Chapter 232 Boiling a Frog in Slow Water: A Trip to Shanghai

If Wang Xiao had to describe Shanghai in early 1994 with a single word, he would choose "large construction site".

It's true, from the moment she got off the plane and into the car, all she could see was a construction site.

The Oriental Pearl Tower, Jin Mao Tower, and Shanghai Tower—these iconic Shanghai skyscrapers—are, unfortunately, still in the works.

At this moment, Wang Xiao could honestly say that Shanghai was more like the county town she lived in before she transmigrated. Yes, but a rather mediocre county town.

Perhaps because it was winter, and there was a lack of green trees, red flowers, and colorful young men and women, the streets of Shanghai were filled with a gray and white hue.

The 28-inch Forever brand bicycles are the most common mode of transportation on the streets, making the whole city seem so simple and unpretentious.

However, the well-dressed old gentlemen sitting in the semi-open parks on the streets, with their leisurely demeanor, showcased the unique atmosphere of Shanghai's Haipai culture.

Ivanov sighed, “This is truly a thriving city.”

He said this not because Shanghai is better planned than Moscow at this moment.

On the contrary, even a wrecked ship has three thousand nails.

Even though Moscow was in decline in 1994, it was still a major international city in terms of urban development.

However, Moscow doesn't have construction sites everywhere like Shanghai.

Yes, there is construction in Moscow, but what is it for? It's mostly for building churches.

As one of God's children, Ivanov was delighted by this change.

But as a Moscow resident, he has to say, it's terrible; what Moscow really needs are more factories and office buildings.

Wang Xiao looked intently at the construction sites outside the window, some bustling and others already shut down, and said seriously, "That's right, so people in Shanghai need to buy houses now, otherwise life won't be easy in the future."

Because the rate of increase in housing prices in Shanghai far exceeds the income of people working here.

For native Shanghainese, unless they are fortunate enough to be relocated due to demolition or strike it rich, or get on the property ladder early, once housing prices rise, it's considered a luxury for an average person to have their own room and bed with just their salary.

From this perspective, Wang Xiao felt that he had truly done a great service.

She was truly amazing for encouraging employees of township enterprises in Jiangdong and Jiangbei to build houses.

This not only allows them to live in spacious houses now, but also gives them the hope of getting rich quickly in the event of future demolition and relocation.

Well, let's wish them success in catching this incredible fortune.

Ivanov, on the other hand, was secretly a little smug.

Why? Because while Moscow's housing prices have indeed skyrocketed, it hasn't had much impact on Muscovites. During the Soviet era, almost every household in Moscow already owned a home, with an average of over ten square meters per person being commonplace.

Wang Xiao took the opportunity to tease him: "See, having wealthy ancestors makes all the difference, you're so confident."

Ivanov feigned modesty: "That's useless; no matter how wealthy you are, you can't prevent a spendthrift son from squandering your wealth."

Luckily, the car stopped in front of the next large construction site, otherwise Wang Xiao couldn't guarantee that he wouldn't have rolled his eyes.

Alright, alright! Stop acting all innocent after getting a good deal. If everyone who wasn't born into wealth gets a mouthful of soda from the bottom of the class, they'll all spray you to death!

Don't worry about not having enough salted soda; salted soda in Shanghai is a retro-chic item.

The car stopped, the door opened, and Zhang Junfei, who had been driving, immediately came over to greet the two bosses.

He was the one who personally went to the airport to pick them up.

When Ivanov saw Zhang Junfei, he grinned and smiled warmly.

It wasn't that he fell in love with her at first sight, but rather that Zhang Junfei hit his funny bone.

According to his ID card, Zhang Junfei is from Shandong, so Ivanov's first impression of him was that of a burly Shandong man.

When he met Zhang Junfei today, he discovered that Zhang Junfei's height was average among Chinese people, probably less than 1.7 meters, and he was also dark-skinned and thin (his ID photo from the 1990s was black and white), completely overturning the image of a "Shandong big man".

Then he couldn't hold it in anymore and grinned when he saw him.

Zhang Junfei felt uneasy at the sight of her laughter, constantly wondering if he had messed something up.

But he couldn't stop to do a thorough self-examination. So he had no choice but to bite the bullet and give the introduction to the boss.

Well, you really can't tell anything without an introduction.

The construction site is a large construction site, a busy and bustling construction site.

Did you watch the slow-motion live stream of the construction sites of Huoshenshan and Leishenshan hospitals during the Spring Festival of 2020?

The scene Wang Xiao was seeing now was similar to that one, except that a large number of machines had been replaced by workers, and there were far more workers wearing safety helmets and working non-stop on the construction site than machines.

Because of the dry winter climate, there was a lot of dust, and Wang Xiao had to stand in a sheltered spot to see the construction site clearly.

Zhang Junfei gestured to the boss, "According to the plan, this is a fish market, the hillside behind will be transformed into a park, and further back will be a shopping mall and commercial office buildings."

The park renovation plan really helped him acquire this land.

At the time, everyone who wanted to acquire the land wanted to flatten the mountain—well, it was actually just a big earthen slope—in order to make full use of the land.

Only he proposed a plan to keep the mountain unchanged, plant more flowers and trees to create a small scenic spot with flowers blooming all year round, and then arrange some leisure and entertainment facilities.

His reasoning was that the world's top cities all prioritize green spaces.

Even though land prices in Tokyo are so high, with every inch of land worth its weight in gold, it doesn't stop the Japanese from planting trees here and making flowerbeds there wherever they can find a spot.

