A front-line steelworker who read the furnace by its flame (1950s generation, joined in the 1970s)

问您大概是哪一代人？

QRoughly which generation are you?

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 Ansteel

问您当年大概做哪一类工作？

QRoughly what kind of work did you do back then?

答一线操作

AFront-line operation

问您大概在哪个时期参加工作？

QRoughly in which period did you start working?

答【勾选】1970 年代　【手写】时间锚点：大约在我刚满二十岁、刚成家那几年。

A[checked] The 1970s [handwritten] Time anchor: around the years I had just turned twenty and just started a family.

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 say why you joined this unit? (school assignment / family arrangement / own choice / introduced by relatives or friends)

答家里祖辈就在鞍钢干活，那时候鞍钢是全市最好的单位，国家重工业大厂，稳定不愁吃喝，街道统一分配进厂，身边同龄人大多都往鞍钢来，能进钢厂是很光荣的事。

AMy family had worked at Angang for generations. Angang was the best unit in the city then — a big national heavy-industry plant, stable, never short of food. The neighborhood office assigned us in; most people my age headed for Angang. Getting into the steelworks was a glorious thing.

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.

答那时候实行三班倒，我上白班早上六点半就要从家属院出门，七点准时到厂门口集合，先去更衣室换粗布工装、戴安全帽、防尘口罩。到车间先开班组早会，班长安排当天生产任务，检查设备安全。一整天就在炼钢轧钢操作台盯生产线，和四五个班组老工友搭伙，中午十一点半集体去厂里大食堂吃饭，吃完饭在车间休息室歇半小时接着干活。下午五点半下班，统一去厂区公共澡堂洗澡，洗完再走回家属院，到家基本六点多。车间机器全天轰鸣，一刻不能离岗。

AWe worked three rotating shifts. On day shift I left the family courtyard at six-thirty and was at the plant gate at seven sharp; first to the changing room for rough cloth work clothes, safety helmet, dust mask. In the shop we opened with the team's morning meeting — the team leader set the day's production tasks and checked equipment safety. All day I watched the line at the steelmaking and rolling operations desk with four or five old workmates from the team. At eleven-thirty we went together to the plant's big canteen, rested half an hour in the shop's break room, and went back at it. Off at five-thirty, everyone to the plant's public bathhouse, then the walk back to the family courtyard — home a little after six. The machines roared all day; you could not leave your post for a moment.

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、单位培训、自己摸索、同事互教　【手写】最核心还是师傅手把手带，进厂先拜师傅，跟着师傅干两三年才能独立上手；厂里每月会组织一次集中安全、操作培训，平时工友之间也会互相交流操作窍门。

A[checked] A master taught me; unit training; figured things out myself; workmates taught each other [handwritten] The core was still the master teaching hand by hand. You bowed to a master on entering the plant and worked beside him two or three years before you could stand alone. The plant ran a concentrated safety and operations training once a month, and workmates traded tricks of the trade all the time.

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)

答一是能吃苦，车间高温、粉尘大，熬得住倒班；二是细心，一线设备风险高，一点疏忽就容易出安全事故；三是懂配合，流水线作业离不开班组所有人齐心协力，光自己能干没用。

AFirst, endurance — the shop was hot and thick with dust, and you had to bear the rotating shifts. Second, care — front-line equipment was dangerous, and one slip could mean an accident. Third, teamwork — line work depended on the whole team pulling together; being capable alone was useless.

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，不用讲具体技术参数。

QWas there anything you couldn't learn from books, only from a master or experience? A plain example is fine; no specific technical parameters needed.

答书本只写标准操作流程，但车间温度、原料状态每天都不一样，书本没有应对办法。比如炉温出现轻微波动，老师傅看火光颜色、听机器运转声音就能快速调整，新手只看图纸根本判断不出来，全靠长年累月实操积累。

ABooks only gave the standard operating procedure, but shop temperature and raw materials changed every day, and the book had no answers. When the furnace temperature wavered slightly, an old master could read the color of the flame and the sound of the running machines and adjust at once; a newcomer staring at the drawings could not judge it at all. It came only from years of hands-on work.

