Original subtitles

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 CR LAND LTD

Dear Directors, distinguished guests, good morning.

Today, December 29th, 2007,

will mark a new and glorious chapter

in the development of the Chengfa Group.

For nearly 50 years, we have faced difficulties

and challenging breakthroughs of economic reform.

Now a revitalised Chengfa Group

is about to move from the site of the old factory...

"THE CHERISHED HIBISCUS OF 24 CITY, IN FULL BLOOM

"CHENGDU SHONE AND PROSPERED"

ANCIENT POEM

CHENGDU CITY

HE XIKUN

Back then, we thought of 420 as a large factory.

But I knew that it did work for the military.

It made aircraft and aero engines.

We were 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.

We took care of all that.

Back then, he was in charge

of Fitter Group 4.

There's one thing I remember...

I had just arrived,

and I had no idea that the fitters made their own tools.

One thing we used was called a scraper.

It was a kind of blade, shaped like this...

We had to make them ourselves.

When we received the metal,

we cut it and then honed the edge.

It was about this long.

As it got worn down and became this short,

we couldn't use it anymore.

But he kept on using them regardless.

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

As you had to hone the edge, the tool got all worn away.

Useless! But he kept on using it.

One time, a scraper was worn right down so I threw it away.

Then Master Wang said, "Xiao He,

"you know that this small thing

"has come into our hands through those of many others.

"It can still be used."

So he picked it up, re-honed it and used it again.

I was so impressed.

People like me were too immature.

We had to learn not to be wasteful.

Old masters like Master Wang knew well: "Waste not, want not."

He was right and I learned that from him.

He knew how many hands the tools had passed through.

I feel guilty when I speak about Master Wang.

For years, I've been so busy that I haven't visited him.

HE XIKUN, BORN 1948 IN CHENGDU

APPRENTICED IN 1964 IN WORKSHOP 61

LATER JOINED THE ARMY

HE XIKUN, MALE, AGED 30

WORK CARD 07718968

ISSUED BY STATE MECHANIC FACTORY XINDU

During the clashes of the Cultural Revolution,

factories and mines stopped work.

But he carried on working.

Hardly anyone went to the factory.

Talking about this... makes me feel a bit sad.

I would've died if you hadn't come.

She's hidden everything.

Hidden what? What was there to hide?

She mentioned a knife.

I can neither live nor die. I have nothing left.

They took three X-rays.

- After a long wait. - This hospital is hopeless.

They suggested we move to the provincial hospital.

Were the X-rays computer-enhanced?

- So the images are clear? - Think so.

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'd passed on the street.

I wouldn't have known you.

Have I changed?

Look, I'm thinner.

Just like for those who were in my workshop.

We greet each other when we meet.

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 here, I used to worry.

I came here in 1959.

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

I even worked through New Year and on Sundays.

Every single day.

We were under pressure back then.

It was during the Korean war.

Right.

ALWAYS FOLLOW THE PATH OF DEVELOPMENT CORRECTLY

WORK LOYALLY FOR OUR ARMY

SECRETARY GUAN

GUAN FENGJIU, BORN 1935 IN HAICHENG, LIAONING

HEAD OF SECURITY IN FACTORY 420

DEPUTY SECRETARY OF PARTY COMMITTEE WHEN HE RETIRED

We were implementing Chairman Mao's strategy,

moving military factories to inland areas

sheltered by the mountains here.

Armament factories and aeronautics were in the north-east.

During the Korean War, that was the front line 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 111.

We repaired aircraft engines there,

MIG-15s during the Korean War.

They were used by the Chinese and North Korean air forces

to fight American imperialism.

Factory 111 built Factory 420.

It was Factory 111...

On November 3rd, there was a general assembly.

Our factory was going to build 420 in Chengdu.

We needed 60% of the staff. That is, 60% of Factory 111 staff.

We all had to move down here.

A certain amount of the equipment from 111 was moved here

with the people to run it.

Various specialists, technical staff and cadres were mobilised.

The meeting was on November 3rd, and I was transferred in December.

I was in charge of the security section.

I was one of the first to arrive.

There were more than four thousand workers.

