A 1950s Angang worker: sent-down youth, shop-floor apprentice, then office

问您大概是哪一代人？

QRoughly which generation are you from?

答1950年代

A1950s

问您与鞍钢/相关单位的关系？

QWhat is your relationship to Angang / a related work unit?

答本人在鞍钢

AI myself worked at Angang

问您当年大概做哪一类工作？

QRoughly what kind of work did you do back then?

答管理/办公

AManagement / office work

问您大概在哪个时期参加工作？

QRoughly in which period did you start working?

答1970年代

A1970s

问您愿意说说当时为什么进这个单位吗？（学校分配/家里安排/自己选择/亲友介绍…）

QWould you tell us why you joined this work unit back then? (school assignment / family arrangement / own choice / introduced by relatives or friends…)

答企业招工，1968年知识青年到农村锻炼，1971年从农村抽调回城、进鞍钢工作。

AThe enterprise was recruiting workers. In 1968, as an educated youth, I went to the countryside to be tempered; in 1971 I was transferred back from the countryside to the city and joined Angang.

问您还记得刚参加工作时的一天吗？带我从早到晚走一遍：几点上班、先去哪、主要做什么、和谁一起。

QDo you remember a day when you had just started working? Walk me through it from morning to night: when you started, where you went first, what you mainly did, and who you were with.

答早晨7点骑着自行车，从家进入鞍钢厂区，到单位后和一起抽调回城的一百多名同学参加厂里举办的新员工培训班。讲企业规章制度、讲企业纪律，讲新职工的注意事项。然后参观厂里的生产流程。最后，一百多人按分配到各车间，准备第二天上岗跟师傅工作。

AAt 7 in the morning I rode my bicycle from home into the Angang plant grounds. After arriving at the unit, together with the hundred-some fellow students who had been transferred back to the city with me, I attended the new-employee training class the plant ran. They explained the enterprise's rules and regulations, its discipline, and the things new workers should pay attention to. Then we toured the plant's production process. Finally, the hundred-some of us were assigned to the various workshops, ready to report to our posts the next day and work alongside our masters.

问当时学技术主要靠什么？

QBack then, how did you mainly learn your skills?

答【勾选】师傅带　【手写】主要是靠师傅带，我的师傅是八级技师，属于厂里顶尖级的技术专家，现场遇到技术难题，都是他亲自解决。

A[checked] Guided by a master　[handwritten] Mainly by a master guiding me. My master was an eighth-grade technician, one of the plant's top-level technical experts; whenever a technical problem came up on site, he solved it himself.

问您觉得当年最重要的本事是什么？（技术，或吃苦、细心、配合、经验、判断力）

QWhat do you think was the most important ability back then? (technical skill, or endurance, care, cooperation, experience, judgment)

答是吃苦耐劳，不怕脏累，不计较份内份外，不计较报酬，认真地做好每件事。

AIt was hard work and endurance — not fearing dirt or fatigue, not fussing over what was or wasn't your job, not fussing over pay, and doing every task conscientiously well.

问有没有书本上学不到、只能靠师傅或经验学到的东西？举一个普通例子即可。

QWas there anything you couldn't learn from books, that could only be learned from a master or from experience? Just give one ordinary example.

答有的，比如实际手工操作的技能，是需要亲手实际操作；比如排除设备故障需要借鉴师傅的经验和判断力，书本上的理论最终需要通过双手来实现。

AYes. For example, actual hands-on manual skills have to be practiced by your own hands; and clearing an equipment fault requires drawing on the master's experience and judgment. Theory in books ultimately has to be realized through your own hands.

问「单位」对生活影响大吗？体现在哪些方面？

QDid the "work unit" have a big impact on life? In what respects?

答单位直接决定生活水平。单位分配住房解决居住问题；单位的食堂解决上班的午餐；澡堂解决职工的洗浴问题，冲洗灰尘，都不疲劳，轻松回家。企业的医院解决了职工和家属的病痛，保证健康。企业的技术学校解决了给企业补充新生血液。企业的幼儿园解决了职工的后顾之忧。

AThe unit directly determined one's standard of living. The unit allocated housing, solving the problem of where to live; the unit's canteen provided lunch during work; the bathhouse solved workers' bathing needs — washing off the dust so you weren't tired and could go home relaxed. The enterprise's hospital dealt with the illnesses of workers and their families, safeguarding their health. The enterprise's technical school solved the problem of supplying the enterprise with fresh new blood. The enterprise's kindergarten freed workers from worries about their children.

