Chapter two hundred and ninety-six the era of the alternation of the old and the new two
Near noon, at the intersection at the main entrance of Nanhua First Women's College, groups of young women walked out of different textile factories on broken steps, in groups of three or five, covering their mouths and laughing softly as they walked.
"Master Sun, are they female spinning workers from the Su Changsong area?"
Zhang Zhenxun stood at the entrance of the street, looking at several young women with small feet walking in front and said.
"Not entirely."
Sun Bin moved his eyes forward and explained, "The Su Changsong area is the base of the textile industry in the south of the Yangtze River. The government allocates a part of the annual immigration funds to recruit female textile workers. However, the Manchu Qing government attaches great importance to the fiscal and tax revenue of the south of the Yangtze River and prohibits the emigration of female textile workers from the Susong area."
Therefore, only one or two thousand female textile workers immigrate to South America every year, which is far from being able to meet the needs of the development of the textile industry.
And Mr. Zhang, you just saw that some female weavers from middle-class families had their feet bound since childhood. Although in South America, under strict government orders, female textile workers let their feet go, but the harm left by footbinding at a young age is still there.
, nearly one-third of the female textile workers’ feet could not recover naturally after being released from foot binding, so they had to find a local doctor or apply to the government, which would issue a certificate, and seek treatment in person at the Medical University.”
After Sun Bin finished speaking, he pointed with his right hand in the direction where several female textile workers with small feet were walking and said, "Look, the building on the right in front is the medical station set up by the Medical University in Xicheng District. If the female textile workers and female students nearby are...
If you get sick, you can go inside for treatment.”
Following the direction pointed by Sun Bin's right hand, Zhang Zhenxun turned his head and looked, and sure enough he saw several young women going in and out of the small building, and there were two security guards standing guard on both sides of the door of the small building.
"You sirs have a public heart for the people, and you should be a blessing to us overseas wanderers."
"We are all overseas Chinese and should help each other. Mr. Zhang does not need to be so condescending."...
The textile industry is the most basic primary industry. During the early development of the textile industry in Han Dynasty, all machinery and equipment were purchased from European countries such as Germany and France. By 1879, the industrial foundation of Han Dynasty was initially established, with some simple textile machines and dyeing machines.
Fabric machines can achieve independent production. As a result, garments produced by local machinery and equipment have also appeared in the South American textile industry market.
In the early 1870s, the textile industry mainly existed in the form of small family workshops. After occupying northern Argentina, overseas Chinese capital from Southeast Asia was gradually imported. Small textile factories represented by mechanical production replaced traditional family handicraft workshops and became the mainstream of the textile market.
developed.
At this stage, the textile industry grew in a barbaric manner because the government adhered to the development philosophy of focusing on the large and letting go of the small, and mainly developing heavy industry. Overseas Chinese businessmen poured in one after another and invested funds in the textile industry with small capital and quick returns.
In order to obtain higher profits, reduce the cost of raw material procurement, suppress competitors, and exploit Chinese female workers at the bottom, textile owners who lack limited supervision gradually reveal their capital nature and greedily expand their product market share.
The barbaric development of the textile industry gradually attracted the attention of government officials. In 1875, Li Mingyuan assigned the government to dispatch commissioners to investigate the actual situation of the textile industry. According to the results of three months of surveys in various parts of the country,
About one-sixth of the employees in private textile factories are underage female workers who have not received training and education. Most female workers usually work 12 to 14 hours a day and have two days off a month.
days, and after a female worker starts working, the textile factory owner will deduct from the female worker’s salary every month the settling-in allowance that was previously paid to the female worker’s family.
Wage deductions, poor accommodation conditions for female workers, and various conclusions drawn from the investigation made it impossible for the government to sit back and watch the textile industry continue to grow barbarically.
In November 1875, the government promulgated and implemented the "Industrial and Commercial Administration Law". The law clearly stipulates that: 1: Female workers shall not work more than ten hours a day, and factory owners shall not use coercive means to force female workers to work overtime.
2: It is prohibited to employ women under the age of fifteen and to prohibit women from working late at night.
3: Female workers and other workers are entitled to one statutory rest day per week...
Immediately following the promulgation of the Industrial and Commercial Administration Law, the Han government immediately began to sort out the chaos in the textile industry. A batch of textile factories that did not meet production requirements were strictly ordered to close within a time limit. At the same time, the government and a group of powerful Chinese businessmen jointly funded the acquisition and integration of various local textile factories.
Textile Factory, the textile factories under the government's name were reorganized into two major state-owned textile groups, mainly Susong Textile Factory and Jiangnan Textile Factory.