Of course, these are just empty words on the surface.

The real reason is that the mountain is so important to him; it's like a treasure from heaven.

With this mountain serving as a natural barrier, he wasn't worried that the fishy smell would drift into the commercial area and create an unpleasant atmosphere.

Zhang Junfei earnestly explained to the boss, "The reason for this layout is the wind direction. I got the data from the meteorological bureau. The wind here usually blows from back to front most of the time, so people who go up the mountain won't find the smell unpleasant."

Ivanov was overjoyed.

He felt that Zhang Junfei should be able to win Wang's favor because the young man paid attention to trivial yet crucial details.

Wang Xiao nodded, showing no obvious like or dislike.

Zhang Junfei became increasingly nervous.

When he received the notification that the boss was coming, he immediately called Brother Tang for help.

He met a lot of bosses through Brother Tang, but most of them were men.

Newspapers say that men and women come from two different planets, so how can they have the same ideas?

Tang Yicheng told him to only talk about practical matters and not to make witty remarks, and most importantly, not to try to get close to Ivanov.

This would be a major taboo, giving people the impression that you're trying to undermine the female boss.

The male boss has no such ambition; your actions are simply foolish and despicable.

Focus on practical skills; let your boss know you're capable and get things done. More emotional value can be provided to your boss by others.

What if the boss doesn't react after I've finished speaking?

Don't panic. Capable people have high standards for themselves and for others.

The things you do are just basic operations in the boss's eyes; they're unlikely to impress her.

But if you do the basic operations well, it means the work is successfully completed. No one can erase your achievements, and your boss will see them.

However, Zhang Junfei was young and ambitious, and since it was his first time catching the boss's eye, he wanted to make a good impression so that he could gain a foothold in the group.

He knew that given his age, experience, and family background, the fact that he was able to independently undertake such a large project was entirely due to his good fortune and the fact that he had followed the right leader.

If someone with similar qualifications were to work their entire life, they would most likely never achieve what he has.

After all, the world is as big as the stage.

Now that he's already on stage, he shouldn't make a grand entrance.

Just as he was racking his brains trying to figure out how to make himself stand out, the foreman came over and brought them safety helmets.

Wang Xiao took the safety helmet, but didn't put it on or go to the construction site.

What's she going up there for? She's not a civil engineering student; she wouldn't understand anything about it.

She wanted to check the quality of the helmet.

Xiao Gao had already put on his safety helmet and went to the construction site with another helmet, asking a busy cement mixer worker to exchange his helmet for his.

He took the faded helmet and the one he was wearing to the boss, flicked them with his finger, and said nothing.

Zhang Junfei's expression changed drastically in an instant, wishing he could dig a hole and disappear into it.

There's no doubt that the safety helmets worn by construction workers are of lower quality than those bought specifically for the boss. You get what you pay for.

Wang Xiao calmly said, "I know you want to save money for the group and control costs. But some money cannot be wasted, while some money must be spent."

Upon seeing this, the project manager from the construction company, who had accompanied Zhang Junfei to greet the client's big boss, quickly extricated Zhang Junfei from the situation: "That contractor is too greedy. We didn't shortchange him on the project, but he won't even buy him a decent safety helmet. Hey, Lao Qin, come here for a second. Honestly."

Old Qin, who came over after being called over, was wearing a leather jacket, an orange-yellow hard hat, and had a slightly dark face and a bit of a belly. He was the typical foreman.

As soon as he arrived, he greeted the big boss with a big smile: "Hello boss, we will definitely get this done before the end of the year."

The dust was too thick, so Wang Xiao abandoned his pretense of being approachable and down-to-earth, and asked the other person while wearing a mask, "How much management fee do you want to pay?"

The construction company's project manager quickly emphasized, "Mr. Wang, we know your group's rules; we don't like to hire outsiders. But the workload is so large and the time is so tight, that's why we outsourced part of it. I can guarantee that there were no layers of subcontracting; we found the people directly."

He said this without the slightest hint of guilt.

Because outsourcing is the norm in the construction industry.

For a construction company to win a project, it's quite impressive if they can get their own people involved to do half of the work and then outsource the other half.

Some construction companies don't have any workers on the construction site at all; they subcontract the work to individual foremen who bring their own people to do it.

Wang Xiao nodded, looked at the contractor, and said confidently, "So you're paying a 6% management fee, right?"

Although the contractor was completely baffled, he still nodded in agreement: "Yes, it's 6%."

This is standard practice, and he has no qualms about it.

Wang Xiao didn't get angry at the contractor. Instead, he calmly said, "Even with a 6% management fee, you still make a profit. Don't skimp on the workers' safety helmets, food, and lodging. They're working for you, providing them with job opportunities and wages. But the money you earn is also earned by them for you. In the past, production teams raised cattle to plow the fields, and they had to feed the cattle well so that they could work hard to plow the fields, right?"

The foreman laughed: "Oh dear, the ox eats better than us. It doesn't matter if one person dies in the production team, but if an ox dies, then the sky will fall."

How heartbreaking.

Comparing working people to cattle and horses tramples on their dignity and emphasizes how terrible their living conditions are.

But in an era when human labor was cheap, people were not even as valuable as cattle and horses.

Wang Xiao's eyes crinkled into a smile: "Then you'd better treat the people who make you money well. The safety helmet is really no good, get a better one. I don't like accidents on my projects. I have a bad temper, but I like to hold people accountable. If something happens, I won't hire you again for the next project."