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【勾选】住房、食堂、澡堂、医院、学校、幼儿园、退休、邻里　【手写】那时候生活从头到尾都离不开鞍钢。住单位分的家属平房，孩子上鞍钢幼儿园、子弟小学，看病去厂职工医院，一日三餐有职工食堂，下班免费厂区澡堂，邻里全是同厂工友，退休之后养老金、福利也都是厂里统一安排，生活、工作完全绑在一起。

A[checked] Housing; canteen; bathhouse; hospital; school; kindergarten; retirement; neighbors [handwritten] Life ran on Angang from one end to the other. We lived in unit-assigned family bungalows; the children went to Angang kindergarten and the workers'-children primary school; illness meant the plant staff hospital; three meals a day at the staff canteen; the free plant bathhouse after work; every neighbor a workmate from the same plant. After retirement, pensions and benefits were all arranged by the plant. Life and work were completely bound together.

问先用您自己的词：那时候大家对鞍钢/单位的感觉，像什么？

QIn your own words first: what did people's feeling toward Angang / the unit feel like back then?

答【勾选】一个大家庭　【手写】不只是上班挣钱的地方，厂里领导、师傅、工友就像一家人，谁家有事全厂帮忙，困难厂里出面解决，荣辱都绑在一起，身为鞍钢工人特别自豪。

A[checked] One big family [handwritten] It was not just a place to earn a wage. Leaders, masters, and workmates were like one family — if something happened in your house, the whole plant helped; in hardship, the plant stepped in; honor and shame were shared. Being an Angang worker made you deeply proud.

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.

答印象最深是厂区大澡堂。一进门满是热蒸汽，雾气白茫茫看不清人，到处都是水泥大浴池，墙面斑驳泛黄。耳边全是工友聊天说笑、水龙头哗哗流水的声音，空气里混着皂角味、铁锈味、工人身上的煤烟味。下班全厂工人挤在一起，大家脱下工装互相唠车间、家里的琐事，不分领导普通工人，全都坦诚相待，特别热闹。

AWhat stays with me most is the plant's big bathhouse. Steam filled it the moment you stepped in — white fog you could barely see through — big cement pools everywhere, the walls mottled and yellowed. In your ears, workmates laughing and talking and taps rushing; in the air, soap-pod, rust, and the coal-smoke smell on the men. After work the whole plant crowded in together, work clothes off, everyone talking shop and home — no line between leaders and ordinary workers, everyone open with each other. It was wonderfully alive.

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

AClear changes

问您当时大概属于哪一类？

QRoughly which category did you fall into at the time?

答内退/提前退休

AInternal retirement / early retirement

问单位一般怎么通知这些变化？

QHow did the unit usually announce these changes?

答开会

AMeetings

问当时对您影响最大的是？

QWhat affected you most at the time?

答心情与身份感

AMood and sense of identity

问比一比：和您认识的另一种岗位的人（比如您是技术、他是一线，或反过来）相比，那几年你们俩受到的影响一样吗？不用说人名，说大概。

QCompare: versus someone you knew in a different kind of post (say you're technical and they're front-line, or vice versa), were the two of you affected the same in those years? No names—just roughly.

答我是一线操作工，那批一线岗位调整幅度最大，很多同龄人内退、待岗；厂里技术、维修岗位缺口大，调整很少，基本不用离岗，受冲击比我们一线工人小很多。

AI was a front-line operator, and front-line posts were adjusted hardest — many people my age went to internal retirement or were left waiting for work. Technical and maintenance posts were short-handed and barely adjusted; they hardly had to leave their posts. The shock to them was much smaller than to us on the line.

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、其他厂/相关行业、临时工作、自己做小生意

AStayed at the old unit; other plants / related industries; temporary work; started small businesses

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？（认真、守时、机械经验、管理、看设备、带徒弟、与人打交道…）

QWhich skills carry easily into other jobs? (diligence, punctuality, mechanical experience, management, watching equipment, training apprentices, dealing with people…)

答多年养成的守时、踏实肯干、细心严谨，还有常年协作练出来的与人打交道、配合他人的能力，不管干什么活都能用得上；看懂机械设备、简单维修的经验，家里修家电、帮邻里修器械也能用上。

APunctuality, steadiness, and care built up over the years, and the knack for dealing with people and working with others trained by long cooperation — useful in any job. And the experience of reading machines and doing simple repairs still serves at home, fixing appliances or helping neighbors mend things.

问哪些本事离开原单位就用不上了？说大概即可，不必讲流程或内部资料。

QWhich abilities become useless once you leave the original unit? Roughly is fine; no processes or internal materials.

答专属钢厂生产线的操作手法、炼钢轧钢设备的调试经验、厂区专属生产流程，离开钢铁厂完全没有用处。

AThe handwork specific to steel production lines, the tuning of steelmaking and rolling equipment, the plant's own production routines — completely useless outside a steelworks.

