A Family Working Together (Part 3)

June 28th, 2023:

Q: I saw a few school-aged kids with school bags walking into the factory earlier. Do they live here?

A: Yeah, they live with their parents in the factory dorms. There’s a primary school and a kindergarten right behind the factory, provided by the government for the community. There are also some local private businesses setting up schools.

Q: In some factories, only a few people can live in the dorms, and you have to work your way up. Is it the same here? Do you have to meet certain criteria?

A: Here, it’s not really based on seniority, but on your rank and pay grade within the company. Our wages are divided into two parts: a base salary and a tiered salary. For the tiered salary part, managers get a certain rate, workshop supervisors another, and department heads at yet another. It’s all clear, standardized. Every year, they evaluate your performance once. If you do well, you get a raise. If not, you might get a pay cut. There’s a whole incentive system in place. We used to call it the “horse race” system – everyone competing to perform better. We’ve borrowed a lot of good practices from other successful management models over the years.

For example, my wife and I have been here for 21 years, worked my way up to management, and now we live in a two-bedroom apartment of about 70 square meters in the dormitory buildings. There are also single dorms, rooms for two, four, and six people. Single workers usually stay in the single rooms. If someone has a girlfriend or boyfriend, they might rent an apartment outside the factory, in the nearby [urban] villages.

Q: How many dorm buildings are there? Do more people live on-site or rent outside?

A: There are three dorm buildings—one for women, one for men, and a third one for the management-level workers. Some buildings are six floors, others eight. But with over a thousand workers, the dorms can’t house everyone, so most people rent outside.

Q: So, dorm assignments are based on merit and contribution, which seems fair. Those who don’t perform as well end up renting outside.

A: Exactly. If you aren’t as capable, or if you’re a bit lazier, they won’t assign you a dorm room. The dorms are decent, though. We’ve got air conditioning in the summer, hot water in the winter. You don’t pay rent, just a little for utilities like water and electricity.

Q: How are dorms allocated for married couples? Are they placed in the men’s dorm or the women’s dorm?

Coworker: My wife and I live in a couple’s room in the women’s dorm building. It’s an eight-story building.

A: My wife and I live in the six-story dorm building. Floors one through five have couple’s rooms, or “family rooms,” as we call them.

Q: Does everyone eat in the same cafeteria?

A: Yes, the cafeteria is company-owned, not outsourced. It’s not a money-maker. A meal outside the factory might cost you 20 yuan, but here, it’s only 7 or 8 yuan. When we first got here, back in Bantian, meals were 2 or 3 yuan, maybe 4 or 5 at most. But of course, inflation has hit, and prices have gone up everywhere.

Q: How’s the cafeteria food?

A: They make about a dozen dishes each day. You serve youself, grab what you want. You have a card that you top up with money, and then you swipe it when you eat. If you want to eat better, you just swipe for more. More money, better food.

Q: So overall, it sounds like the benefits and working conditions here are pretty good?

A: Yeah, the benefits are solid, and the pay is great. But it’s a tough job, though, no doubt about that. The company has high standards and strict demands, but after all, they’re all about long-term development. Back when I first started, they didn’t even allow couples to join the factory. That came later; little by little, they loosened that rule.

Coworker: In the old days, if you had a scar on your forehead, you couldn’t get in. If you had dyed your hair blonde, you can forget about it too.

A: Yeah, in the early days, the company was really strict. But it’s not easy to run a business with so many people. It was tough for the company because there was barely any turnover. People didn’t leave, so they rarely had any openings. And keeping that many workers on staff, employed, paid, is no small feat.

Q: Actually, it sounds like allowing couples to work here was a smart move. It probably helps attract more people, right?

Coworker: Absolutely. Like for us, working security. Alone, I’m only making a few thousand yuan a month. But if both of us, husband and wife, work here, it’s much better. My wife makes over 10,000 a month; it adds up.

A: Right, with two people working, you can live off one salary and save the other.

Q: That’s not bad, especially considering some factories are struggling to pay their workers these days.

A: My salary isn’t even as high as my wife’s anymore. It used to be about the same, though. We both were making over 10,000 a month.

Coworker: Given the current situation, the pandemic’s effects should last about three to five, but I’d say we haven’t seen any major drops in client orders. In fact, business might even be growing a bit, so we’re in a good spot. Things are still looking up.

A: I’d say the pandemic proved this company has staying power. This business has sustainability in the long term.