问那时候大家对鞍钢/单位的感觉，像什么？（您的词；再从选项里挑）

QBack then, what did everyone's feeling toward Angang / the unit resemble? (in your own words; then pick from the options)

答【勾选】一种身份　【手写】在国家计划经济的年代，能够在鞍钢大型企业里工作是非常幸运和自豪的。企业进入到市场经济，九十年代时，虽然收入普遍不高，但是鞍钢的福利待遇居于较优越，按月固定开工资，基本上衣食无忧，相互比较，鞍钢的福利较好。

A[checked] A kind of identity　[handwritten] In the era of the state planned economy, being able to work at a large enterprise like Angang was something very fortunate and a source of pride. When the enterprise entered the market economy, in the 1990s, although incomes were generally not high, Angang's welfare benefits were comparatively superior; wages were paid on a fixed monthly basis, one basically had no worries about food and clothing, and by comparison Angang's welfare was fairly good.

问带我走进一个地方：澡堂、厂门口、车间、家属院……挑一个您印象最深的，说说那里的样子、声音、气味、人。

QTake me into one place: the bathhouse, the factory gate, the workshop, the workers' housing compound… pick the one that left the deepest impression and describe what it looked like, sounded like, smelled like, and the people there.

答澡堂：每天上白班的职工，下午5点前即可进入厂洗澡堂了，里面有澡池、淋浴间、洗浴换洗间。浴池里职工们欢声笑语洗着一天的劳累，淋浴池将工人们一天的疲惫冲刷的干干净净。之后，职工陆续走出厂门，回到为之努力工作的家，和家人共进晚餐。

AThe bathhouse: workers on the day shift could enter the plant bathhouse before 5 in the afternoon. Inside there were soaking pools, shower stalls, and a changing/washing room. In the pools the workers, laughing and chattering, washed off a day's toil; the showers rinsed away a day's fatigue until they were clean. Afterward the workers came out the factory gate one after another, returned to the homes they worked so hard for, and had dinner together with their families.

问那段时间，单位或岗位有没有明显变化？

QDuring that time, was there any obvious change in your unit or post?

答明显变化

AObvious change

问您当时大概属于哪一类？

QRoughly which category did you fall into at the time?

答留原岗

AStayed in the original post

问单位一般怎么通知这些变化？

QHow did the unit usually announce these changes?

答开会

ABy holding meetings

问当时对您影响最大的是？

QWhat affected you most at the time?

答收入

AIncome

问比一比：和您认识的另一种岗位的人相比，那几年你们俩受到的影响一样吗？

QCompare: versus someone you know in a different kind of post, were the two of you affected the same way in those years?

答受到的影响是不同的。 一部分留岗人员，因为实行了精简机构、减人增效，收益和收入明显提高，随着本厂矿中的职工，这部分厂矿成为股份制公司。 另一部分人员被分流到非主体企业，保留原工资待遇，仍然自愿离岗。 还有一部分人员进入待岗培训，这部分人保持原工资，居家暂不上岗。后来这部分人大部分【难辨】岗上岗了或正常退休了。 简单说：进入鞍钢股份有限公司的厂矿和留岗职工的工资水平提高，其中上层干部实行奖励激励和年薪。而转岗和参加待岗培训及居家休息人员保留了原基本工资。

AThe impact was different. Some of the workers who stayed in their posts saw their earnings and income clearly rise, because streamlining of the organization and "cutting staff to raise efficiency" were carried out; along with the workers of these main plants, these plants became joint-stock companies. Another portion of workers were diverted to non-core enterprises, kept their original wage terms, and still left their posts voluntarily. Still another portion entered wait-for-post training; these people kept their original wages and stayed home, temporarily not on the job. Later most of these people were [illegible] back onto posts or retired normally. Put simply: the plants that entered Angang Co., Ltd. and the workers who stayed in post saw wage levels rise, with upper-level cadres put on reward incentives and annual salaries. Meanwhile those who transferred posts, took wait-for-post training, or stayed home resting kept their original basic wages.