If she had said this a year ago, the contractor would have smiled on the outside but cursed inwardly, thinking this female boss was a pain in the ass and wouldn't have given her a second thought.

Because at this time last year, there was a boom in infrastructure construction, with construction sites everywhere, and labor shortages even occurred from time to time.

Experienced contractors with their own teams never have to worry about finding construction sites to work on.

But things are different now. Since last summer, fewer and fewer construction sites have started, and less than half of those that have started are still operational. Many projects have been suspended.

He was incredibly lucky to be able to directly contract the project instead of being exploited at every level; of course, he was reluctant to lose the project he had in hand.

"Definitely, definitely," the contractor swore. "I'll go buy safety helmets right away and get everyone the best ones."

As he spoke, he immediately called his wife, who was also the construction team's cook, to go buy a safety helmet.

After everyone had walked away, the project manager shook his head with a smile: "Oh dear, these contractors, they're so stingy. They can't even bear to buy a decent safety helmet."

Wang Xiao turned his head, his eyes like deep pools, unfathomable, yet his voice was soft, seemingly with a smile: "You can't blame the contractor, after all, he paid a 6% management fee, maybe he thought the safety helmets were provided by your construction company."

The project manager instinctively replied, "We've already outsourced everything, so why would we care about this?"

Wang Xiao's eyes curved into crescents: "Then they pay management fees, what are you in charge of?"

The project manager was stunned for a moment, opened his mouth as if to speak, but a gust of wind blew by, and dust covered his face and mouth.

He kept spitting out sand, his eyes getting fogged up again.

Zhang Junfei quickly called to the boss, "Over here, over here, let's come over here to take shelter. The wind is strong in Shanghai in winter, there's no other way."

He's so panicked right now, he doesn't know where to put his heart.

Don't be fooled by the fact that the boss seemed to have talked about the contractor and the project manager of the construction company, but didn't actually educate him.

But based on his understanding of his boss, he knew that all these responsibilities would fall on his shoulders.

The reason is very simple: the boss put him in charge of the Shanghai project.

Recruiting soldiers and buying horses were all his business.

If something goes wrong, or if he doesn't do a good job, that's his problem.

The boss is unlikely to cause trouble for his subordinates.

Zhang Junfei was in a state of turmoil, when unexpectedly, the boss didn't dwell on the matter. Instead, he casually turned the page and even asked him, holding the blueprints, "An auction house? What's this place for?"

The sweat on Zhang Junfei's back hung suspended in mid-air.

If it weren't for the helmet incident, he would have proudly told his boss that it was a clever trick he learned from the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo.

Every day at five o'clock in the morning, before dawn, the Tsukiji Fish Market begins its auction and continues until nine o'clock in the morning.

Large wholesalers, also known as fish market operators, sell a day's supply of fresh fish to small wholesalers and large buyers through auctions. The fish market charges a 5.5% commission from the sellers.

Zhang Junfei had observed auction ceremonies at the Tsukiji Fish Market.

Good heavens, at four in the morning, when it was still pitch black outside, thousands of people in the fish market were already incredibly busy.

Trucks drove in one after another, bringing loads of fish that filled the 20-acre site.

Once the fish were laid out, the wholesalers couldn't wait to come out, carefully examining the neatly arranged fish, noting down the numbers of their favorites, and preparing to participate in the auction.

At 5:00 a.m., the auctioneer announced the types of fish available for the day and the auction began.

Zhang Junfei was deeply impressed by the auction process; he felt as if he were in a giant Japanese theater.

It's no wonder he had this misconception, because the buyers below the stage stood in rows on tiered tripods, each wearing a matching brimmed cap with a large yellow card bearing their surname embedded in the front, making it easy for the auctioneer on stage to identify them.

The auctioneers on stage, while not dressed in such strange attire, were using fake voices and quickly announced some prices to the buyers.

Buyers and auctioneers faced off, listening to each other's bids and then exchanging bids. Once no other competitors continued bidding, the transaction was considered complete.

Zhang Junfei couldn't understand a single word they were saying.

Not only did he not understand, but even the translator he hired was completely baffled.

It's not that the translation is bad; it's just that they're using traditional jargon and ancient numbers, which are completely incomprehensible to laymen.

Zhang Junfei is quite eloquent, especially good at vividly describing things.

In his reception itinerary, the introduction to the Tsukiji Fish Market auction was a small highlight. He was confident he could make the presentation engaging for the boss.

But now, his once-proud heart, which had been soaring because he had successfully acquired the land and made rapid plans, even managing to start construction before the end of the year, has plummeted to rock bottom. He can no longer take flight.

So he could only give a dry, brief account of the Tsukiji Fish Market auction process, which was even more boring than the news.

No wonder Mr. Wang didn't react at all when he heard that.

Meanwhile, the construction company's project manager was still awkwardly praising, "Oh, Mr. Wang, your group is really dedicated. When our company sent people to do the preliminary research, Manager Zhang didn't rest for a minute, running between Shanghai and Tokyo to see the Japanese fish market. The depth of his research shocked us."

Zhang Junfei really wanted to jump up and cover the project manager's mouth.

The reason for the jump was that the project manager, perhaps due to some special ancestral bloodline, was exceptionally tall, a rare sight for a southerner at 1.9 meters, almost the same size as Ivanov.

If Zhang Junfei doesn't jump, it's really not easy to cover someone's mouth.

Ivanov was so amused by the scene he had imagined that he almost cried from laughing.

