— WEN paeehie ON CHINA

A dinartnast Wane
that runs no sales

HEN I began these series
of articles on my visit to
China my main purpose was
to portray for Pacific Tribune
readers the simple lives and
hopes of the common people
of that great country.

For instance, when I went
through the East Asia
woollen mills at Tienstin, now
a joint state enterprise, my
chais with the workers, main-
ly women, in contrasts to-my
chats with the “reformed
capitalists” still running the
business with government as-
sistance, was like being in at
the birth of a new society:
the new, robust, confident,
enthusiastic; the old, com-
plaining, unhappy, but resign-
ed.

great

an exclusive British
“concession” (ihe whole busi-
ness section architecture of
Tienstin reflects the old “con-
-cessions” of marauding im-
perialism), the East Asia wool-
len mills are now being op-
erated by the workers for
their own wellbeing. They
take great pride in their pro-
duction statistics, their factory
cultural facilities, dining rooms,
gyms, medical clinics, schools,
and their elaborate factory
club houses, where every form
of recreation and study is pro-
vided.

Originally established by
British capital to depress the
living standards of the Lan-
cashier textile workers and
squeeze fabulous profits out
of British and Chinese textile
workers alike, this great plant

Once

is now contributing to the
building’ of a new society in

an old land. This the work-
ers see and know; hense their
enthusiasm for their own in-
dustry.

nt Ee xt

Tienstin carpets are world-
famous. After 1949, 53 big
carpet weaving plants were
amalgamated as the Tienstin
Carpet Factory Joint Enter-
prise.

These fine carpets, the envy
of every housewife in China
or in Canada, are all hand-
made. I watched the skilled
workers weaving the intricate

patterns, their nimble fingers
working almost automatically.

One worker told me that
in making one of these 9 x
12 ft. creations, his weaving
time is 119 days of nine hours.
Then these carpets go to the
equally highly-skilled trim-
mers who “clip” and “edge’’

its flowered patterns, a job
something like clipping a
sheep, but requiring much

more. skill.

I had a long chat with one
of the “reformed capitalists”
in this joint state enterprise,
a director in the carpet in-
dustry, Yang Tien-Shou. Shou
is a banker by training, hav-
ing studied in Columbia Uni-
versity under the noted capi-
talist apologist, Professor Sel-
igman.,

He made it clear to me that
he didn’t particularly like com-
munism, but he also made it
clear that in partnership with
the People’s government he
had never had it so easy, His
profit ratio on his investment
in the carpet industry is guar-
anteed by the government, in
return for which he gives the
plant administration the bene-
fit of his “know-how.”

Shou told me he has more
money from his investment
than he can spend, travels
widely, and enjoys a security
equal to if not better than in
the old days of the foreign
concessionaire.

But Shou has a problem.

He has a son and daughter
both attending university.
These youngsters are enihu-
siasts for the New China.

He also has an aged mother
still living, a proud aristocrat
of the old feudal order, bound
feet and all.

His mother believes that a
woman’s place is in a seclud-
ed home, that her future should
be decided in accordance with
old feudal custom, and not by
the beckoning light of a new
socialist China. To this old
lady it is unthinkable that
young girls should be engin-
eers, doctors, skilled faciory
workers, athletes, teachers,
and so on, and she tells her
son so in matriarchal terms.

The Shou’s children come
home from school — and give

337 West Pender St.

NOTICE .

STORE WILL BE CLOSED
FRIDAY EVENINGS AT 6 P.M.

Commencing March 1st

PEOPLE’S CO-OP BOOKSTORE

MA. 5836

Thousands are empjoyed in Ti -nusin’s

the old capitalist another ulti-
matum: “Get out of this dirty
capitalist business or we'll
leave home,” and there is no
greater disgrace for a Chin-
ese parent than to lose his
children under such circum-
stances.

“So you see,” Shou said to
me, “I am caught between
two social sysiems, and al-
ready there is no doubt which
is going to win. All our young
people are supporters of the
New China.”

I spent a few hours in Tien-
stin’s huge Avenue of Peace
department store, opened in
1956. The place is probably
half as large again as Wood-
wards in Vancouver. Not be-
ing an expert on merchandis-
ing I don’t know how the fig-
ures the Avenue of Peace store
manager gave me. compare
with similar department stores
in Vancouver.