问岗位变化后，您或身边同事一般去了哪里？

QAfter the changes in posts, where did you or the colleagues around you generally go?

答留原单位

AStayed in the original unit

问以前学到的本事，后来还有用吗？

QWere the abilities you learned before still useful later?

答一些用

ASomewhat useful

问哪些本事容易带到别的工作里？

QWhich abilities were easy to carry into other work?

答培养出做事的认真工作，遵守规章制度，不断学习进取，善待周边人终身受益。

AThe conscientiousness in doing one's work that it fostered, abiding by rules and regulations, keeping on learning and striving, and treating those around you well — these benefit you for a lifetime.

问哪些本事离开原单位就用不上了？说大概即可。

QWhich abilities became useless once you left the original unit? Just roughly.

答学无止境，无论学到什么都有机会用到。比如：动手能力、分析判断能力、毫无怨言解决问题的能力。

ALearning has no end; whatever you learn, you'll have a chance to use. For example: hands-on ability, the ability to analyze and judge, and the ability to solve problems without a word of complaint.

问如果有人离开鞍山去外地，您觉得最难适应的是什么？您身边有这样的人吗？

QIf someone left Anshan for another place, what do you think would be hardest to adapt to? Do you know anyone like that?

答我身边没有去外地工作的人。

AThere is no one around me who went to work in another place.

问遇到岗位变化时，谁对您帮助最大？

QWhen facing the change in posts, who helped you the most?

答单位组织

AThe unit's organization

问大家会互相介绍工作、打听消息、互相照顾吗？说一般情况。

QDid people introduce each other to jobs, pass along news, and look after one another? Describe the general situation.

答待岗人员会互相传递信息，原单位的厂、工会组织会帮助，对有生活困难人员进行生活补助。一段时间后，一部分人员被分流到非主体厂矿，一部分接近退休年令的人员退休。

AWorkers awaiting posts would pass information to one another; the original unit's plant and trade-union organization would help, giving living subsidies to those in financial hardship. After a while, some workers were diverted to non-core plants, and some approaching retirement age retired.

问有没有老同事聚会、同学聚会、饭局、微信群帮大家联系？

QWere there old-colleague reunions, classmate gatherings, dinners, or WeChat groups helping everyone keep in touch?

答【涂改】没有，那个年代不大时兴什么聚会。还没有微信。

A[struck-out character] No — in that era people didn't much go in for gatherings. There was no WeChat yet.

问您觉得是正式渠道帮助大，还是熟人/老同事帮助大？

QDo you think formal channels helped more, or acquaintances / old colleagues?

答正式

AFormal channels

问您现在还和老同事联系吗？

QDo you still keep in touch with old colleagues now?

答偶尔

AOccasionally

问您去过鞍钢博物馆、孟泰纪念馆或类似的地方吗？

QHave you been to the Angang Museum, the Meng Tai Memorial Hall, or similar places?

答去过

AHave been

问您觉得这些地方能让年轻人了解以前的工厂生活吗？

QDo you think these places let young people understand factory life of the past?

答能

AYes, they can

问您觉得现在年轻人还了解「钢城」这段历史吗？

QDo you think young people today still understand this history of the "Steel City"?

答了解一点

AUnderstand a little

问您的孩子或晚辈有没有进入钢铁、机械、工程、制造相关工作？

QHave your children or younger relatives gone into steel, machinery, engineering, or manufacturing-related work?

答没有

ANo

问您当年希望孩子继续进类似单位吗？

QBack then, did you hope your children would go on to join a similar unit?

答当时没想那么多

AAt the time I didn't think that far

问您会给孩子讲以前单位里的故事吗？

QDo you tell your children stories from the old work unit?

答偶尔

AOccasionally

问您给下一代最想说的一句话是什么？（工作、做人、技术、吃苦、选城市、选职业…都行）

QWhat one thing would you most want to say to the next generation? (about work, being a person, skills, endurance, choosing a city, choosing a career… anything)

答低调做人，行稳致远。「上善若水」，积攒人缘与福报；讲家故事，厚积薄发，善待自己，造福一方。

ABe modest in how you carry yourself; go steadily and you will go far. "The highest good is like water"; accumulate good relationships and good karma; tell the family's stories, build up deeply and release slowly, treat yourself well, and bring benefit to those around you.

