Workers who reshape China in transition

[AndrewJin]

In this thread, I will encourage members here share some stories, news, photos of Chinese workers in the context of the transitioning economy. The people who are sacrificing behind the stage are generally underreported, however, they are the key drivers of the nation.
@Yizhi @Shotgunner51 @TaiShang @Stranagor @cirr @Keel @Jlaw @Place Of Space @FairAndUnbiased @zeronet @Raphael @sweetgrape @Edison Chen @Chinese Bamboo @Chinese-Dragon @cnleio @+4vsgorillas-Apebane @onebyone @yusheng @Kyle Sun @dy1022 @Beast @YoucanYouup @terranMarine @ahojunk @kuge@Economic superpower @Beidou2020 @cirr @JSCh @jkroo @Pangu @ChineseTiger1986 @powastick @onebyone @kankan326 @badguy2000 @TianyaTaiwan @ahtan_china @ChineseTiger1986 @powastick @empirefighter @hexagonsnow @xuxu1457 @sword1947 @tranquilium@55100864 @Sommer @HongWu002 @Speeder 2 @Dungeness @utp45 @StarCraft_ZT2 @Martian2 @Jguo @Arryn @rott @TheTruth @Dungeness @immortalsoul @beijingwalker @xunzi @Obambam @ahtan_china @bolo @bobsm @Abacin @Tom99 @Genesis @GS Zhou @djsjs @Daniel808 @Nan Yang @70U63 ]@CAPRICORN-88 @XiaoYaoZi @Hu Songshan @theniubt @LTE-TDD @faithfulguy @rott @Tiqiu @Daniel808 et al

I will start from a piece of news last year, since most Chinese are not aware of this competition. And such competition is one testament to Chinese workers' endeavour in the fierce competition with their global counterparts.



Chinese workers made breakthrough in World Skills Competition

On-site Chinese competitors. Competitors from Chinese delegation won four gold medals in manufacturing, welding, hairdressing and car painting in the 43rd World Skills Completion closed on Sunday in Brazil’s largest city Sao Paulo on Aug 16, 2015.

Chinese competitors walk towards podium. In addition to gold medals, competitors from Chinese delegation also won 6 silver medals, 3 bronze medals and 12 Medals for Excellence

The pride of female workers!
Chinese competitor Zhang Shuping works on the machine during the competition

Teamwork!
Competitors hug each other after Chinese delegation won the championship for team challenge.

Comparison among 2011, 2013 and 2015

 

[Tiqiu]

For anyone who has the experience living in the West and has the opportunity to ask Westerners about their opinion of Chinese workers, the answer will always be: " The Best".

 

[AndrewJin]

Workers for Chinese Railway
Those who sacrifice behind the ongoing transportation revolution in China

Jinan Railway Bureau
The girl who maintains the locomotives

Baoji Loco Maintenance Base
Impeccable measuring

Lanzhou-Xinjiang High-speed Railway
To ensure every part of the EMU in the best condition

Shanghai-Nantong HSR construction site
Concentration on every detail

Wuhan-Xi'an HSR construction site
Teamwork for the prefabrication of viaducts

Zhengzhou-Xuzhou HSR construction
1mm that matters

Xi'an North Railway Station
Checking after the train arrives

@anant_s @cirr @TaiShang @ahojunk et al.

 

[Beast]

For anyone who has the experience living in the West and has the opportunity to ask Westerners about their opinion of Chinese workers, the answer will always be: " The Best".

It is something you cant get from other countries if they think low cost operating is the only reason for investing and open up manufacturing plant in China.

 

[empirefighter]

Keep promoting the status and raising the salary of worker with high skills, orelse,we will never become the best country to make best machines.

 

[AndrewJin]

It is something you cant get from other countries if they think low cost operating is the only reason for investing and open up manufacturing plant in China.

Keep promoting the status and raising the salary of worker with high skills, orelse,we will never become the best country to make best machines.