Coworker: Yeah, we’ve never had a paycheck come in late, not even by a day.

A: Right, wages are always on time. If anything, they pay early, never late.

Coworker: When it comes to paying wages, the factory does it right.

A: Very punctual, very reliable every time. You can count on it.

Q: In all these 10, 20 years you’ve been working here, you’ve never seen them miss a paycheck?

Coworker: This factory has never been short of money. No cash flow problems ever.

A: Nope. They’ve always been financially sound, and then they went public, bringing in even more money. [Laughs]

Q: So where do you sell your zippers and buttons? Mostly within China, or overseas too?

A: Mostly domestic sales, but we’re also expanding overseas. We’ve got eight industrial parks, like in the cities of Linhai, Tianjin, and Shanghai. We even have parks in Bangladesh and Vietnam.

Q: Do they hire local workers for the parks in other countries?

A: Yeah, but the key technicians are all Chinese staff. We send our people over there. Our sales strategy has been pretty successful. We’ve got branches and sales companies in different regions all over China and abroad. It’s a sales-first model. At the time when we started, this model was pretty cutting-edge nationwide. You know, the awareness and marketing strategies we developed back then—we’re still using those today.

Q: What kind of buyers do you have?

A: Some are direct buyers, those are generally clothing retailers or garment factories. Others are middlemen. Our factory has a dedicated sales company.

Q: And that sales company is part of the same corporation?

A: Yep, under the same umbrella. The parent company is at the top, and beneath it are the sales subsidiaries and factories. It’s a system that works. Before I joined Weixing, I worked at Sanzhu Medicine Corp., and their marketing strategy was similar. Back then, Sanzhu had a sales network in every county in China. Once the higher-ups gave an order, they could push an ad all the way down to the county level. It’s a smart setup.

Q: That must’ve cost a lot in advertising.

A: Oh yeah, it’s expensive. Our most recent ad was done by Liu Shishi – Wu Qilong’s wife – and it cost 120 million yuan for one line. Before her, Zhang Guoli was our spokesperson.

Q: When did the factory start advertising like this?

A: Just in the past few years. Before that, the company was really low-key, never trying to make a splash. They were all about solid, steady business, keeping their feet on the ground.

Coworker: In China, Weixing is the only listed company in the clothing accessory industry. There’s another one, VPI, from Japan – it’s the largest in the world.

A: We went public in 2004. We have two stocks—Weixing Co. and Weixing Building Materials.

Q: Do long-time employees get rewarded shares?

A: Only the key technicians do, but not many. Higher-ups definitely get shares. They’ve been with the company since the '90s – they’re basically founders.

Q: You seem like you’ve done well here. Are you the most successful among your siblings?

A: Oh, no, not at all. I’m actually the least successful [laugh]. My second brother works for the education bureau, and my third brother is also a teacher. They’re both educators, but I’m just a factory worker. But I owe a lot to my father-in-law. He helped us a ton, especially with taking care of our child and buying our first home.

Q: How many children do you have?

A: Just one. Back when we lived in Shandong, the government’s family planning policies were among the strictest in the country. You couldn’t have more than one child. It just wasn’t an option at the time. My father passed away early, and my mother passed last year. My wife’s parents are both gone now, too. Her mother also died young, and her father passed away a few years ago.

Q: So, no elders left now. You’re the head of the family.

A: Yeah, we’re the heads of the family. It’s just us now.

Q: Looking back, do you think you’d be better off if you hadn’t left your hometown?

A: It’s hard to say. If we had stayed, we probably would’ve done okay, but doing well? That’s hard to measure. The local economy just isn’t as developed, and you don’t get as many opportunities. Compared to my schoolmates and friends back home, I’d say I’m doing pretty well. I don’t have any bad habits; I just focus on working hard. I’ve bought two or three properties – two in my hometown and one here. For someone who started out as a migrant worker, I’ve done alright. My son just started his job on July 8th in Hangzhou. He got into university and grad school all on his own. I’m really proud of him. He’s been through a lot.

He had to take a national standardized test to get into grad school, just like Gaokao (China’s standardized exam taken by students graduating high school; the score one gets on this exam determines which, if any, higher educational institution they can get into). When he was studying for his exams, I remember he told me how his dorm mates were always playing video games, so he’d go study in the hallway. You know how cold it gets in the north, right? He’d wear a hat and use his phone’s flashlight to read his notes. He went to university in Jinan and got into grad school in Hangzhou – Zhejiang Sci-Tech University. Not bad, right? It’s a good school.