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（只说方向，如「去南方工厂」，不用姓名）？

QIf someone left Anshan for elsewhere, what do you think is hardest to adapt to? Do you know such people (just the direction, e.g. 'went to a southern factory', no names)?

答身边不少年轻工友去南方外地工厂打工。最难适应的一是外地没有鞍钢这种全包式职工福利，住房、看病、孩子上学全都要自己操心；二是外地工厂没有老鞍钢工友之间互帮互助的氛围，人情淡薄；三是一辈子熟悉钢城环境，离开厂区、家属院心里不踏实。

AQuite a few younger workmates went south to work in factories elsewhere. Hardest, first, was that nowhere else had Angang's all-inclusive welfare — housing, medical care, children's schooling all became your own worry. Second, other factories had none of the old Angang mutual help; feeling ran thin. Third, after a lifetime in the steel city, being away from the plant and the family courtyard left the heart unsettled.

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?

答老同事

AOld colleagues

问大家会互相介绍工作、打听消息、互相照顾吗？说一般情况，不必说人名。

QDid people introduce each other to jobs, share news, look after one another? General situation, no names.

答会的。厂里一有调整消息，工友之间互相传话；有人下岗找活，老同事会帮忙介绍零活、小生意；谁家生活困难，大伙凑钱、送物资搭把手，邻里工友不分你我。

AYes. The moment there was adjustment news, workmates passed the word. When someone was laid off and looking for work, old colleagues helped find odd jobs or a small trade. When a family was struggling, everyone chipped in money and goods. Between neighbors and workmates there was no yours-and-mine.

问有没有老同事聚会、同学聚会、饭局、微信群帮大家联系？（可只答「有/没有」）

QWere there old-colleague reunions, classmate reunions, dinners, or WeChat groups to keep everyone connected? (a simple yes/no is fine)

答有。退休之后每年都会组织班组老工友聚餐，现在年纪大了，子女帮忙建了微信群，平时聊天、约见面。

AYes. Since retiring, the old team has held a dinner every year. Now that we are older, our children set up a WeChat group for chatting and arranging meetups.

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?

答熟人

APersonal connections

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

ABeen there

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?

答能一点

AA little

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"?

答不太了解

ANot much

问您家里是否还保存和工作有关的东西？（可多选）

QDoes your home still keep work-related items? (multiple choice)

答没有

ANothing kept

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?

答有

AYes

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?

答不希望

AHoped not

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)

答做人踏实肯干，懂得吃苦、懂得感恩，无论干什么工作都要有责任心。

ABe steady and hardworking, know how to endure and how to be grateful, and bring a sense of responsibility to any job.

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 and your generation differ in their views of "the work unit / a stable job / skilled workers"?

答我们那辈把工厂当成一辈子的依靠，一辈子守一个单位，以工人身份为荣；现在年轻人更看重自由、薪资、工作环境，不愿意干辛苦的一线体力活，很少有人愿意一辈子扎根一家工厂，对技术工人这份职业认同感不强。

AOur generation treated the plant as a lifetime's support — one unit for life, proud of the worker's identity. Young people now weigh freedom, pay, and working conditions more; they will not do hard front-line physical work, few would root themselves in one factory for life, and the skilled worker's trade does not carry much identity for them.

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?

答词：根；理由：鞍钢养活我们一大家人，一辈子青春、朋友、生活全都扎根在这里，这座钢厂就是我们那代人的根基，离开心里就空。

AThe word: gen — roots. Angang fed our whole family; a lifetime's youth, friends, and living were all rooted here. For our generation the steelworks was the foundation — away from it, the heart feels empty.

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?

答老一辈工人吃苦耐劳、无私奉献、班组抱团互助的精神，还有当年建设国家重工业的那份初心。

AThe older workers' endurance, selfless devotion, and the team spirit of holding together — and the original heart with which they built the nation's heavy industry.

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?

答年轻人总觉得我们当年守着工厂是思想保守、不懂变通，其实那时候工厂包揽全部生活，工人之间人情味浓厚，我们不是不想换工作，是真心热爱钢厂、珍惜这份集体归属感。

AYoung people think we kept to the factory out of conservatism, that we did not know how to adapt. In truth the factory carried our whole lives and the feeling between workers was strong. It was not that we would not change jobs — we truly loved the steelworks and treasured that sense of belonging.

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

ANothing

问整理好后，您想先看一遍再决定是否公开吗？

QAfter it's compiled, would you like to review it first before deciding whether to make it public?

答想看

AI would like to see it first

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

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