Poor Zhang Junfei's face grew paler and paler amidst the deafening laughter.

The bewildered project manager was laughed at so much that his voice grew softer and softer until he couldn't utter a single word.

Did he say something wrong? He was exaggerating the manager's behavior.

Wang Xiao was helpless. He glanced at Ivanov and gestured for him to at least tone it down.

Ivanov raised his hand, responded with "Oh, oh," and then put on a charming smile, looking very interested: "Oh, so this is how fish markets in Japan do business."

Although he had been to Tokyo several times, he had never actually been to a fish market.

God, although he is not a fragrant person and he eats all kinds of seafood, he must say that he does not like the smell of fish.

“Wang,” he asked curiously, “Do all Japanese people have a different surname? Otherwise, how can the auctioneer identify the buyer just by the surname on the hat?”

In Russia, if a brick falls down a street in Moscow, it could hit at least three Misrnovs.

He also discovered that among the Chinese, there were 42 Lis, 37 Suns, 35 Zhangs, and so on on two commercial streets in Moscow. There were also many Wangs, a total of 18.

Are there really so many Japanese surnames that it's rare for two people to have the same surname? That's incredible.

The translator relayed the male boss's words to Zhang Junfei.

Poor Zhang Junfei got stuck.

When he was conducting research at the Tsukiji Fish Market, he was completely shocked by the auction and never expected this.

Now, everyone else has returned to Shanghai and is back on the construction site, unable to even make international calls to acquaintances in Japan.

So he could only stand there awkwardly with his mouth agape, completely at a loss for how to answer his boss's question.

Fortunately, well, to make matters worse, his male boss never seemed to expect his answer from the beginning; the one who was watching was his female boss.

Wang Xiao shook his head: "I don't know either, but there certainly aren't that many surnames in Japan. I guess the reason why fish market auctions can identify buyers by their surnames is because Japanese industries, especially traditional ones, have very high barriers to entry."

“Japanese culture is very conservative. Family inheritance, adoption and surname change, or taking a son-in-law are all acceptable, but outsiders are not accepted. This makes it very difficult for outsiders to join an industry.”

Before she transmigrated, various kinds of immortals, such as the Rice Immortal and the Sushi Immortal, were very popular in Japan.

At the time, some people wrote articles to popularize the serious problem of class solidification in Japan. Due to the limitations of the job market and the lack of upward mobility, many industries have become family businesses, forming specific small circles and interest groups, just like the Brahmins in a county town in China, naturally excluding outsiders.

She estimated that the situation was similar for eligible buyers at Japan's Tsukiji fish market.

Before Ivanov could express his amazement, Zhang Junfei's face turned even paler.

He was so proud of his idea to bring the entire Tsukiji Fish Market to Shanghai. He was so proud of himself.

During his land acquisition process in Shanghai, he discovered that Shanghainese people greatly admire and yearn for Japan. Many Shanghainese try every means to work in Japan, and many Shanghainese women also try to marry Japanese men.

He felt that if Shanghainese simply copied Tokyo's largest fish market, they would definitely like it.

But the boss only made a few casual remarks before revealing a harsh truth: Tokyo is Tokyo, and Shanghai is Shanghai.

The Tsukiji fish market model simply wouldn't work in Shanghai.

Zhang Junfei was in despair.

He even carefully examined the management structure of Tsukiji Fish Market and planned the organizational setup.

These things will probably be hard to use in the future.

However, to his surprise, the boss's gossip seemed to be just that—gossip.

After the small talk, Mr. Wang nodded to him and smiled in affirmation: "You've worked hard inspecting the fish market in Tokyo."

Zhang Junfei forced a smile, and finally managed to squeeze out a dry sentence: "It's not hard work, it's what I should do."

The project manager of the construction company felt he should praise his direct contact in front of the client's boss, so he laughed and said, "Manager Zhang is too modest. General Manager Wang has no weak soldiers under his command. A capable and shrewd key talent like Manager Zhang, who is also so young, is really rare in our company."

After saying that, he laughed heartily again.

Zhang Junfei was so amused that he had nowhere to run and could only bite the bullet and ask the boss if he wanted to go for another look at the construction site.

Ivanov couldn't help but laugh at his expression, and nodded understandingly, indicating that he could take another look at the cold storage arrangements for the fish market.

This time, the contractor didn't greet him warmly. He was talking to someone and looked quite angry: "I think you've lost your mind. I told you I couldn't take on the road repair job, but you insisted. Now we've lost money, fine!"

The man's face was dark red: "Well, I have no choice. I can't get into this line of work if I don't do it. You lend me the money, so I have to pay them to buy tickets."

The contractor cursed, then turned around and saw the bosses staring at him. He quickly ran over to explain, "They're not here to collect debts, they're from my hometown. They brought a group of people to build the highway, but they're short of money now."

The project manager, probably wanting to emphasize the rarity of their project and the unusual generosity in settling payments, quickly asked, "Are you owing them money and not paying them their wages?"

"Oh, not exactly." The contractor's face was full of unspeakable frustration. "The section he contracted has changed hands five times already. He has to pay 36% in management fees alone. It's impossible for him not to lose money. He's an honest man, so even if he loses money, he still uses good labor and materials, which makes him lose even more. Now he can't even afford the train tickets for the workers to go home for the Chinese New Year."

The project manager frowned and clicked his tongue: "This is really something."

He didn't say what it really was, and no one asked.

The contractor jumped down again to find his fellow villager.