The state-owned textile factory introduced the European seven-day work cycle, with one day off every week on Sunday, ten days off at the end of the year and the beginning of the year and in the summer, and a nine-hour working day. The state-owned textile factory provided free meals, dormitories, medical expenses and uniforms.
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Compared with private textile factories, the working environment and life of female textile workers in state-owned textile factories are quite fulfilling. Every Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday, state-owned textile factories will spare two hours of working time and arrange for female textile workers to study at night schools.
The construction funds for the state-owned textile mills in the early years were provided by the government, and the textile mills were public enterprises with a deficit that ignored accounting. Therefore, the state-owned textile mills were not so much factories that produced large amounts of silk and fabrics, but more like residential women's fiber industry colleges.
The school is more suitable.
Two major state-owned enterprises took the lead. After three years of integrated development, Susong Textile Factory and Jiangnan Textile Factory successively turned losses into profits and no longer needed financial subsidies from the government.
Shortly after the female workers at Susong Textile Factory got off work, the door of Nanhua First Women's College slowly opened. Because Nanhua First Women's College had not yet been completed, when the door opened, only a few people came out sparsely.
.
"Master Sun, under the big camphor tree at the front door, the girl is wearing a light cyan mattress skirt."
About twenty or thirty meters away, Zhang Zhenxun pointed forward and introduced.
"Gentle and elegant, with a natural appearance, your daughter is a perfect match for Your Majesty."
Sun Bin looked at the young woman standing under the camphor tree and sighed.
"Haha, Mr. Zhang thanked Mr. Sun for his compliments on behalf of his little daughter."
Zhang Zhenxun smiled and thanked...
"Sister Youlan, we are here." Zhang Zhenxun and Sun Bin were chatting happily. At the entrance of the women's college, Wu Lingxuan saw a young woman coming from Su Song Textile Factory and shouted.
"Miss Wu." The young woman came over and saw Zhang Baoyi beside Wu Lingxuan. She smiled and said hello, "Miss Zhang, you are here too."
"I was staying in the backyard to help my father take care of household chores. When Miss Wu heard that Nanhua First Women's College was holding a preparatory event today, she invited me to come out and accompany her."
"Hehe, I dragged Baoyi here. If I hadn't tried so hard to persuade her, she still wouldn't have come."
Wu Lingxuan smiled playfully, with the look of a little girl still on her face.
"Hehehe, you are shameless, you are going to be a princess soon, and you still act like a child."
"What a kid, he's already sixteen years old, and Brother Hanwang said that he likes my simple character, so I'm not afraid of him."
Wu Lingxuan didn't care at all and said proudly.
Although Zhang Baoyi is about the same age as Wu Lingxuan, she has a precocious personality and usually treats her as a younger sister and doesn't care about her innocent actions.
"Sister Youlan, when did you arrive in South America? I remember you were with Uncle Huang in Selangor half a year ago?"
Seeing that Huang Youlan, the daughter of Huang Ping, the leader of the Taiping Hui branch, was also here, Zhang Baoyi asked curiously.
"Yip Ah Lai in Kapitan, Kuala Lumpur was determined to seize the tin mines in Selangor. My father was worried that it would be dangerous to stay there, so he sent my mother, brother and me to the mainland."
"The situation in Nanyang is not very good. The English have blocked maritime traffic in South America and Nanyang. There has been no news from Nanyang for two months."
"It's not very good. The foreigners have blocked maritime transportation for several months. Not only have the mainland been cut off from overseas connections, but many locally produced products cannot be sold and have been piling up in warehouses. We don't know when the blockade will end."
Huang Youlan and Zhang Baoyi were both officials and Shang descendants who were related to the Han government. They had been exposed to it for a long time in their families and had some understanding of the current situation in the Han Dynasty.
"Ah, you two are talking about something I don't understand again. Come on, stop talking now. Let's go over there to eat."
Wu Lingxuan couldn't understand what the two people were talking about, so she changed the topic forcefully.
"Okay, okay, I will listen to you today and I will accompany you to dinner."
With a smile on her face, Zhang Baoyi teased the other person, and then the three of them walked to a nearby inn together...
"Hey, is Bao Yiren gone?"
Zhang Zhenxun and Sun Bin chatted for only a few words, then turned to look at the crowd, but did not find their daughter.
"Mr. Zhang, don't be in a hurry to find your daughter. I have just met Miss Zhang from a distance, and your highness also has a good impression of Miss Zhang. After Mr. Zhang goes back to see your daughter, he only needs to give an explanation. There is no need to rush.
I spent a lot of time searching for Miss Zhang in the streets."
"Mr. Zhang is right. I will wait until my daughter returns home to explain everything to her."