HOU LIJUN

After Mum came here,

every year I thought of visiting home to see my parents.

She wanted that too, thought about it year on year.

But then... job, family, kids!

Not to mention, the cost of it.

She couldn't afford to visit home.

Bottom line...

After coming here in 1958,

when did we first go back to Shenyang?

It was in 1972. She had left in 1958.

Between 1958 and 1972, 14 years.

I was 18 or 19 by then.

I'd finished middle school.

Only then, did I first go back to Shenyang with Mum.

The first time back.

- Do you remember that trip? - Sure I do.

I remember it vividly.

What was it like?

Well, it was...

Coming home like that...

It was 14 years since Mum had left.

As soon as we got there,

my grandma and her husband broke down in tears.

I was still too young to really understand.

I didn't appreciate why they felt so strongly.

I didn't understand what they felt.

HOU LIJUN, BORN 1953 IN SHENYANG

REPAIRMAN IN WORKSHOP 63 OF FACTORY 420

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

"We must take you to the station. If you stay away this long again,

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

"Will there be another chance to meet?"

Then I understood why grandpa had cried like that.

When the train started moving, Grandpa broke down in tears again.

As the train pulled out, Mum kept her composure.

But me...

I began to cry myself. On the train, I began sobbing out loud.

I felt so sorry for my grandparents.

Mum lived so far away that she couldn't visit them.

It was so hard for us to go back.

The great thing was that Grandma was lucky.

Near the end of her life, she said,

"My greatest wish is to go to Chengdu

"to see my eldest daughter." That is, my mother.

She finally came here in 1985.

At the age of 86, she finally made it.

The second after she'd gone back, the second year...

...she passed away.

How many are in your own family?

We're a three-person family.

Standard size.

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

- What's his job? - A kind of...

surface treatment in the coating workshop.

Surface treatment.

- You have a son or a daughter? - A son.

When he was in Year 6 of primary school,

I was laid off.

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

41 years old.

Was it a political decision or some other reason?

Political, to reduce staff numbers.

They cut back and increased efficiency.

The factory needed fewer people,

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

I recall there were ten or so lay-offs in our workshop.

We had a last dinner together at Hekouwei Restaurant.

We'd booked many tables there.

But that night we could hardly eat.

Many couldn't eat, they just cried openly.

Everyone cried.

Everyone pulled at the hands of Director Cao and Director Yang.

They said, "I've never been late for work."

Director Cao agreed they hadn't.

"Was there ever a time when I didn't do my best?"

Director Cao said, "Never."

In fact, nobody was in the wrong.

Nobody had come to work late or not given their best.

Director Cao said I'd never failed at my job.

And I'd never come in late, never made a mistake.

But they simply didn't need so many people.

There was less work. They were earning less money.

They couldn't support everyone.

They gave us all a small pay-off.

So we went home. As for the dinner...

We cried. Some of us didn't eat at all.

I ate just to encourage the others.

I was just pretending,

urging the other to tuck in. That's what I did.

We call that "smiling through your tears".

That's What I did.

I kept telling them, "Why cry? Let's eat!"

In 1994, I was 41 years old.

I'd left school at middle school.

A 41-year-old woman.

My kid was in Year 7.

I had to pay his tuition fees and feed three people.

I had 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.

I 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 Centre.

In Chengdu City, there's a Job Centre

in the Workers' Cultural Palace.

You sign up there.

You look everywhere, you ask friends...

Maybe an old friend has work for you.

It's so hard, it's really not easy to find a job.

I couldn't find one, so I tried selling stuff on the street.

What did I sell? I sold yellow michelia flowers.

You can wear them in your buttonhole.

I sold them.

Early every morning, I bought them at Qingshi Bridge.

I set up on Dongfeng Road by a little tree, as I had to be discreet.

If the cops or the city inspectors saw me,

they would confiscate the flowers.

Later, thanks to some friends...

Yes, thanks to some friends,

I was introduced to other jobs. Slowly, step by step.

Are you working now?

Nowadays? I do some sewing at home. I'm retired.

I have a pension, but I still do some sewing.

- You do what? - I sew.

I sew at home.

Didn't you notice that at my home?

I put up the sign "Sewing" in my window.