After listening to the translation and understanding the whole story, Ivanov suddenly asked Wang Xiao in Russian: "Wang, is this a conspiracy of yours?"

"What?" Wang Xiao didn't follow his train of thought.

Ivanov said earnestly, “Like a frog being slowly boiled in water, state-owned enterprises are a burden to you too, aren’t they? I remember your Chairman Liu once complained that permanent workers, who have labor insurance, are hard to let go once they’re hired, and it’s very difficult to let them go. So you try to use temporary workers and contract workers as much as possible. Because he opposed making temporary workers permanent, opposed the fixation of the working class, and suggested that the status of workers and peasants should be mobile, which harmed the interests of the working class, so you called him a traitor and overthrew him.”

Wang Xiao was completely confused and had to ask, "What exactly are you trying to say?"

"I want to say that although Chairman Liu failed, you did not abandon his suggestions, and you adopted a more ingenious approach."

Ivanov gestured with his eyes in the direction of the project manager, who, unable to understand Russian, was still chuckling.

"Like boiling a frog in lukewarm water. You've given state-owned enterprises special privileges, like licenses. Only state-owned enterprises are qualified to undertake general contracting projects and are allowed to engage in foreign trade. On the surface, you're supporting state-owned enterprises and giving them the opportunity to monopolize the market. But in reality, you're also creating opportunities for them to degenerate."

"They can subcontract their privileges, allowing unqualified entities to operate under their name in foreign trade; they can subcontract projects to construction teams and companies without general contracting qualifications. They don't have to do anything, yet they can sit back and collect management fees. A 36% management fee—good heavens, you can't earn that much profit even if you did the work yourself. Who could resist such a temptation?"

Ivanov sighed, "I think it's not just the leaders of these state-owned enterprises; ordinary employees would also be willing to not do any work and just collect management fees."

"Over time, all the work will fall to other companies, well, those unqualified companies. They will actually dominate the entire market."

"Those qualified organizations are just good at making a name for themselves. When they go bankrupt, it won't have much of an impact on Chinese society."

"Because there's no place for them in the market anymore; they're not the ones doing the work."

"The only problem is what to do with the tens of thousands of workers? But China has a population of 1 billion, 80% of whom are agricultural workers, and of the remaining urban population, at least half do not work in state-owned enterprises. Therefore, unemployed workers are still a small minority."

"And no one will sympathize with them, because they do no work and live off management fees. And why should they collect management fees? In fact, they do nothing. They are just doing these things by virtue of their privileges; they have become the aristocracy of the working class."

Ivanov clenched his fist and made a powerful gesture: "The proletarian revolution is about eliminating the aristocracy."

Wang Xiao was stunned.

She was truly impressed by this sixth brother.

She had never said anything like that to him.

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Note: In the 1980s and 90s, it was a trend for Shanghainese to go to Japan to work because of the high incomes. This was similar to the phenomenon of many people from inland areas going to coastal areas to work at that time.

Furthermore, the quote from Chairman Liu mentioned in the text comes from "On the Two Labor Systems and the Two Education Systems," a speech given by then-Chairman Liu at a cadre meeting in the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in 1964. I posted it before; interested students can take a look. The full text is as follows:

Today I want to talk about the two labor systems and the two education and school systems. I raised this issue at the Central Working Conference and briefly discussed it, but I didn't explain it clearly. I'll elaborate on it again during this trip to various localities. This is one of our ideas; how to implement it ultimately requires experimentation.

The two labor systems and two school systems I mentioned are combined. There is also a combination of industrial and agricultural labor systems. These two labor systems are combined with each other, and in turn, they are combined with the two school systems. Simply put, this labor system combined with the school system involves running schools in rural areas that combine farming and education, with students working in the fields during busy seasons and studying during the off-season. It also involves running schools in factories that combine work and education, with students working half the time and studying the other half. As for how many days a week are spent working and studying, whatever is best will be decided through experimentation.

These schools, which combine farming and studying, or work and study, are a combination of labor, education, and school systems, and are all formal.

Implementing this combination of labor and education systems is beneficial in the present context. It makes universal education possible, and both the state and families can afford it. If we don't implement this system and only maintain the current education system—full-time primary, secondary, and university—our country cannot achieve universal education. Running too many schools would be unaffordable for both the state and families. Currently, a considerable number of school-age children are unable to attend school. While we are eliminating illiteracy, a large number of new illiterate individuals are emerging. There are also too many children now. Therefore, without finding a solution, there is no hope for universal education.

More than a decade has passed since our revolutionary victory. Simply universalizing primary education is insufficient, nor is universalizing junior high school education; we must reach the level of graduation from secondary technical schools. Implementing a system of part-time farming and part-time study, or part-time work and part-time study, will allow children to earn their own living while also receiving an education. This will be affordable for both the state and families. Therefore, universal education will become possible.

Now, children demand to continue their education. After graduating from primary school, they want to go to junior high; after junior high, they want to continue; and after graduating from high school, they demand even more. The more they study, the stronger their desire to continue. I think this demand is legitimate. Our government and our party should try to meet this demand. But there must be a condition: they must be able to earn their own living. Otherwise, their families will be unable to support themselves, and neither will the country. A system of part-time farming and part-time work is something children are happy about. They can farm for half a year or work for half a year and study for the other half, allowing them to continue their education if needed. Children can accept this condition.

