ABSTRACT
The overall circumstances of the petition by the masons and carpenters to the xian Magistrate’s Office has already been reported in yesterday’s paper…. 1 At ten o’clock yesterday morning, workers from the two trades assembled in front of the Education Council Plaza…. 2 Mr. Wu, director of the Administration Office, invited the representatives into the director’s office where the various public groups were meeting in the guest hall. After a period of three hours and several urgent telephone calls from the workers at the council, it was said that they had not yet reached an agreement. So the workers had no choice but to go to the xian office to present their petition. The representatives beseeched Director Wu to respond quickly. After repeated attempts at mediation on Director Wu’s part, the meeting finally came to a close at eight o’clock in the evening, when Director Wu asked those in the two trades to prepare a formal document requesting freedom to exercise one’s trade for approval by the government. In addition, a record was drafted on the spot by the representatives and reviewed by Director Wu. The public notice of Changsha xian was declared null and void, and the workers were granted freedom to exercise their trades. While the representatives took the record to report [to those at the Education Council], a formal document was drawn up requesting the provincial governor’s approval. By this time it was already nine o’clock. Presented below are the record of the face-to-face conversation between the representatives and Director Wu and the formal document presented to the provincial government office: 3