I still do a bit of that at home.

Just a little. I like it.

I earn some money and have something to do.

If you have something to do, you age more slowly.

"IF YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO DO, YOU AGE MORE SLOWLY"

I have a date tonight

I will not sleep tonight

When the bell sounds across space and time

It wakes the new millennium

Come, dear friends

Come, fellow workmates

REGULATIONS FOR RETIRED PERSONS' CULTURAL ROOM

WANTED

DORMITORY AREA IN FACTORY 420

Dali, going out?

Feel better?

Much better.

DALI

Aunty, I'll hang it for you.

Please.

You called me "aunty"?

You should call me "granny".

Granny.

This Director Song, has he come yet?

He has. He's probably in a meeting with the bosses.

Are you new here?

Yes. I just graduated.

You can wear make-up to work?

Foreign enterprises expect you to, or they won't hire you.

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 5 yuan bonus for secrecy.

Pretty good!

Around 1960, at the time of the natural disasters,

people didn't have enough to eat.

But our factory gave us each 1.5 kilos of meat every month.

Our work was vital, aeronautical stuff.

No negligence.

HAO DALI, WORKER IN FACTORY 420

HELD THE NATIONAL TITLE OF MARCH 8TH RED BANNER HOLDER

FACTORY XINDU STAFF CANTEEN

VEGETABLE RATION 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 1975, I earned 58 yuans.

I deposited 30 yuan every month.

I fed my family and sent some money back to Shenyang.

My sister lived in a village, she had many children.

So I sent her all my old clothes.

She altered them for her kids.

The factory provided us with uniforms, work-gloves, that kind of thing.

I never threw them away. I collected the used gloves

and I sent them to my sister.

She washed them, unravelled the thread,

made balls of it,

and wove clothes, trousers for my nephews.

This year, my sister...

Her youngest son, actually, sent me 500 yuans.

So I rang my sister and asked her, "Why are you sending me money?

"What for?"

She answered, "I know things are tough in your factory."

My sister's son lives in the village.

He 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 1958.

From Shenyang, we moved here in groups.

I was in the last group.

My boy was three years old.

I was 18 when he was born.

So I'd be 21. Yes, 21 that year.

Not quite an adult, in fact.

I'd never left home before, I'd never been on a boat.

That year, the Chengdu-Baoji railway collapsed.

There was no route overland, so we came by river.

First a train to Dalian, then a boat to Shanghai.

Then we took a river-boat along the Yangtze to Chongqing.

And then a bus from Chongqing to Chengdu.

It took 15 days to get to Chengdu.

As we approached Goddess Peak,

there was thick fog that day.

We went on deck, but we couldn't see anything. Nothing at all.

I'd never been on a boat before. I felt seasick and threw up.

All around me, it was chaotic on the boat.

My husband suggested that I rest for a while.

But I couldn't sleep. There were kids running around.

I still felt seasick, and kept throwing up.

And the boat was juddering.

It wasn't easy. 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 the boat was carrying important equipment.

So we couldn't stay long.

During the short stop, it was really... Everyone went ashore.

We were a small community, everyone knew each other.

So I was off-guard.

They sounded the first siren.

It meant that there was half an hour to departure.

My husband and I were buying some local specialties and some oranges.

I suddenly thought about my boy.

He wasn't with me anymore.

I panicked and started calling him.

I called and called.

But I couldn't find him.

I panicked. My husband tried to reassure me,

"Maybe he went back to the boat with the other kids."

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

All the other kids were back.

All the other families were together.

Except us.

My husband panicked too.

He called his workmates.

They looked for him everywhere.

I was at my wits' end.

My husband and I 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.

When we were transferred from Shenyang to Chengdu,

we were working for the military.

Part of the war effort.

Everything we did had implications for national security.

That made me all the more nervous.

They said Chiang Kai-Shek was going to invade China.

So when that siren sounded, it was like an army bugle.

We had to go.

Then...

a big crowd of people, dragged me back to the boat.

I leaned on the railings.

The boat went farther offshore, the houses turned smaller.

I felt my child getting further and further away.

I hated myself so much.

My heart was flurried.

It was empty.

Jaguafl The Commies are taking the bait!

