Wang Chen, male: cadre in charge of a ferry company, and Wu Qing, male, his friend: private businessman

WANG

Wu and I are both from the high-school class of 1967. Our class was the second to be affected by the Four-Facing Policy. ¹ The first was the class of 1966.

I was the eldest child in my family so it seemed unlikely I’d be allowed to stay in Shanghai. But I wasn’t afraid to go to the countryside.

Mother always depended on me to fetch our family’s rice supply. So the day before I was due to get my work assignment I lugged home a 100 jin [110 lb] sack of rice – a two-month ration. I took it for granted I’d be sent out of the city.

WU

Wang was a bully-looking kid. Don’t be fooled by his nice suit and by his elegant appearance today. The first time I saw him he was a head taller than I, with plenty of muscles. We were 17 years old and had just become new members of the working class in Shanghai.

WANG

As it happened, I wasn’t sent to the countryside. Instead, I was assigned to the Inland River Transportation Bureau in Shanghai. Altogether, sixty boys and sixty girls were sent to this Bureau. All the girls became mechanics, and all the boys were sent to work the boats on the Huangpu and Suchou Rivers. In old China, dockers and boatmen were the hardest working –and some of the poorest – people in Shanghai. I wasn’t too pleased to discover that, since liberation, working conditions hadn’t changed that much.

Our job was to transfer cargo, such as coal, timber, and various construction materials, from the big ships in Shanghai harbor to the factories along the banks of the Huangpu. Our steam tugs towed eight to ten barges each trip. It was eight days of continuous work followed by four days of leave. At work, we lived and slept on the boat.

WU

The living area in the junk was a tiny space, just big enough for two cots. We cooked on a portable coal stove on deck, shat in the river, and then used the same river water for washing and drinking. In the evening, we used oil lamps for illumination. Looking at the electric lights on the banks of the river, we often used to wonder what part of the world we lived in: the most developed city in China or the primitive countryside?

There were no great skills or techniques to be learned in our job. All we had to do was ride that boat up and down the Huangpu. For me, the most difficult thing was to live in such close quarters for eight days and nights. I was clumsy and physically frail and didn’t get on with the others. No one wanted me in his tug, and I was kicked off two before I met Wang. He took me in and treated me like his younger brother. I’m still grateful to him for looking after me. I couldn’t imagine anyone else doing what he did. He took care of all the cooking, washing and cleaning. He even mended my clothes. We lived in the same boat for five years. It was like being a married couple, wasn’t it?

WANG

Well, I wouldn’t put it quite that way. But we had to cultivate the habits needed for a successful marriage. Luckily, Wu and I had interests in common and we talked a lot.

Life on board was extremely boring. One of my friends came to stay with us for two days. He enjoyed himself. He thought it was romantic, lying on deck in the evening reciting Tang poems. Of course he wasn’t there during the winter nights when all you wanted to do was to get into bed as early as possible because it was too cold and dark to do anything else.

We passed our time reading anything that was available. Books were scarce. I read lots of Marx’s and Engels’ works. When you read the Bible you don’t ask whether it’s correct or not – you just try to understand it. I sometimes spent half a day thinking about a sentence from one of Marx’s or Engels’ books. I became totally absorbed in their work and wrote lots of study notes.

I still believe Marx was the greatest thinker that ever existed. No one in the past or present can compete with him. What he said about capitalist society is right. What he said about socialist society didn’t actually work out. But he couldn’t have foreseen this, could he?

WU

See! He’s still a good Communist Party member!

WANG

It’s unfashionable today to say you still believe in Marxism because this suggests you are out-of-date and a knuckle-headed fool. But truth is truth.

I also think Mao was the greatest Chinese leader that ever existed. Do you know the following saying: “Mao (Zedong) created the world” (kaitian pidi); “Zhou (Enlai) was a moral giant” (dingtian lidi); “Deng (Xiaoping) turned the world upside down” (fantian fudi); “Jiang (Zemin) rules without vision or responsibility” (huntian hudi)? Today’s leaders have no sense of morality. I still have deep feelings for Mao.

WU

That’s just some residue left over from the past. I don’t think you want to claim that Mao is relevant to your life today. If there were another Cultural Revolution you’d be one of the first targets. You’ve become a “king of the bush” (caodouwang) [in charge of a unit with autonomous powers]. You wouldn’t claim you had “deep feelings” for Mao if you came under attack from your own workers.