问您觉得年轻一代和您这一代，对「单位/稳定工作/技术工人」的看法有什么不同？

QHow do you think the younger generation's views on "the work unit / a stable job / the skilled worker" differ from those of your generation?

答我们是生活在计划经济年代，觉得在国有企业中工作，有铁饭碗，工作生活稳定，不着急，不闲逛，大家生活水平都差不多，心态平衡。那个年代学技术很有用，高级技师8级工的工资水平可以达到中层干部水平。所以，那个时候社会流行「学会车钳铆电焊，走遍天下都不怕」。家里经济条件好些的，都让孩子进厂后先学徒，跟师傅学技术。学徒工第一年工资是19元人民币，大熟练即普通工种工资42元。 随着市场经济的发展，人们的观念开始变化，吃苦脏累的技术工种被经济管理者所取代。一些人毕业后才发现，所选专业脱离了企业的需求。一些有志青年已认识到，学习技术、掌握技能才对社会发展有帮助。

AWe lived in the planned-economy years and felt that working in a state-owned enterprise meant an iron rice bowl, a stable work and life, no rushing about, no idling; everyone's standard of living was about the same, so people were even-keeled. In that era learning a skill was very useful — a senior technician, an eighth-grade worker, could reach a wage level equal to a middle-level cadre. So back then the saying went around, "Master turning, fitting, riveting, and welding and you can travel the whole world unafraid." Families with somewhat better means all had their children enter the plant first as apprentices to learn skills from a master. An apprentice's first-year wage was 19 yuan RMB; once well-practiced, an ordinary trade's wage was 42 yuan. As the market economy developed, people's ideas began to change, and the hard, dirty, tiring skilled trades were displaced by economic managers. Some people only discovered after graduating that the major they had chosen was out of step with what enterprises needed. Some aspiring young people have come to realize that learning skills and mastering a craft is what truly helps society develop.

问先不看选项：如果用一个词形容以前的鞍钢/老单位，您会用哪个词？为什么？

QWithout looking at the options first: if you used one word to describe the old Angang / old unit, which word would you use? Why?

答我为曾经是鞍钢人而自豪！是鞍钢培养了我自己，自强的工作能力和生活能力。是鞍钢这个大熔炉里锤炼出我的不断学习、勇于进取、吃苦耐劳的品格，从而，适应社会的发展。

AI am proud to have once been an Angang person! It was Angang that cultivated me, my self-reliant capacity for work and for life. It was in the great furnace that is Angang that my character was tempered — constant learning, boldness in striving, hard work and endurance — and thereby I adapted to the development of society.

问您觉得这段经历中，最该被年轻人记住的是什么？

QWhat in this experience do you think most deserves to be remembered by young people?

答在勤奋努力工作的同时，要爱护自己，爱护家人，爱护身边人，厚德载物，众人拾柴火焰高！在帮助他人的同时，成就了自己。

AWhile working diligently and hard, you should also cherish yourself, cherish your family, cherish those around you. Great virtue carries all things; when many gather firewood, the flames rise high! In helping others, you also accomplish yourself.

问您觉得像我这样的年轻人，最容易误解你们那一代人的地方是什么？

QWhere do you think young people like me most easily misunderstand your generation?

答我想听听你的回答。

AI'd like to hear your answer.

问今天有没有哪部分您希望我不要记录、不要引用，或引用前必须再问您？

QIs there any part today you'd like me not to record, not to quote, or to ask you again before quoting?

答没有

ANo

问整理好后，您想先看一遍再决定是否公开吗？

QOnce it's written up, would you like to look it over first before deciding whether to make it public?

答想看

AYes, I'd like to look

问以后若需要补充访谈，您是否愿意通过介绍人再联系？

QIf a follow-up interview is needed later, would you be willing to be contacted again through the introducer?

答可以

AYes, that's fine

问您是否愿意日后接受一次更深入的访谈，把您的故事更完整地记录下来？

QWould you be willing to give a more in-depth interview later, to record your story more fully?

答愿意

AWilling