At the same time, isn't there a requirement for urban youth to go to the countryside to farm? This requires changing their mindset. This mindset can be changed. If urban youth can study and even pursue higher education in the countryside, they will be happy. This will help mobilize urban youth to go to the countryside. As long as they have land to farm and education to pursue in the countryside, most urban youth are willing to go.

Currently, we cannot reduce the number of full-time primary, secondary, and tertiary schools. Maintaining the current system is still necessary. However, could we perhaps increase education funding slightly each year, without increasing it further as the national economy improves? I believe the increased funding should not be used to establish the current type of schools, but rather to establish part-work, part-study, or part-farming, part-study schools. This is from a current perspective. In the long run, this school system, combined with the labor system, can initially eliminate the distinction between mental and physical labor. In 1958, I went to Tianjin and gave a presentation there. At that time, their enthusiasm was very high, and they quickly established over a hundred part-work, part-study schools in factories, in various forms. In recent years, no one has managed them, and most have withered away. Recently, I went to Tianjin again and inquired with them. They still have seven part-work, part-study schools in factories that have been operating since 1958, without collapsing. They now have over nine thousand students, and more than two thousand have already graduated. They run secondary industrial technical schools, with chemical plants, photosensitive material plants, and electronic instrument factories. Shanghai has an industrial university with several thousand students; over eight hundred graduated this summer. Those schools admit outstanding workers with an average of five years or more of work experience. The one in Shanghai is a university, with a four- or five-year graduation period. The one in Tianjin is a secondary technical school, enrolling junior high school graduates, with a four-year graduation period. Shanghai also has vocational schools and industrial secondary schools. Jiangxi has the Communist Labor University, which has been running for several years and has also produced graduates. Agricultural secondary schools in Jiangsu and Guangdong have also achieved success; they initially developed rapidly, then shrank, but are now gradually recovering.

It is said that these graduates are both intellectually and physically capable. What does "intellectually and physically capable" mean? It means they can engage in both mental and physical labor. They learned a production technology, enabling them to work as factory workers and farmers, as well as in factory offices, research institutions, and some even as technicians. I believe these graduates of part-time technical schools are a new kind of people. They are different from us, different from you, different from today's workers, different from today's farmers, and different from today's intellectuals. They are a new kind of people educated in our new society, in socialist society. This kind of person is the future of our country, the future of all of us. In the future, all workers, all farmers, and all office workers will all become like this, completely changing the face of our country. To change the face of China, besides building factories, reservoirs, and roads, the most important thing is to transform people.

We often talk about eliminating three differences: the difference between mental and manual labor, the urban-rural divide, and the worker-peasant divide. This is a task of the socialist period, not the communist period. Only when these three differences are eliminated, or essentially eliminated, can we possibly enter communism. We are now in the socialist period, and we should now gradually eliminate these three differences.

I believe we should begin experimenting with schools that combine work and study, or farming and studying, now, to gain experience for future wider adoption. If we don't start now, I think it will be too late; time will be too short. However, starting now isn't too late. Generally, a school system requires at least five years to accumulate initial experience and expand the experiment; it takes ten years to gain relatively mature experience for widespread adoption. If we start now, it will be ten years before large-scale implementation. Now, fifteen years have passed since the revolution's victory. If we don't start now, it won't be possible to expand it even in ten years, and then another twenty years, a total of thirty-five years—which will be too late. Therefore, I suggest that every province, municipality, autonomous region, and every large and medium-sized city begin experimenting with such schools, so that after five years we can summarize the experience, expand the experiment, and after ten years we can gain relatively mature experience for widespread adoption.

In rural areas, it's difficult for the children of poor and lower-middle peasants to attend school because they rely on the peasants for household chores. However, six- or seven-year-old children are not very capable of physical labor or household chores. Establishing more full-time and some part-time primary schools would likely benefit the education of these children. By the time they reach upper primary school, the peasants will need to rely on them for labor, making full-time schooling impossible. Part-time work and study, or part-time upper primary school, would suit the needs of the peasantry. More part-time upper and lower primary schools should be established. These schools should be considered formal schools, not makeshift schools.

Furthermore, the curriculum for junior high schools in agricultural middle schools will likely need to be revised, becoming roughly equivalent to a basic agricultural technical school. Of course, some general education will be required, including language, arithmetic, and basic agricultural technology knowledge—focusing on what is produced locally. In addition, general knowledge will be taught, such as soil science, plant cultivation, entomology, animal husbandry, forestry, rice, and so on. Simply running junior high schools is insufficient; intermediate agricultural technical schools will also be established. After graduating from junior high, students will not go to senior high but will instead enter intermediate agricultural technical schools. These intermediate agricultural technical schools typically take three years to complete, but with a part-time farming and part-time study system, students will only study for half a year each year, allowing for a four-year or four-and-a-half-year graduation. How will the expenses of these part-time farming and part-time study schools be covered? If the state were to pay all the teachers' salaries, it wouldn't be able to afford it, as there are already too many. I've come up with a solution: in the future, teachers will also work part-time—part-time teaching and part-time farming, part-time teaching and part-time work—receiving a salary while teaching.

For this type of school, we could consider a holiday/holiday break system. I think we shouldn't have winter or summer vacations; students can simply work during the busy farming season and study during the off-season. There shouldn't be holidays either; classes can resume after the studies. Perhaps a short break for the Spring Festival is necessary, four or five days would be enough. Holidays, breaks, and time spent on work and study should be properly allocated to avoid wasting time. This time should be concentrated, with students studying when they need to study and working when they need to work at home.

