or anyway something like that

But I didn't get any taller

It was such a shame

Most of us in school were not good students

And the teaching was pretty bad too

So my father was worried about me

At that time, he was manager of one of the workshops in '420'

So he had good connections

He used his influence with his friends...

...to get me transferred to #4 High School

He thought I'd go to some famous university

Like Tsinghua or Peking University

To make him proud of me...

...and honour our ancestors

But actually I'm not the studying type

Not at all

I failed the college entrance exam

I had the strong feeling...

...that I'd let my parents down

For a while I just hung around on the streets

I had nothing to do

I wasn't willing to work in '420'

But things are going fine now

I work as a shopper

I go to Hong Kong every two weeks...

to buy things for my clients

There are lots of rich people in Chengdu

So I can easily make money

Rich women with time on their hands...

They like fashion but don't have the energy to buy it

So they hire me to buy for them

All the famous brands

The latest styles

Shoes...

Scarves...

Belts, watches...

I get 1 000 yuan per item

Enough to live on

Pretty good, in fact

See that tower?

Yes

We call it the Panda TV Tower

I have a friend from Malaysia...

I met him on a plane...

He wants to take over the revolving restaurant on that tower...

...and hire me to manage it

I've never worked in catering...

... but there's no harm in trying

Maybe I'll become a powerful woman!

What do you think?

The car is essential for me

If I had to see those rich ladies every day...

...and didn't have a car of my own...

... I'd feel quite embarrassed

I'll repay the loan myself

All of my classmates around town...

Their parents put money aside for them when they were little

I forget the name of the fund

Anyhow, it's ring-fenced

And when they're old enough...

...they can spend it on apartments and cars

My mother was laid off in 1 995

While my father was working, he kept his hands clean

So he never found my mother a well-paying job

She found a part-time job...

... in a telegraph-pole factory

She's still doing that now

Since he retired...

... my dad's permanently grumpy

He can't adjust to not being in charge

Also...

When he had his job...

...the house was packed with visitors

Now nobody at all comes to visit

In the first few months of retirement...

... he hardly stepped outside at all

And he became very taciturn

When he got up in the morning...

... he'd just sit on the sofa...

...chain-smoking

I didn't go home much

I didn't want to

Whenever I was there...

... I felt the mood of failure and depression

I lived with my first boyfriend...

... in Royal Mansion, Yulin Gardens

It was a pretty nice place

But we eventually broke up

Then I found another guy

And we lived in a place called...

..."ln the Mood for Love"

I also had a one-room flat with a double bed at one time

I think that was with my third boyfriend

The bottom line is, I didn't want to go home

Not if I could avoid it

The day I applied for my permit to travel to Hong Kong and Macau...

... I needed to show my permanent residence document

So I went home to get it...

...and found the door locked

I realized I didn't know where my key was

I don't know what was wrong with me

So I went looking for my mother...

...at the telegraph-pole factory

I'd never been there before

As soon as I went inside...

...the noise was deafening

You had to shout to be heard

I looked around the place

But I couldn't see my mother

The staff were all wearing blue uniforms

Working with their heads bent down

I had to go up to every person

This one...

Then this one...

Trying to find which one was her

Finally I found her

Over in a corner

She was carrying ingots of steel

Throwing them...

One after another...

Into some boxes

Every time..."Bam!"

Every ingot landed with that noise

I had never felt more sad...

than I did at that moment

It was like a sharp pain

Suddenly striking my heart And it made all my limbs ache

My mother...

I didn't even know if it was a man or a woman when I approached

The head was bent down

I started crying when I saw it was her

And I ran off

I had dinner at home that night

My parents were so surprised

"Why have you come home for dinner?"

I didn't answer

After eating, I told my mother...

...that I would stay the night

She was very happy

She made my bed and brought a quilt

I hadn't touched that bed in ages

As I lay on it...

... I suddenly felt grown-up

I began to care about my parents

The thing I most want now...

... is to make a lot of money...

...and buy them an apartment in '24 City'

I now it will cost a lot

But I can do it

I'm the daughter of a worker

"Chengdu!"

"Home of the lotus-eating life"

"That's what makes my life worth living" (from a poem by Wan Xia)