Manufacturing
Still made in China
Chinese manufacturing remains second to none

http://www.economist.com/news/speci...acturing-remains-second-none-still-made-china

AMID ALL THE excitement about high tech and the push into services, it is easy to forget that China’s modern economy was built on the strength of a solid and often low-tech manufacturing sector. Now manufacturing is widely thought to be in trouble. Factories are squeezed, labour costs are rising and jobs are being reshored to America. Competitors such as Germany are said to be leaving China behind by using robotics.

Chinese officials have responded in the only way they know. In May the State Council, China’s ruling body, approved “Made in China 2025”, a costly scheme that will use mandates, subsidies and other methods to persuade manufacturers to upgrade their factories. The plan is for China to become a green and innovative “world manufacturing power” by 2025.

China is already the world’s largest manufacturer, accounting for nearly a quarter of global value added in this sector. Research by Morris Cohen of the Wharton Business School finds that the country leads in many industries and that “reshoring to the developed economies is not happening on a large scale.” Even though some production is moving to countries nearer its consumers, China remains at the heart of a network known as Factory Asia. It has an excellent infrastructure and an enormous, hard-working and skilled workforce. Though wages are rising, its labour productivity is far higher than that of India, Vietnam and other rivals, and is forecast to keep growing at 6-7% a year to 2025.

Manufacturing is almost entirely controlled by private firms, both Chinese and foreign, which unlike SOEs will not be pushed by bureaucrats into making unprofitable investments. Marjorie Yang, Esquel’s boss, says that subsidies may feel good but distort investment decisions: “The government loves to fund flashy hardware and robotics, but there’s no money for the software and data analytics needed to make proper use of it.” And in any case most of these private firms are already innovating at a cracking pace without prompting from government.

Michael McNamara, the boss of Flex, a big American contract manufacturer, says product cycles have become much faster. Factories in China used to serve export markets, but are now reorganising to concentrate on the booming local market. They are sensibly investing in automation, worker training and new methods. In the process, he says, China is “moving from work engine of the world to genuine innovator”.

Liam Casey, an Irish entrepreneur who has worked in Chinese manufacturing for two decades, believes that “a huge amount of innovation” is happening around manufacturing supply chains. PCH, his firm in Shenzhen, is a supply-chain manager that now helps foreign manufacturers with design and mass customisation. A private firm with revenues of over $1 billion last year, it moves up to 10m components a day and ships merchandise worth $10 billion a year.

Kirk Yang of Barclays, a bank, believes the manufacturing sector is moving from “Made in China” to “Made by China”. In the 1980s and 1990s most factories were owned by firms from Taiwan (like Foxconn) or the West (like Flex). Increasingly, he predicts, the sector will be run by Chinese firms. Taiwan used to dominate the market for upmarket electronics components, but he thinks many Chinese parts-suppliers—like BYDE, an arm of the electric-car firm BYD—are now excellent.

China is the world’s largest market for industrial automation and robots. Ulrich Spiesshofer, chief executive of ABB, a Swiss engineering giant, reckons that the latest robots “elevate the nature of work” because they improve safety and eliminate the need for heavy lifting. ABB’s local engineers developed China Dragon, a robot made specifically for the computer industry, which sells well globally. In many industries China is still learning from the world, say the engineers, but its electronics manufacturing is so advanced that “the world is learning from China.”

Mr Spiesshofer sees China pushing ahead with robots like YuMi, which was partly developed there. This affordable two-armed creation (pictured above) can be deployed safely next to humans on assembly lines and is able to do fine work like inspecting phones for scratches. At its factory in Shanghai, ABB is scaling up YuMi to mass production this month.

Terry Gou, Foxconn’s boss, claims that within five years the 30% of his labour force doing the most tedious work will be replaced by robots, releasing them to do something more valuable. The highly inventive firm, which holds many American patents, is building all its automation in-house.

Staying ahead of the game allows manufacturers to keep their best clients. Nike, a global sportswear firm, has seen a lot of its suppliers decamp to cheaper Vietnam, but still gets 30% of its components from the mainland. Eric Sprunk, its chief operating officer, looks for suppliers capable of developing novel techniques that can inspire new products.