The Commies are taking the bait! Captain Morgan...

Act in good faith.

Second officer!

A flotilla of small planes on the right!

Enemy planes in the south-west.

Enemy planes in the west.

It's clear that enemy tactics have changed.

They're using small planes as decoys and surrounding us with big ones.

Very crafty!

Captain! The bombers have crossed sector two.

Captain! Bombing as originally planned.

OBSERVE SAFETY, TREASURE LIFE

"IF THE AERONAUTICS FACTORY IS LIKE A HUGE EYEBALL,

"THE LABOUR IS ITS PUPIL"

POEM BY OUYANG JIANGHE

SONG WEIDONG

The money we get selling this land

will be used to build a new industrial park.

Our workshops will move there, one by one.

Our offices here will become a five-star hotel.

SONG WEIDONG, BORN 1966 IN CHENGDU

ASSISTANT TO GENERAL MANAGER OF CHENGFA GROUP

Factory 420, the whole of it,

was quite large.

The whole place was a kind of world apart.

Take me, for example.

From nursery,

primary school, middle school, secondary school,

I always attended the schools for the workers' children.

It was the same for all the other kids.

Within the factory precincts, there was a cinema, a swimming pool.

In the summer, the factory made its own soft drinks.

Each family took bottles to bring them home.

We were proud of the factory.

420 had almost no connection with Chengdu City.

We thought we didn't need the local people.

No need. We had a great life.

The only way we connected with local kids was through fights.

The eastern suburbs had a history of fighting even before Liberation.

There were a lot of pitched battles here.

We took on the local kids,

there were non-stop conflicts and clashes.

Often near the double bridge. We almost always won.

We outnumbered them and were all from one place.

Whereas they were much less unified.

But they hit on a strategy.

Quite a strategy.

Ambushes!

They'd hide somewhere and if we were alone or in a small group,

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 Year 4.

In 1976.

I'd just learned how to ride a bike.

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

I took it and rode it away.

I rode the bike a long way and found myself in another sector.

I had left the zone of influence of Factory 420.

I turned around at once.

Too late! A gang of boys trapped me.

They caught me and escorted me to their base.

They had a leader, another kid.

His name is Zhou Chao.

I was taken before him, fearing the worst.

The kids were jeering me. Like in some movie, they said,

"On behalf of the masses, I sentence you to death."

I was sure they were going to beat me up.

I just wanted my bike, I had to get it back.

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 there,

I found my parents making little white paper flowers.

Premier Zhou really had passed away.

I went through puppy love too. I was 16.

In Year 2 of high school.

High school used to be two years.

When I graduated, I had a girlfriend.

Her family was also from the north-east.

She was offered a place in South-west Medical College.

I wanted to go to university too, but my family didn't agree,

because our factory offered really good benefits to its staff,

and I might be assigned somewhere else after graduating.

So they insisted that I take my father's place eventually.

I had to learn his skills.

So I stayed in the factory.

Back then, our factory was really pretty good.

In 1978, after the Cultural Revolution,

there was a war against Vietnam.

They needed a lot of munitions. But after that, there was a decline.

The factory profits went down.

So her family wanted her to break with me.

One day, I remember very clearly,

she broke up with me.

I was roller-skating, and she came to find me.

There was wire netting around the ice rink,

a wire barrier, and I was inside it.

She was outside. She had an ice lolly.

She passed it to me over the railing.

I'd taken two bites from it,

when she came out with it and said,

"We're so young. Our love is so immature."

I understood it right away.

I interrupted her and said, "So it's over between us."

And she said, "You said it first."

She implied it was my decision.

I said, "Yes, I said it first."

Then she left. She didn't look back.

I remember one thing very strongly.

There was a Japanese TV show called Red Suspicion

with Yamaguchi Momoe

in the role of Sachiko, and I remember her hairstyle.

My girlfriend had Sachiko-style hair.

She left without looking back.

When she gave me the ice lolly,

she had a red handkerchief tied around her wrist.

I remember it clearly.

A few days ago on Hunan TV, they showed Red Suspicion again.

My wife...

She was the file manager in the factory.

She watches TV series every evening. She loves them.