Q: Zhejiang Sci-Tech is really impressive.

A: Yeah, and now he’s graduated, found himself a job, and even helped his girlfriend get one. She’s been his classmate since middle school, believe it or not.

Q: That’s amazing! I need to learn from you and your son.

A: [Laughs] You know, I’ve always approached raising my kid differently from others. It wasn’t just about his grades; I didn’t stress to much about that. First and foremost, the most important thing was teaching him how to be a good, kind, decent person, to have good manners. Second, he needed to develop his own way of studying that worked for him. When he was younger, he was a real troublemaker, always getting into fights and causing chaos. But I have to give credit to my father-in-law. No matter how mischievous my son got, the rule was always: do your homework first. After that, you’re 200% free to play all you wanted. He got whatever he wanted; he had things most kids in the north didn’t have. Skateboards, a computer, whatever – he never lacked for anything. But only after his schoolwork was done. Work hard, play hard.

Q: You and your wife work hard, and your son can see that. It’s no wonder he’s hardworking and motivated.

A: Yeah, he definitely feels it. Even though we’re not physically together, we’re always chatting – texting or video calling – every week. We come from a family of educators, so I’ve got connections. Most of my friends back in school went on to become teachers, and my older brother works for the education bureau. So wherever my son went to school, he had options. I told one of my old classmate – also a childhood friend – who’s now a teacher, “Just keep an eye on him for me. You’ve got full authority to manage him. You don’t have to say anything, just watch over him and act.” My son wasn’t scared of me, but he was scared of my friend [laugh]. He obeys what my friend says. So yeah, sometimes it’s all about having the right connections; it comes down to the opportunities you get.

Q: It’s a mix of opportunities and hard work. Some families just don’t have the means to support their kids through school.

A: True, but these days, things are different. Take my son, for example. When he went to college, I didn’t spend a cent on tuition. He took out student loans which covered both his undergrad and grad school tuition, plus he got scholarships. As for living expenses, I only had to support him through his undergrad, until his first year of grad school. After that, he never asked me for money. His professor hired him to work at his company part-time, covering his food costs. They gave him 6,000 yuan for meals, and he worked five days a week, eight hours a day, with weekends off.

Coworker: Yeah, student loans help a lot. My son’s studying at a university in Wuhan, and I only give him 2,000 yuan a month for living expenses.

A: Same here. I used to give my son 1,500 a month, and it wasn’t until his senior year that he started asking for 2,000.

Coworker: Well, costs of living are going up now.

Q: Yeah, inflation is making everything more expensive.

A: Yeah. We cover his clothes separately, but for basic day-to-day living expenses, 1,500, 2,000, that’s enough. My boy’s pretty sensible and frugal; he doesn’t ask for much.

Q: It sounds like you and your family are living a happy life.

A: Honestly, we haven’t had to worry too much about our son, that’s for sure.

Coworker: He’s got it better than me. I’ve got bad habits. My issue is that I gamble; he doesn’t.

A: Yeah, I don’t have any bad habits, really. The only thing – only vice – I enjoy is a little drink now and then.

Coworker: I started gambling six months after I arrived in Shenzhen. Lost about 300,000 yuan gambling over the years. If it weren’t for that, I’d be doing okay too.

A: Well, you must’ve had the money to lose! You must’ve been doing pretty well to lose that much. I’ve been in Shenzhen for so long, and I’ve never even touched a gambling table. Not once.

Q: What do you guys do for fun?

A: We’ve got a ton of stuff we can do. We get together to eat, drink, chat, and all that. There’s a group of us, five families in total, who get together every week. We’re really close with them. Some of them, you know, they’ve been working at the factory even longer than I have – 30 years now.

Q: So you don’t have much to stress about, then? Your son’s doing great, you’ve got three houses – life sounds pretty good!

A: Well, it’s not all that simple. My son’s going to get married soon, and he’ll need a house for that. We’ll definitely help out with that.

Q: Your family’s story is really inspiring.

A: [Laughs] I’ve told my son before: I haven’t done anything extraordinary, earth-shattering in my life, but I’ve been steady. I’m a middle school graduate who’s made it this far, and I’m satisfied with where I’ve ended up. My wife’s happy too.

I always say this to my son, that one day we should write our story down – an autobiography or something. But I just never started it. I’m not good at writing.