We have a plan

What about the government’s “Made in China 2025” plan? It might succeed on its more modest goals, says Stephen Dyer of Bain, a consulting firm. Its immediate aims are to improve quality, productivity and digitisation, and to expand the use of numerically controlled machines. All these things, he notes, are already in common use by world-class manufacturers in other countries. A push to invest might well help Chinese laggards catch up.

China’s state planners also want to help companies leapfrog to the forefront of technology. Their plan involves policies to encourage the adoption of robotics, 3D printing and other advanced techniques. But factories will invest in advanced kit only if it makes commercial sense. “You can’t push this onto firms,” says Mr Dyer. “They just won’t do it if it’s irrational.”

A visit to a middling factory in a middling city illustrates the point. The Guangneng Rongneng Automotive Trim Company in Chongqing is not a fancy place. Stock is piled hither and yon. Owned by a privately held firm, the factory makes injection-moulded and welded automotive parts, mostly for Ford. Chen Gang, its director of operations, says wages have gone up so much that he has to pay itinerant workers the same as they can earn in Shenzhen.

He points to a fancy ABB robot on one side of an aisle that makes complex parts to go on instrument panels. Across the aisle sits a Chinese robot made by Kejie, which lacks the range and precision of the foreign model but is one-third the price. And plenty of the work at his firm is, and will remain, done by hand. “China is headed in this direction,” he says, pointing to the robots, but the pace of adoption will vary from factory to factory.

Thanks to Deng’s liberalisation and China’s subsequent accession to the World Trade Organisation, the country’s manufacturers rose to become export powerhouses. Because exporters must compete in the global market, the weak and inefficient—which includes most SOEs—have been driven out.

 

[TaiShang]

Excellent thread, @AndrewJin !

Workers are the silent heroes of the miracle that made China the giant it is today (with lots of work remains to be done). They are true patriots.

2013

http://m.jsonline.com/more/business...ing-ground-on-wages-b9914759z1-208979131.html

 

[AndrewJin]

Wages are increasing, productivity is increasing.
Chinese workers are changing, which shapes China in transition.
And more efforts should be made in terms of boosting productivity at a higher growth rate.

http://www.eiu.com/public/thankyou_download.aspx?activity=download&campaignid=ChinaManufacturing
Some key findings related to labor cost in China

Manufacturing labour compensation per hour rose by an average of 11.9% a year (in local-currency terms) in 2001-12, a pace we expect will be maintained in the period to 2020. Earnings expansion will be underpinned by productivity gains and shortages in the labour supply, which will give workers room to negotiate strong wage increases.

Despite strong growth in manufacturing labour costs, China remains highly competitive in the international context. Manufacturing earnings per hour averaged US$2.1 in 2012, compared with US$35.7 in the US. We expect this gap to narrow, but Chinese labour costs will still be under 12% of those in the US in 2020.

Internal disparities within China in manufacturing labour costs are narrowing, but still offer opportunities for firms looking to diversify capacity to cheaper locations. Provinces such as Jiangxi, Henan and Shandong stand out as attractive destinations for manufacturing, given their relatively low labour costs, large labour pools and developed infrastructure.

Our data suggest that growth in manufacturing earnings has comfortably exceeded that in labour productivity in recent years, suggesting that China needs to transition more rapidly up the value chain. Price competitiveness alone will not be enough to maintain the country’s global manufacturing predominance; it will also need to demonstrate greater aptitude in innovation.

Excellent thread, @AndrewJin !

Workers are the silent heroes of the miracle that made China the giant it is today (with lots of work remains to be done). They are true patriots.