I watch them with her.

- Which year were you born? - 1970.

I was born in 1966.

"THOUGH LEAVES ARE MANY, THE ROOT IS ONLY ONE

"THROUGH ALL THE LYING DAYS OF MY YOUTH

"I 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)

BUILDINGS IN BASKETBALL COURT

THESE MACHINES WILL BE MOVED IN THREE DAYS

Every day

I 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

The day you come

Will you tell me tenderly

That you accept to be the one

I want to be sure that the person before me

Will be faithful to her promises

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

This young lady is graceful like a flower gazing at itself in the wave

She moves delicately like the wind in the willows

Her eyes give off a mysterious charm

Her voice and her smile reflect her tender soul

This person seems to be from far away

Yet my heart thinks it recognises an old friend

Little flower, you brought nothing to eat this morning?

We went up Qingcheng Hill yesterday.

I'm tired, I don'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.

Before Liberation, Shanghai had Sichuan restaurants.

My Grandpa used to say

that the Jinjiang Hotel served good Sichuan food.

He also said Sichuan food was fashionable in Shanghai.

- You know why? - No.

During the war against Japan, Sichuan was at the back.

Many Shanghainese fled into Sichuan.

When they went home after the war,

they saw themselves as war heroes.

They ate spicy food in public to show they'd been in Sichuan.

Shanghai has changed a lot.

I went back once in 1993.

There's a street where they serve lamb stew.

I never ate lamb when I was young.

It was always cooked with garlic.

Where are you two going to eat?

My brother went to Shanghai this morning. His unit called him.

I'll be off, Little Flower. I need to get changed.

LITTLE FLOWER

Little Flower, do you get nervous?

Not usually, only when I'm in costume.

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

THE BURIAL OF FLOWERS (DREAM OF THE RED CHAMBER)

YUE OPERA

Out of nowhere

A flute's lament

Is heard in the breeze

For me it was... in 1978.

I was assigned to 420 from Shanghai Aviation Academy.

Around graduation time, we heard some of us would be sent to Chengdu.

Those who didn't want to go

used their connections to stay in Shanghai.

But I didn't.

That was when those who'd been sent to the country began coming back.

My brother came back from Jiangxi,

my elder sister, from Heilongjiang and my second sister, from Anhui.

So the family was reunited, and the house was full of people.

With the three of them and my kid brother in secondary school,

there were seven of us in all.

The house was only 20 square metres, so how could seven of us live there?

We had to divide each room in half.

And we built a temporary attic.

We say "an elephant in the stomach of a sparrow".

I slept in the attic with my sisters.

So I thought I ought to leave.

At that time, there were far more men than women in Factory 420.

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 the men who ate in Canteens 1 and 3

had come 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 did that mean?

At first, 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 called Little Flower,

with 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,

the 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.

"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 had put up a photo.

There was no caption.

It showed a young guy, good-looking, sporty type.

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 Youth League and due to visit the factory.

Others thought he was our representative

to comfort the army in Vietnam.

All the staring and speculating went on day after day.

Then it went even further.

"Little Flower, this guy is as handsome as Tang Guoqiang.

"You two would make a beautiful couple."

My colleagues in the factory were all matchmakers.

Two people who had nothing in common,

if they had matching names, would make a good couple to us.

Some of them really did get married.

I was pretty annoyed at first and 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 he really was 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

that the man was a pilot that our country had trained for 8 years,

which had cost more than 200,000 yuans.

Something went wrong with his plane.

Trying to save the plane, he didn't parachute to safety.

He was just 24.

The Secretary went on,

"The accident happened

"because some components that we'd produced

"had gone wrong."

He added, "Amongst you

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

We should reflect on our mistakes.

After that, many people introduced boys to me.

I started going out with a boy.

He taught on the factory's educational TV channel.

The son of high-ranking officials who worked in the ministries.

Good family background.

But then something bad happened.

In neighbouring workshop 34, there was a guy

who was apparently in love with me.

He wrote love letters to himself in my name.

Hard to understand, isn't it?

He wrote love letters to himself

and signed my name at the end: "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 and 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 decided to go back to Shanghai.

If I got married in Chengdu, that would be an obstacle.

