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AIR CONDITIONER FACTORY CLEANER THAN HOSPITAL
By Bob Van Leer
(GUANGZHOU, CHINA, Oct. 21, 1991) - Our group started today with a visit t a place where the people of China work.
We visited the largest air conditioner factory in China. The factory employs 1000 people and made 40,000 air conditioners last year but this is not many in a country of over a billion people. And many of the air conditioners were for export.
The plant was clean and well maintained, cleaner than the hospital we went to a few days ago. The equipment ranged from some older than I am to the latest in numerically-controlled machine tools from the U.S., really state of the art.
Work Good, Pace Slow
The quality of work was good, but the pace was slow. The factory manager, questioned on wages, said pay is in three parts adding up to 500 yuan or about $100 per month.
Of this he said 200 yuan was basic wage, 100 yuan in subsidies and the balance in a profitability bonus. This would put the workers here making the same wage as the chief surgeon in the hospital in Guilin we visited.
This may be so but we questioned it. Getting comparable figures we can understand through interpreters from a different social system is quite difficult.
Product Dumping
The factory exports much of its production and the manager describes how export sales are at a lower price than domestic sales. This describes a trade practice called "dumping" which is prohibited by companies trading with the U.S.
However, this company exports mainly to southeast Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The manager said the spread of wages in the plant is narrow, the difference between the highest and lowest pay is only 50 percent.
He said the executive staff is about 25-35 percent female. After the factory visit myself and Emerson Lynn from St. Albans, Vermont, walked through a large market complex near the hotel where we were to have lunch.
Wider Diet
The Chinese have a far wider diet in meats and fish than we are used to.
Much of the food on sale was fresh. There were a carp and a number of other fish swimming in tanks waiting to be filleted. Tubs were filled with eels with some always jumping out of the water.
Live frogs were tied in bundles of about a half a dozen. There were cages filled with snakes.
Dog Meat Sold
We saw net bags with small birds for sale. And there were tubs of snails. Butchered meat hung up for sale included pork, a lot of chicken, water buffalo, goat and one counter of dog meat. From the paws still attached to the meat we could see there were at least two dogs represented.
The market extended over blocks and included most of the food groups. It was mildly organized confusion but basically reasonably clean and I wouldn't hesitate to buy food there.
Woman Attacked
On the way to the hotel we witnessed an attack by a seedy looking man on one of a group of four young women. The blouse of one was torn as she pulled away.
We had just passed a squad of three Chinese cops and got the cop's attention and pointed the girls to the officers.
The girls and the officers got together but the officers seemed to have no interest in going after the man who was still in sight. We decided we had done all we could and left.
Lunch was another multi-course Chinese dinner. The only unusual dish was bowls of clear soup, each containing a small, and tasty, bird about the size of a sparrow cooked with the head still on. The little birds stared at us out of the bowls.
Trade Fair
After lunch we went to the semi-annual Guangzhou trade fair. This is a huge fair in a four-story building attended by people who are serious about trading with China. There was a lot of order writing going on.
The fair was impressive. The merchandise on sale ranged from metals and heavy machinery to scientific instruments, craft goods and frozen donkey and horse meat.
We had a light supper and packed for the next leg of our journey to Hainan Island at 6 a.m. tomorrow. We have now been on the road 16 days.
The tour is nearing an end and group members are beginning to talk about the mechanics of getting home.
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