View attachment 307814

2013

http://m.jsonline.com/more/business...ing-ground-on-wages-b9914759z1-208979131.html

 

[TaiShang]

Fuzhou Railway workers stick to jobs despite high temp

China.org.cn




Chefs cook for staff members of the Fuzhou Railway in Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, Aug. 3, 2016. Workers of the Fuzhou Railway have stuck to their jobs despite of the continuous high temperature. (Xinhua/Zhang Guojun)


Staff members of the Fuzhou Railway check signals of railway at the high temperature of 40 degrees centigrade in Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, Aug. 3, 2016. Workers of the Fuzhou Railway have stuck to their jobs despite of the continuous high temperature. (Xinhua/Zhang Guojun)


Staff members of the Fuzhou Railway check signals of railway at the high temperature which reaches 40 degrees centigrade in Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, Aug. 3, 2016. Workers of the Fuzhou Railway have stuck to their jobs despite of the continuous high temperature. (Xinhua/Zhang Guojun)


A technician of the Fuzhou Railway checks the condition of a high-speed train at a workshop in Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, Aug. 3, 2016. Workers of the Fuzhou Railway have stuck to their jobs despite of the continuous high temperature. (Xinhua/Zhang Guojun)


A staff member of the Fuzhou Railway cleans sheets at a workshop with a temperature reaching 40 degrees centigrade in Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, Aug. 3, 2016. Workers of the Fuzhou Railway have stuck to their jobs despite of the continuous high temperature. (Xinhua/Zhang Guojun)

 

[ahojunk]

A job where one mistake can cost a life
2016-10-06 10:19:18 Chinadaily.com.cn Web Editor: Zhang Xu

An undated photo shows Zhao Wenwu working in Dalian, Liaoning province.
[Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]​

He walks for hours on cables that are 100 meters above the ground in scorching heat and freezing winter in gear that weighs two kilograms. And these are not some ordinary cables. They carry high-voltage electricity.

Meet Zhao Wenwu, an electric power transmission worker at Dalian Power Supply Company subordinated to State Grid Corporation.

"I have to make sure that not a single mistake happens, because if it does, it means someone could lose their life," said Zhao.

Zhao, 48, has worked as a "doctor" fixing malfunctioning high-voltage and extra-high-voltage cables for 28 years.

He now leads a seven-member team responsible for detecting and overhauling 153 cables, totaling 1,300 kilometers, that transmit electricity for Dalian, a city with nearly seven million population in Northeast China's Liaoning province.

Facing flowing high-voltage electricity and variable weather while staying on high cables, which range from 20 to 100 meters high for different voltages, in the air for hours, Zhao has one of the most dangerous and demanding jobs in the power sector.

An undated photo shows a member of Zhao's team working on high-voltage cables
in the air in Dalian, Liaoning province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]​

A typical working day for Zhao and his teammates starts like this:

Carrying several kilograms of tools and equipment, they walk several kilometers in the wild and reach the foot of a transmission tower.

Some of the team members put on airtight protective clothing, which weighs about two kilograms, and safety belt, and climb up the tower, while the rest stay on the ground as back up.

On the top of the tower, climbers catch a breath and prepare to send one of them to the trouble spot of the cable. The dispatched worker will either take a ride on a pulley cable vehicle or walk on a cable with hands holding on two other cables, just like wire-walking, to reach the spot.

"An ordinary person may quit halfway before reaching the trouble spot because he will run out strength or due to fear of height," said Zhao, adding that the whole process sometimes takes hours depending on the height of the tower.

But the dispatched worker will work on the cables for several hours without eating, sometimes even without drinking, and fix faults on the dangerous metal cable or other heavy equipment even if he is already tired. It usually takes workers half a day, although for some difficult problems it could take up to seven hours, to finish a task.

An undated photo shows Zhao climbing up a rope ladder during a task
in Dalian, Liaoning province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]​

The work gets harder in the summer and winter, scorching heat makes workers sweat in the airtight clothing, while freezing cold stiffens their hands thus making the work more difficulty which in turn means they have to stay there for longer hours.

Though tough as the task is, one mistake can cost a life. Zhao said that he is unable to sleep before the day of task. "All the details keep running through my mind like a roll of film, and I have to take all scenarios into consideration and constantly make improvements."

On the day of the work, Zhao checks every tools and equipment repetitively, such as whether ropes and sticks are wet or damp which is forbidden, and has to make sure that they are functioning well. "Safety is most important. I used to worry about my own safety before, and now worry about every one of my team member."

An undated photo shows three workers climbing up a transmission tower during
a task in Dalian, Liaoning province. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]​

Whenever there's a break in work, Zhao starts thinking about easier and faster ways of doing work to better protect the team's safety.

