Source: CCTV.com

03-07-2008 08:32

Prof. Zhang Guangzhao, Zhejiang University of Media and Communications:
I was a fresh graduate at Zhejiang TV, making a salary of 41 yuan in the first year and 54 yuan in the second year. The amount was fixed – a bonus was unheard of. Even if I was travelling on assignment I'd receive only 1.5 yuan a day, and a maximum of 1.2 yuan a day for food. My daily expenses had to be within 5 yuan, including accommodation. I was like a caged bird, restrained by all sorts of regulations.

After a year spent working at the Literary Editors' Office of Zhejiang TV, Zhang Guangzhao, the caged bird, was presented with an opportunity. He was inspired by a report he read in the Zhejiang Daily, about the bold reforms introduced at a local factory. He and some colleagues came up with the idea of filming a TV series based on what they had read. So in the spring of 1983, he visited the Haiyan Shirt Factory, in order to write a screenplay.

Zhang Guangzhao said, "On our arrival, Mr Bu invited us to lunch, 3 dishes plus soup. It was delicious, much better than what we had at the TV station or on any other occasion."

The Mr. Bu who welcomed the guests so generously, was Bu Xinsheng – the high profile figure known to the media as the herald of reform.

Zhang Guangzhao said, "There were disagreements over how he used money, but it seemed reasonable to me. We had a tiring trip, driving for hours from Hangzhou to Haiyan. Clients accompanied us, and they must have been exhausted, after traveling so far by coach. That dinner might be nothing by modern standards, but it gave the clients a sense of being welcome, as it was so rare and generous. My first thought was: This is a real businessman."

The usual impression of businessmen at the time was that they were shrewd and calculating. But Bu Xinsheng was different. On one occasion he needed to travel to Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region to inspect some samples. A return journey by train would have taken nearly a fortnight, while by plane it would take him only three days. So he opted for the latter.

Zhang Guangzhao said, "An adventurous spirit is a component of the shrewdness that is typical of southerners. There are other components, too, such as their pursuit of profit and their profound understanding of money. These were at the core of Bu Xinsheng's reform, formed by his experience as a tailor in a small southern town."

In 1956, at the age of 17, Bu Xinsheng became a tailor, working for the Artel Sewing Cooperative, which would later become the Haiyan Shirt Factory. He worked there for over two decades. However, for all that time the factory was struggling, and unable even to pay employee pensions.

Feng Haichun, former Secretary to the Director of Haiyan Shirt Factory, said, "It was the first years after the Cultural Revolution. Industrial production was largely anarchic. Many policies, especially the iron rice bowl, discouraged productivity."

In July 1978, the Washington Post published an American reporter's investigation into a Chinese state-owned enterprise. He described the loose regulations thus: "Overstaffing results in little work for the individual worker. I even found three women workers doing nothing but chatting when I arrived."

The American reporter further discovered that jobs in SOEs were inherited. When a worker retired, his or her child could take over. He commented that "The management dared not impose many obligations, as they all belonged to the working class."

Feng Haichun said, "The working class was the ruling class."