The easiest way to move was to make an exchange.

I had to find someone in Shanghai

who wanted to move to Chengdu.

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 me 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 mah-jong. 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.

- In school? - Year 4.

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 centre of the city was no longer suitable for a factory.

CR Land Ltd is spending

2.14 billion yuan to redevelop the 56 hectares.

Soon, a modern, living community, named 24 City will arise on this site.

Factory 420 will use the money to modernise its technology.

Its aeronautics technology will not become obsolete...

ZHAO GANG

These white bits are for housing developments.

The grey 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,

like 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 September 1st.

I looked forward to it. It snows in Jilin, right?

First time in the north-east. Everything was exciting.

I spent that semester

learning 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? - In 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.

I took my packed lunch, with the 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 I 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

that I can't forget to this day:

"No need to worry.

"İf you can't finish this morning, you can go on in the afternoon.

"This basket is for the two of you.

"İf 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. I 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 890

I belonged to you

You belonged to me

Long, long 890

You left me

Flying high in the sky

The world outside is wonderful

LI XUEMEI, 2003

EXAM REGISTRATION PAPER

Stand up, damned of the Earth

Stand up, prisoners of starvation

Reason thunders in its volcano

This is the eruption of the end

Of the past let us make a clean slate

Enslaved masses, stand up, stand up

The world is about to change its foundation

We are nothing, let us be all

This is the final struggle

Let us group together, and tomorrow

The Internationale Will be the human race

This is the final struggle

Let us group together, and tomorrow

The Internationale Will be the human race

"THINGS WE HAVE THOUGHT AND DONE

"MUST RAMBLE AND THIN OUT

"LIKE MILK SPILT UPON A STONE" - W. B. YEATS

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 IN FACTORY 420

In Year 1, I was 1.66 metres tall. A good figure.

So I thought I could be a model or 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.

He was manager of one of the workshops in 420.

So he had good connections.

He used his influence to get me transferred

to High School 4.

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 I'm not the studying type. Not at all.

I failed the university entrance exam.

I had the strong feeling that I'd let my parents down.

For a while I 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 many rich people here, so I can easily make money.

Rich women with time on their hands

like fashion but have no energy to buy.

So they hire me to buy for them.

All the famous brands.

Shoes, scarves, belts, watches, that kind of thing.

I get 1000 yuan per item.

Enough to live on.

Pretty good, in fact.

- You see that tower? - Yes.

We call it the Panda TV Tower.

I have a friend from Malaysia who I met on a plane.

He wants to take over the revolving restaurant

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?

I bought a car for my credibility.

I have to see those rich ladies every day,

and if I didn't have a car, I'd feel quite embarrassed.

I'll repay the loan myself.

My classmates' parents have put money aside for them

since they were little.

I forget the name of the fund. Anyhow, it's ring-fenced.

And when they're old enough, they'll own apartments and cars.

My mother was laid off in 1995.

While my father was working, he kept his hands clean.

He never found my mother a well-paid job.

She found a part-time job in a telegraph-pole factory.

She's still doing that now.

Since he retired, my dad's been permanently grumpy.

He can't adjust to not being in charge.

When he worked, the house was packed with visitors.

It was very lively.

Now, nobody at all comes to visit.

In the first few months,

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 "Beautiful Age".

I also lived in a one-room flat.

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.

One day, to apply for a trip, I needed...

...my permanent residence document,

so I went home to get it and found the door locked.

I realised I didn't know where my key was.

I don't know what was wrong with me.

So I went to see my mother at her factory.

I'd never been there before.

As soon as I went inside,

I was deafened by the noise.

You had to shout to be heard.

I looked around the place.

But I couldn't see my mother.

The workers were all wearing blue uniforms.

I had to go up to every person.

I was looking for my mother.

Finally,

I found her over in a corner.

She was carrying ingots of steel.

She took them and threw them one after the other into some boxes.

Every time she threw one, it went bang!

I had never felt that sad in my whole life.

It was like a sharp pain

striking my heart, and it made all my limbs ache.

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.

Lots and lots of money.

I want to buy an apartment in 24 City for my parents.

I know 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" - POEM BY WAN XIA