To reach high cables, apart from climbing up transmission tower, the other way is to hang a rope ladder on the cable and climb it. It usually requires workers on the tower to help hang the ladder. But Zhao's team found a new method to hang the ladder on the 500kv extra-high-voltage cable with all workers staying on the ground.

"We thought of many ways to hang a rope on the targeted cable," said Zhao, adding that they even tried to use bow and crossbow to let arrow bring a rope, which connects the rope ladder on the other end, flying across the cable.

Zhao Wenwu checks a drone at an office in Dalian Power Supply Company on Sept 28, 2016.
[Photo by Wu Yan/chinadaily.com.cn]​

They also tried model airplane. Several young workers practiced to fly model airplane on computer simulation at first and then in reality in spare time for three months in 2012. They did many experiments and even damaged a model airplane.

"It is too hard to control," said Zhao, "We hope it flies steadily rather than fast."

Fortunately, they heard of a new type of drone available in the market. "We tried drones and they work very well," said Zhao with a smile. This innovation was recognized by the industry and brought a reward to his company.

"He always tells us to think what is the hardest part in the latest task and find a solution," said 30-year-old Nie Lu, a member of Zhao's team.

"I hope all teammates can be better than me," said Zhao, who is the oldest and most experienced worker in the team. "Do best everyday work and make yourself the best, then others will recognize you."

 

[yantong1980]

walk on high voltage cable....that's one toughest job in the world.

 

[Jlaw]

Fuzhou Railway workers stick to jobs despite high temp

China.org.cn




Chefs cook for staff members of the Fuzhou Railway in Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, Aug. 3, 2016. Workers of the Fuzhou Railway have stuck to their jobs despite of the continuous high temperature. (Xinhua/Zhang Guojun)


Staff members of the Fuzhou Railway check signals of railway at the high temperature of 40 degrees centigrade in Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, Aug. 3, 2016. Workers of the Fuzhou Railway have stuck to their jobs despite of the continuous high temperature. (Xinhua/Zhang Guojun)


Staff members of the Fuzhou Railway check signals of railway at the high temperature which reaches 40 degrees centigrade in Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, Aug. 3, 2016. Workers of the Fuzhou Railway have stuck to their jobs despite of the continuous high temperature. (Xinhua/Zhang Guojun)


A technician of the Fuzhou Railway checks the condition of a high-speed train at a workshop in Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, Aug. 3, 2016. Workers of the Fuzhou Railway have stuck to their jobs despite of the continuous high temperature. (Xinhua/Zhang Guojun)


A staff member of the Fuzhou Railway cleans sheets at a workshop with a temperature reaching 40 degrees centigrade in Fuzhou, southeast China's Fujian Province, Aug. 3, 2016. Workers of the Fuzhou Railway have stuck to their jobs despite of the continuous high temperature. (Xinhua/Zhang Guojun)

Our union would say it's too hot and they would not work that day . Or call in sick.
That why Chinese in Canada can still get hired despite the language barrier. We are known to have good work ethics

 

[TaiShang]

Craft and life
By Xu Fan | China Daily | Updated: 2017-05-30 07:52

​

Pan Congming is an expert in precious metals. His story is featured in a TV program called Masters of Their Craft. [Photo provided to China Daily]

TV program honors the tireless efforts of Chinese in different fields, Xu Fan reports.

Few Chinese from the younger generations know the story behind the 1 yuan coin.

In 1985, Yu Min, a designer at the Shanghai branch of China Banknote Printing and Minting Corp, beat a dozen aspirants to engrave the coin.

Then 26 years old, he had spent a few years on polishing the coin's plaster mold. In 1992, the coin, with the pattern of a peony flower, was officially circulated but overtaken by a version featuring a chrysanthemum in the 2000s.

In his long career, Yu has designed and engraved more than 100 types of coins and souvenirs such as those for Chairman Mao's 100th birth anniversary, others resembling medals of the 2008 Beijing Olympics and few more with Panda designs on them.