WANG

I agree Mao made mistakes – especially later in his life. By the end of the Cultural Revolution the country’s economy was near to collapse. At least, that’s what we were told later. But, at the time, we didn’t know anything about this. We didn’t think things were coming apart. Maybe this is because Shanghai was always under control. The only chaotic political event I can recall here was the fight between the United Command Workers’ Organization (liansi) and the Red East Workers’ Organization (dongfanghong) in August, 1967. Many people were involved and there were heavy casualties on both sides. Ultimately Red East, backed by Wang Hongwen [one of the “Gang of Four”] crushed the United Command. After this, the Cultural Revolution was conducted here in an orderly fashion. Other parts of the country weren’t so fortunate.

I do think that the Cultural Revolution was the biggest mistake Mao ever made. My father was a playwright. He joined the Party before liberation. He was so intent on being a good Party member that he never once questioned the endless political strife – not in front of me at least. He kept out of trouble. However, when the Cultural Revolution began he warned me not to get involved. During the Great Exchange he ordered me not to go to Beijing. I had to sneak out when he was in his workplace.

WU

Perhaps Shanghai wasn’t as disorderly as other cities. But there was a lot going on under the surface. Maybe Mao didn’t intend to unleash such strife, but this was an inevitable consequence of the political movements he launched.

After several years on the boats, I was “borrowed” by our Bureau’s “One-Attack-and-Three-Against” (yidasanfan) team. ² My job was to guard the prisoners who’d been detained and held for investigation. It was a pretty horrible job, let me tell you. It didn’t take too long for me to figure out that the Cultural Revolution was a chance for the people who’d gained power to strike out at those who’d lost power. Over the years, many bloody accounts were left unsettled. Now was a chance to get even.

WANG

Few people got personally involved in these kinds of political struggles. But, after several campaigns, most work units contained a few people with questionable political records. These became “veteran athletes” – individuals who could be picked on whenever a new campaign was launched. We called these “athletes” “dead tigers” (silaohu) too because they were “dead” from the moment they first got hit. When the Party bosses had to respond to initiatives from above they would schedule a meeting, call their “tigers” out of retirement and “honor” them once more. No one took these escapades too seriously.

The students who remained in Shanghai had different experiences from those who went to the countryside. It was relatively easy for us to adjust. By the end of the Cultural Revolution most of us were getting married. We saved up equivalent amounts of money, bought the same set of furniture and arranged for the same wedding banquet. Everyone was equal. What one family could afford, others, too, could purchase. Therefore, our hearts were at peace.

When I got married my work unit gave me a one-room apartment with a kitchen and bathroom that was shared with three other families. This room had just enough space for the standard set of furniture. But there was only one place where you could put your bed and still leave room for the other things. So every family set their bed in the same spot. Sometimes, during the night you couldn’t help hearing the noise overhead. Then you’d start worrying about the couple downstairs. That’s about the furthest equality can go. Maybe it was a bit too far.

By the way, I still live in that room but now I have new furniture.

WU

The man is absolutely foolish! He must be about the only person in his position that hasn’t yet been given a two-bedroom apartment. He’s a boss in charge of six ferries and 200 employees. Perhaps he’s trying to get himself a medal as a “Model Party Member.”

WANG

No. Don’t make fun of me.

Our company is state-owned. In fact, the transportation sector has not been touched by privatization. It was only recently that the government allowed foreign money to be invested in roads, railways and river transportation. I heard that the Japanese JR Company and the French TGC Company are competing for the chance to build a high-speed rail service between Beijing and Shanghai. The Japanese train is smaller and is capable of reaching 500 kilometers per hour. If this line is built it will take six hours to get to Beijing. Now it’s a trip of more than seventeen hours. Japanese companies also want to begin a new passenger line from Japan via Shanghai to Chongqing. This would be a very important step for the Japanese. They’ve never been allowed to sail up the Changjiang River.

Our unit is responsible for ferrying cars and trucks across the Huangpu River between Shanghai and Pudong. I started working at this particular job in 1983, and was put in charge of our unit in 1993, the year the Yangpu bridge was completed. Because of the bridge our business dropped off considerably. However, since late 1994, the business has been coming back because there are often traffic jams at the bridge. About 50,000 vehicles a day now use the Yangpu bridge, which is about the maximum amount of traffic it can handle.

Our company increased its profit from 7.2 million yuan in 1994 to 10 million yuan in 1996. I think I’m doing a good job. But I’m just a worker hired by the Party. They can reward me if they want. But they don’t have to because I’m just doing my duty. All I care about is avoiding accidents. In my line of work if you make a mistake it’s likely to be a big one. I try to treat my workers fairly. I tell them I’m a “father-and-mother” official (fumuguan) who will look after them. In return, I expect them to do their duty.