In large and medium-sized cities, some factories can run secondary industrial technical schools, offering part-time work-study programs. Similarly, part-time agricultural and part-time education programs can also be established in cities. These factory-run schools recruit junior high school graduates to study the curriculum of secondary industrial technical schools, graduating in four or four and a half years. If the focus is on agriculture, students will study the curriculum of secondary agricultural technical schools, also taking four or four and a half years. Junior high school graduates who complete these four or four and a half years of part-time work-study programs generally reach the level of a secondary technical school graduate. After completing the curriculum, they can become skilled workers, technicians, or work in administrative departments. Furthermore, some closed secondary technical schools can be reopened, also offering part-time work-study programs. Running these vocational schools, offering part-time work-study programs, with a four- or four-and-a-half-year graduation period, is not a loss for the country. The value created by the students covers educational expenses, teacher salaries, and school expenses, and may even exceed these costs.

After graduation, students from these schools are guaranteed job placement by the state. These students are adaptable and easy to place. Currently, only university graduates are guaranteed placement; those from full-time schools are excluded, which is unreasonable. You're ignoring the easy placements and insisting on taking on the difficult ones. Therefore, if more of these schools can be established, they should be established. The number of three-year, full-time technical schools should be reduced or discontinued, gradually replaced by these work-study vocational schools. If more of these schools are established, the specific industries and trades they offer should be planned to avoid future placement difficulties. Ordinary industries that can generally guarantee placement include machine manufacturing, machine repair, electrical work, chemical engineering, and civil engineering; more of these should be established. Furthermore, more schools should be established for agriculture; placement will not be difficult. Graduates from secondary agricultural technical schools are capable of both physical and mental labor; why would placement be difficult? The state will purchase the products manufactured by these schools and supply the raw materials. The state doesn't need to pay for these schools; in fact, it can collect a small amount of tax. When we first started the trial, we had no experience, so we should encourage them.

If we were to establish such schools, we would first need to experiment in rural and urban areas to develop a set of successful experiences. Only with these experiences can we promote them in the future. Could we envision this: in fifty to one hundred years, 70% to 80% of China's working class would reach the level of a secondary technical school graduate, or even a university graduate? Half of the farmers would reach the level of a secondary agricultural technical school graduate. If half of the farmers and 70% to 80% of the workers reached this level, our country would be much better off. These people would be capable of both mental and physical labor; they could become factory directors, workshop foremen, party secretaries, mayors, county heads, etc., because they possessed the necessary education. However, even if they held these positions, they would never leave production. They would work half the day and sit in the office the other half. At that point, manual laborers and mental laborers would be essentially one entity; the difference between mental and physical labor would be eliminated. At that time, the resistance to eliminating these three differences would be much smaller. Simultaneously, bureaucracy would be much less likely to succeed. If you become the factory director and engage in bureaucracy, step down and I'll take your place. Because every worker could be a factory director. Back then, even if you asked him to step down as director, he could; he was originally a worker. Being a factory director only meant working half a day. Since you wouldn't let him be the director, he could just work. The directors and branch secretaries of rural people's communes also had to participate in labor, at least half a day. Lenin said that there were many reasons why bureaucracy arose in the Soviet state, including the habitual influence of the bourgeoisie and landlords. However, the first reason Lenin mentioned was the insufficient educational level of the working people, in addition to the influence of the old ruling class. If, in China, fifty to one hundred years from now, the educational level of the working people improves, with 70-80% of workers reaching the level of secondary technical school graduates or university graduates, and half of the peasants reaching the level of secondary agricultural technical school graduates, then bureaucracy will be much harder to manage.

Once students are trained to the level of graduating from a secondary technical school, it will be easier for them to enter university. In my personal opinion, the goal should be this: after graduating from junior high school and completing the courses of a secondary technical school, namely a secondary agricultural technical school or a secondary industrial technical school, those who wish to go to university can do so, either by studying on their own, by organizing study, by correspondence courses, by attending a part-time university, or by working part-time while studying.

The current school system also needs to be changed. The plan is to combine primary and junior high schools, abolish senior high schools, and instead establish vocational schools, specifically secondary technical schools. University preparatory courses will be implemented, and the length of university studies will be extended. I think our goal is roughly this: after graduating from primary and junior high school, those attending full-time schools will study for another three years, and those attending part-time schools for another four or four and a half years. Breaking through this hurdle and reaching this level of cultural and technical skills would be quite good. Marx said that a significant increase in labor productivity in a communist society requires many conditions, the most important of which is the all-round development of people. What does all-round development of people mean? First, it means the all-round development of mental and physical labor. Therefore, our manual laborers, our workers and farmers, must greatly improve their cultural and technical levels, at least reaching the level of a secondary technical school graduate.

In a communist society, what will the labor and school systems be like? Marx and Lenin said that at that time, because of the comprehensive development of productive forces and the comprehensive development of human beings, workers will no longer need to work eight hours a day, but only four or five hours. After working four or five hours, what will they do? They will simply read and study. In addition, some will sing, paint, or write novels; some will become provincial governors, and some will become presidents. In a communist society, all of us, including you, will become amateur workers. Singing, painting, and writing novels will all be amateur workers. This is the labor system in a communist society.