He became the first Chinese to win the lifetime achievement award in coin design from the World Coin News magazine and World Money Fair, a global numismatic and precious metals convention.

His decadeslong devotion to China's coin-engraving industry was recently reported in the fifth season of the Masters of Their Craft program aired on CCTV-1 and CCTV-13. He was featured in one episode.

The other four episodes featured the metal-refining worker Pan Congming, bianzhong (chime bells) tuner Liu Younian, milling technician Han Liping and engineer Qiao Sukai.

"Some of their jobs might be less known to the public. But they are all masters in their fields and should be known to more people," says Yue Qun, the program's producer.


Liu Younian (left) tunes ancient chime bells.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Pan, 43, is an expert in China's precious metal industry.

Such metals as palladium and osmium are key materials in the production of cutting-edge weapons, but China has limited reserves of these.

"It means that recycling - what is done by workers like Pan - is very important to China's military industry," says Yue.

Every year, Pan and more than 100 co-workers in a factory under the Gansu-based Jinchuan Group, extract such metals from industrial waste, which accounts for around 50 percent of China's total production of these metals.

While accuracy is a must-have for Yu, Qiao, an engineer from the Guangdong-based Daya Bay Nuclear Power Plant, undertake risks in his daily work. One of his major jobs is to check and fix nuclear rods, which may cause a huge disaster if a minor error occurs. Qiao, 45, and his teammates wear protective clothing and masks to do their work.

To fix a damaged rod sometimes takes 10 hours or more.

Some comments on the streaming site bilibili.com hail Qiao and his team as heroes of this era.

The story of Liu, a bianzhong tuner in Wuhan, has added an artistic flavor to the TV program.

Bianzhong is an ancient Chinese musical instrument consisting of a set of bronze bells, which thrived around 3,000 years ago but mostly disappeared after the Tang Dynasty (618-907).

Liu, 60, has made bianzhong replications based on archaeological discoveries and has tuned the replicas to play harmoniously along with some modern instruments.

Wen Weimin, the editor behind the episode on Han, a milling technician at China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, calls her story inspirational.

Milling technician Han Liping has won many awards for her dedication to China's aerospace industry.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Han, 42, uses digitally-controlled milling machines to produce parts of rocket launchers.

She has won many awards for her dedication to China's aerospace industry.

"It was very difficult to explain what Han and her team exactly do, because it's technical stuff. We talked to dozens of people in the relevant field and used some metaphors to make the program more appealing to common viewers," says Wen.

Having taken part in the production of three seasons of Masters of Their Craft, Wen says the interviews have enlightened her. The subjects seem to care less about money and fame, and passionately work to pursue the best.

Yue, the producer of the program, says such stories can tell the world about the rise of quality productions and professionals in China.

She recalls that the inspiration for the program came from an elderly man, who insisted on making transistor radios by hand for decades.

"When speaking about craftsmanship spirit, some people in China might think about Swiss watchmakers or Japanese sushi chefs. But we have our own such veterans," she says.

By reading comments online, Yue says she has found that the program has influenced a number of young viewers, who say they can now take up vocational learning as well.

Statistics from the broadcaster show that one of the most popular seasons has been watched nearly 300 million times online and generated 180,000 reviews on Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.

In the past two years, many reporters and photographers of the TV channel have traveled to Shaanxi, Guizhou, Henan and the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, among other parts of the country to interview 52 craftsmen and women for the program.

 

[TaiShang]

Skills competition held on ship Xiangyanghong 01
Xinhua, December 18, 2017



A marine engineer competes during the skills competition on Xiangyanghong 01, China's elite science ship, on the South Atlantic Ocean, Dec. 15, 2017. A competition is held for improving the skills of technicians on the ship Xiangyanghong 01 during its journey of around-the-world integrated maritime research. (Xinhua/Zhang Xudong)

A marine engineer competes during a skill competition on the Xiangyanghong 01, China's elite science ship, on the South Atlantic Ocean, Dec. 15, 2017. The competition is held for improving the skills of technicians on the ship Xiangyanghong 01 during its journey of around-the-world integrated maritime research. (Xinhua/Zhang Xudong)