On ordinary week days an
average of 15,000 people make
purchases and on holidays or
“rest ‘days’ not less than 30,-
000 a day do their shopping
in this big store.

The Avenue of Peace store
has a siaff of 980 workers,
and runs no “bargain” or
“sales” days. All goods have
a uniform price and the variety
of goods available is compar-
able with any similar depart-
ment store in this country.

One ovbious drawback of the
Avenue of Peace department
store was its doors and ele-
vators, These _ definitely
weren’t built to handle the
crowds of shoppers trying to
get in — or out,

tt ses wt

It was a beautiful morning
as our cavalcade of some 20
cars. rolled out of Peking,
heading northwards some 30
miles to the Great Wall of
China — and I am sure the
dust of all those cars made
the peasants we met on the
road with their loaded carts of
produce wish we were some-
where else. From boyhood
days I.had read and wonder-
ed at this great feat of ancient
engineering. Now I was to
see it.

On the steep mountain grades
we had to halt many times to
let boiling engines cool off,
or to ease our way through

vast herds of cattle and goats
on the road.

Finally we reached our des-
tination on the Pataling Ridge,

and there before us, stretching
from the Yellow Sea to the
western boundaries of Sin-
kiang, was the Great Wall,
begun 2500 years ago, taking
600 years to build, and cross-
ing five provinces iy its 3200-
mile sweep across northern
China.

A tremendous “defense” pro-
ject extending over three dyn-
asties, and as useless as the
modern H-bomb in stemming
the ultimate sweep of history.

I was one of those who de-
cided that: once here I -must
get. up, as far as that highest
tower ‘of the Great Wall on
Pataling Ridge. Our group
doctor looked a bit concerned,
but seeing that we Canadians
were a bit stubborn, she in-
sisted that we take along a
souvenir malacca walking cane
inscribed “May you live a
thousand. years,” and that the
Chinese who were to assist us
up the steep wall, take along
a.case of good Peking beer,
just in case we got thirsty
on the climb—a most under-
standing and lovable doctor.

Many of the travellers in
our cavalcade contented them-
selves with staying down at
the Pataling Ridge restaur-
ant and park grounds, but a
few of us made the top tower
and enjoyed lunch looking
down upon the ‘wide brown-
green plains and high moun-
tain ridges where, cénturies
ago armies of Mongol war-
riors had died at the base of
this ancient wall in their drive
to the east and south.

While many of the smaller
outer walls or defenses along
these” mountain ridges are

built of mud, the Great Wall
is built of huge hand-made

| roorinc |

Duroid, Tar and Gravel :
Gutters and Downpipes
Reasonable

NICK BITZ AL, 4141

great woollen mills.

bricks, and the engineering de-
signs and structure is almost
as exact as the great pyramids
of Egypt. From 20 to 25 feet

in height and approximately
12, feet across the top, the
Great Wall was built to with-
s'and the ravages of man and
time. Across its broad top
there are sluices accurately
spaced to run off torrential
rains. Its forts, set about a
quarter of a. mile apart, are
cleverly constructed and its
crenellated walls must have
afforded adequate cover for
its defenders.

In the estimated 600 years

‘of its construction I thought

of the countless millions of
human slaves who had fash-
ioned the bricks down in the
valleys, and labored up the
steep mountain sides with
‘their heavy loads, all to pro-
vide a momentary “security”
to a dynasty of feudal emper-
ors soon to pass on. Or at the
foot of these forbidding -walls,
how many humans had died
that one might live?

Down at the Pataling Ridge
park area a Chinese artist had
painted a section of the Great
Wall in letters four feet high:
“May this-wall symbolize ever-
lasting peace.”

FREE
CONTINUING

CREDIT

No Interest or
Carrying Charges

MEN! Buy your WORK OR
DRESS CLOTHES this
easy, easy way. Absolutely
no money charged for in-
terest or carrying charges.
Just pay the purchase price
and NO MORE .. . Choose
from a large selection of
UNION MADE) MEN’S

WEAR. Drop in now!

wh i L > ta
45 EAST HASTINGS

FEBRUARY 22, 1957 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE—PAGE 14