Changing China where labour calls the shots
The Great Wall has thousands of labourere buried underneath, the place they perished. No one lamented. Now in a rich coastal China Labour calls the shots.
REMEMBER HOW the Great Wall of China was built? Long ago many kingdoms built walls around their territory to defend their people and possessions from the invading Mongols or other semi-savage tribes that specialised in loot, rape and plunder. An emperor had numerous walls joined together to give a continuity to the bulwark of defence. Tens of thousands of labourers were conscripted from their villages, uprooted from their home and hearth, separated from families and loved ones, marched off the the construction sites along the inhospitable borders, never to return but they built the Great Wall alright. many of them died of hunger and diseases, left in hovels uncared for and unaccounted but they protested not against the harsh treatment meted out to them by the agents of the government. Might was right.
The affairs of the state passed from the hands of the Royalty to the hands of Oligarchy but the hard living conditions of the unskilled labour remained unchanged. Generation after generation they toiled and received little in return. half hungry, semi-naked they had nothing to look forward to. They did not have the right to dream of a bright future for their progeny. No labourer ever saw any light at the end of the tunnel. Toiling day after day, going to bed half fed, the life of a human being was worse than that of an animal in the Emperor's stables or a lap dog in a general's arm and so on. In the name of culture, only the upper crust of the society sang songs, danced, painted and did what the birds and bees do. The Communist Party came to power in Beijing on 1st October 1949. Mao Tse Tung announced the establishment of the People's Republic of China. Now the focus was on RENMIN or the people. What a welcome change that the communist administration achieved an egalitarian state. No one went to bed hungry and no one was without basic clothing items in summer and winter. The labour still worked hard but they had a future to live for. They had a dream and they knew that someday a labourer's child will wield power of the state. This motivation made them work with extra vigour and the people prospered. The State became powerful. China was and is a force to reckon with. LABOUR DICTATES TERMS NOW Not always. Not everywhere. Go to Guangdung, the industrial belt of China in the South-West. The prosperity of the country is seen by visitors to believe that China's face is changing. The economic boom is here. And it is here to stay. North-West is a neglected corner, though. The sturdy people who still love farming do not make enough money to buy fancy clothes or eat out as a family. The village life continues to be what it was a couple of centuries ago except that the farmer now owns his land, may be on lease, owns a house and sends children to government school free of cost. Life may not be galloping but it certainly is ambling along. No one shivers in winter for lack of clothes and no one is starving. A welcome change indeed from the days of Imperial China. However, the prosperity of the middle class in evidence in the coastal areas of China is indeed missing in the hinterland and mountainous regions. BACK TO BUSINESS The neon-lit streets of Guangdong has many pedestrians. Among them is the labour class. Mostly migrant labour that has come from the rural China. Their knapsack on the back, youngish look and carefree gait pronounce that they are in no hurry to be hired. Perhaps they have saved some money from the previous jobs and now they want to take life easy before accepting a punishing schedule. On the roads are prospective employers too driving lazily in the afternoon sun in their BMWs or Mercedes Benz at a slow speed. They are looking for the right type of labour to be employed by them. They want to employ labour that does not trouble them at work place. Of late there have been walk-outs and strikes in company factories run by the reputed Honda and Toyota. The labour had demanded better pay and a better working condition. Apparently, there is shortage of skilled labour and the demand for them is rising day by day. With China well established as an exporting nation, the supply of goods has to be maintained. After the Recession was over, the demand for the Chinese goods is on the rise again. The manufacturers and exporters do not want to falter in maintaining a supply schedule. There lies the greenback US dollars needed all over the world. To sum up what a Chinese worker demands of his employer today is : a decent salary to spend and save, comfortable working hours, a weekly off, preferably on a Sunday and above all a nice boss who does not raise his or her voice while giving instructions. What a great change it is for the labour from the days of construction of the Great Wall to today when they demand a boss who is calm and cool. A pleasant change indeed for both the entrepreneur and the labour.
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