WU

I don’t believe what I’m hearing! A “father-and-mother” official? Is this why you were visiting one of your workers at home today on Saturday?

WANG

[ignoring Wu] You ask me to compare being a cadre before and after reform. It’s a lot easier now. Today, you have the freedom to get rid of employees, and you don’t even have to come up with a reason for firing them.

During the Cultural Revolution, if you wanted to punish a worker you had to be careful. They could fight back and get into a shouting match. But no worker would do this now. The government’s policies have made them fearful of losing their jobs. There are 600,000 people who have lost their job in Shanghai this year [1996]. At least, that’s the official figure. The real number is probably much higher.

When Deng Xiaoping said, “let a few get rich first” I think he acted in good will. China is so big it wasn’t likely that everyone would get rich at the same time. Because of Deng’s policy, however, we now have a few very rich people and many others who are left behind and who will never catch up.

I think the living standards of ordinary people have improved a lot but inflation is a big problem. I remember the first time food prices were adjusted was in November 1979. It was a big thing back then and officials had to make a lot of speeches to justify the decision. Now, inflation is growing too fast. People might have a better diet but they feel tense and insecure all the time.

I do see good signs for the future. In 1995, there were 336 registered foreign companies in Waigaoqiao tax-free zone in Pudong. This is a 22 percent increase over 1994. As long as Pudong is developing our work unit will do all right.

WU

I would describe China like this: in economics, the Party follows a Westernization movement (yangwu yundong), but, in politics, it moves toward a constitutional monarchy – the only difference being that the king is replaced by the Party. Wang is like a good-hearted Chinese official from the Qing dynasty. He wants change but remains loyal to the past. I envy his relaxed attitude. He claims that yesterday was not too bad and today is better. My position is that yesterday was bad and today’s no better. The more the economy develops the more society disintegrates. Wang and I still are good friends but now we see things slightly differently.

After I left the One-Attack-and-Three-Against team I was sent to our Bureau’s Department of Public Affairs to help produce a newsletter. I’m good at Chinese water painting and calligraphy. That’s why they wanted me to work on the newsletter. In 1980, the Bureau ended production of this newsletter, and I was given the job of managing the car pool. It was a nice job because I was another “king of the bush.”

One day, a former driver, who had left us to go to university years ago, came to visit me. He’d graduated and had started working for the Shanghai Elderly People’s Association. He told me that the Association was looking for people to help start a newspaper. He told me that if I wanted the position he could get it for me. I took the job without a second thought. Officially, the Association had “borrowed” me from the Inland Transportation Bureau.

This is how I got to know people in sociology. Because of my new job I started to do some research on elderly people. This was a new area of investigation without much of a history. It was easy for someone like me with no sociological training to become an “expert” on the elderly.

In 1991, I was “borrowed” again by the State Statistical Bureau in Beijing to work on the population census. My job was to take demographic samples. Frankly, I didn’t have a clue what I was doing. I saw my assignment as “mixing glue” (daojianghu) [performing a task perfunctorily]. But I was given pretty good insight into how the State Statistical Bureau actually operates.

It’s difficult for Shanghainese to work in Beijing. It’s so political there. In any case, I didn’t want to stay in Beijing. By 1993, the city was full of college-educated people looking for work. I had no degree.

So I returned to Shanghai and decided to “jump into the sea.” But I didn’t know anything about business and didn’t even know what kind of enterprise I wanted to start. I went to Shenzhen to make money. But, like many others there, I had no idea how to do this.

I’d been in Shenzhen before and knew some people there. So I began my “business” by calling on these friends and by throwing dinner parties for them. Everyone said they would help me, but I couldn’t even tell them what kind of help I was looking for. Before long, I’d spent all my money but my “business” was still in the talking stage. On my last day in Shenzhen I had 29 yuan left in my pocket – not enough, even, to buy a ticket home.

When I finally got back to Shanghai I had far less money than when I’d left home. My wife told me I should view my losses as the “tuition” I had to pay to learn something new. I learned my lesson. I took time out to think about what I wanted to do.

I formed a partnership with a Chinese overseas student who had a “green card” [US residence permit]. Unfortunately, he had no money. But I needed a “foreign investor” as my partner in order to qualify for tax breaks and other subsidies.

Now I’m doing all right. Once you get started you start building up a network. Then things get a bit easier.

I’m not like Wang. I have a monkey’s ass. I can’t sit still for long. Of course, my future is hardly secure.

WANG

[laughing] You’re a born businessman. You’ll be all right.