The same applies to the school system; there will be no more full-time schools. Marx said that in a communist society, a nine-year-old should have two hours of physical labor, and a thirteen-year-old should have four hours. A thirteen-year-old child is our junior high school student; four hours of physical labor corresponds to what I call part-time work-study or part-time farming-study schools. Lenin also advocated for a comprehensive technical education, which I believe refers to schools like this, not the ones we have now. Therefore, the education system must be reformed. The current full-time primary, secondary, and tertiary schools are still necessary. I believe that in the future, we shouldn't increase them further, and some can even be reduced in size. However, part-time work-study and part-time farming-study schools can be established. Currently, they should be piloted in a few places; large-scale implementation is not advisable. But once experience is gained, they should be expanded significantly. In the future, these part-time work-study and part-time farming-study schools should become the main schools and the main education system in China, gradually replacing the current full-time primary, secondary, tertiary, and secondary technical schools. This change should be completed in roughly fifty to one hundred years; let's see if it's feasible. It would be worthwhile to change this, even if it takes a hundred years or so. Once it's done, we will have achieved a great victory. At that time, we Chinese will be a new generation, both mental and physical laborers. Labor productivity and agricultural production will increase significantly. Therefore, this kind of work-study school is the direction of our country's education system; it's a new thing that will develop greatly in the future.

To run these schools well, the first step is to train teachers. We need to establish teacher training schools that combine work and study, and farming and education, including industrial universities, agricultural universities, and secondary teacher training programs. Students in these schools will also work part-time while studying, and then become teachers upon graduation. As teachers, they will still engage in both labor and teaching. This matter needs to be addressed now.

To successfully complete this project, we need to conduct thorough trials. Who should be in charge now? The Ministry of Education is already extremely busy with full-time schools and has no time for this. The Ministry of Industry focuses on production and doesn't handle education. Therefore, I think we need to establish a new agency to begin this trial. This way, we can proceed seriously; otherwise, we'll just start and then stop, moving on to something else. In short, this project must work, and it must be successful; we must persevere. Mistakes are inevitable, but this project can be accomplished.

Implementing two education systems and two labor systems is to combine the school system with the labor system. Furthermore, it's necessary to combine the industrial labor system with the agricultural labor system, that is, to implement a system of part-time workers and part-time farmers. Currently, we only have one labor system: permanent workers with labor insurance, who cannot be dismissed once hired, and dismissal is very difficult. In the future, I think we shouldn't rely on only one labor system; we should use temporary and contract workers as much as possible. These temporary and contract workers are also considered permanent employees. Some factories have always been seasonal factories. For example, sugar mills, tobacco factories, oil mills, rice mills, flour mills, and paper mills use seasonal workers who come when there is work and go home when there isn't. This was the case in places like Shanghai and Wuxi in the past. After our victory in the revolution, we actually changed these seasonal workers into permanent and year-round workers. What a foolish thing to do!

Rural factories, rural technology extension stations, irrigation and drainage stations, animal husbandry and veterinary stations, tractor stations, etc., if all of them were converted into permanent workers, the future would be enormous. The state pays wages, and there are only so many jobs. They can also farm. Therefore, these people should all be engaged in both farming and working.

Some factories shouldn't be located in cities; they can be set up in rural areas, utilizing the surplus labor force. The selection of new factory sites should consider raw materials, markets, and labor. The location should be determined by where the labor force is located. Our country has a large population, with abundant surplus labor in rural areas; this characteristic should be fully utilized. If some factories are located in rural areas, farmers will have work. This benefits workers, farmers, and the country. Many small factories in Japan are located in rural areas, utilizing surplus rural labor, and many products are manufactured in rural areas.

I think factories in cities could also implement a system of part-time workers and farmers. For example, a spinning mill in the city could operate one shift during the busy farming season and three shifts during the off-season. This could be done in spinning mills, and many other light industrial factories and machinery manufacturing plants as well. Farmers could work in the factory during the off-season, not just one or two shifts, but three shifts, day and night, and still complete the year's production target. Mines could also do this. I know about the Tangshan coal mine; such a large mine historically relied heavily on temporary workers from the countryside to work in the mine during the off-season, digging tunnels. During the busy farming season, the temporary workers left, leaving a small number of workers to mine and extract coal. This maintained a balanced production, with the same amount of coal still being produced. Therefore, large cities and large mines could implement a system of part-time workers and farmers. This would save families from having to move to the city, and farmers would learn skills, which would help narrow the urban-rural gap. Contract workers could even become factory managers after several years. They would work for a few months each year to familiarize themselves with the technology, so factory managers would also be part-time workers and farmers. When production is not in operation, a deputy factory director is sufficient. Why can't contract workers become cadres? With proper education, they can achieve the same. Many of our county party secretaries were originally farmers, and many of our army's generals were also farmers. Farmers can become generals, county party secretaries, and prefectural party secretaries, so why can't they become factory directors? We need to look at this issue from this perspective. Don't assume that workers can be both workers and farmers, but cadres cannot. Cadres must take the lead in this regard. In Guangxi, there's a factory that has already converted eight cadres to contract cadres, which is good. However, there are still too few such cadres; we need to move in this direction.

I was against making temporary workers permanent, I didn't approve of it, but I couldn't object, so it was done anyway. Good thing it's done; the mobilization of workers to go to the countryside last year and the year before was a painful lesson learned. In the future, when increasing the workforce, we shouldn't increase permanent workers, or increase permanent workers by a small amount, but use a large number of temporary workers. The labor insurance system also needs to be revised.

Some have proposed another labor system called compulsory labor service. Some mines are harmful to health, causing occupational diseases over time. This system could be similar to conscription, where workers could be drafted to labor for a few years and then rotated back before they develop health problems. This rotation system is also a form of labor system.