Shanghai is prosperous

Chapter 238 Ceramic Market
The tricycle was smoking, and drove forward "chug chug".Wang Yiyuan asked, Master, do you know anything about the ceramic industry?Why is the business of the two factories we saw today not very good?

The master said that the ceramic factories in Tangshan are basically like this now.As long as there is no holiday and there are still jobs in the factory, it is considered very good.Many factories are still closed for Chinese New Year.

What's going on here?Wang Yiyuan asked.

The master smiled and said, ha ha, we are coolies, how do we know this.Now, many of my relatives used to work in ceramic factories. They started their vacation in the second half of last year, and they are still staying at home until now.

Wang Yiyuan asked again, so there must be something to say, right?
The master said slowly, what can I say?The ceramic factory here in Tangshan used to be paid on a piece-rate basis, and workers didn’t get paid a penny if they didn’t work.But people always have to eat, and several fellow villagers had no choice but to find connections and change jobs to Tanggang to work as cleaners.

Li Guanglin said, Master, you may have misunderstood.What my friend meant was that there must be some reason for the shutdown of so many ceramic factories, right?
Haha, what you said is the reason, of course there is.The master said loudly, you may not know much about it, the bone china in Tangshan is very expensive, so it was basically used for export, especially in Europe, America, Japan, Korea and other places.

He said that when the ceramic business was booming, it was not an exaggeration to say that there were [-] ceramic workers in Tangshan. Almost every household had a relationship with this ceramic industry.It's just not in the last two years.

Wang Liping asked, yes, why did it fail all of a sudden?
The master smiled and said, I also listened to the nonsense of my fellow villagers.It is said that there are very few exports now.He also said that it was due to the impact of the economic crisis, we don't know about this?Anyway, what I know is that many factories are idle, and many people are also idle.

Wang Yiyuan thought of Boss Zhang's feelings when he led them into the workshop just now. Now it seems that Boss Zhang may be telling the truth.Because the driving master has nothing to do with him and the others, at most he just met by chance, it is impossible for him, and there is no need to tell lies to fool himself.

He thought, sometimes, if you want to get real data and information, you must not just listen to the side of the person.Sometimes there are some seemingly irrelevant people or things, maybe there will be unexpected gains in them.Just like the tricycle master I met by chance.

The master sighed and said, it is very difficult to find a good job in Tangshan now?Like me, I used to be a middle-level electric welder in a large group in Yingkou, but I couldn't find a good job in Tangshan this year, so I had to start a three-horse job.Just these three horses were transferred to me by a fellow from my hometown who couldn't keep driving.

Wang Liping said, brother, don't worry, look for it slowly, there will always be a good job in the future.

The master smiled wryly and said, later we will pass a place called Hebei Bridge.There is a spontaneous labor market there, and you can look at it when the time comes.There are people who want to find part-time jobs and do manual work.

The tricycle passed through a large cornfield, walked through several sections of potholed trails, and finally drove onto a main road called Yinhe Road.After crossing another overpass, the master said, now this is Gangyao Road, you can look on both sides of the street, there are all the facades of ceramic factories.

The tricycle finally stopped bumping and the speed stabilized.Wang Yiyuan and the others sat upright, looked to the two sides, and indeed saw a lot of facades selling ceramics and various ceramic signboards of different sizes.

Wang Yiyuan said, master, why don't you just get off here and let's go over to have a look.

The master said, don’t worry, there are many such stores in front of them. This Gangyao Road is about three kilometers long, and the entire street is full of such stores, which is called Tangshan Ceramics Street.I'll send you to the ceramics market over there, it's not far away, it's right in front.

After driving a little further, we arrived at the so-called Hebei Bridge. The master deliberately stopped the car.

The river under the bridge is called Douhe, and the current is not very large.There are many idlers around the two ends of the bridge and on the bridge deck, most of them are young. Surprisingly, there are women among them.They stood or squatted in twos and threes. Because of the hot weather, some of them only wore single clothes and trousers, and some even had bare arms.

The master said that the number of people is much less at this time, and the peak is around six or seven o'clock in the morning.Bosses who want to work will come to choose labor, and they will be paid for a day of work.It's noon now, there are fewer bosses, and naturally there are not many people looking for work left.

Not far from the bridge is the ceramic market.Wang Yiyuan took the initiative to leave the contact information of the tricycle master.The master greeted the three of them, turned around and left.

After Wang Yiyuan stood still, he looked up and couldn't help being disappointed by the so-called ceramic market in front of him.

Although it is said to be the pottery market on Gangyao Road, the place is very small. It is just three three-story buildings connected together in a concave shape.The bottom floor is the facade, and there are not many facades, probably no more than twenty houses in total.

This fucking is also called a market, don't be too funny, okay?Wang Yiyuan shook his head, feeling that his understanding of the market had completely overturned his previous common sense of the market.

Li Guanglin smiled and said, is it outrageous, dare to call it a market when several stores gather together?But since we're all here, let's go in and have a look.

Wang Liping smiled, but did not speak.Li Guanglin was about to walk in the Wang Market, but Wang Yiyuan held him back and said, "It's almost one o'clock now, and there is still time in the afternoon, so let's find a place to eat first."

Opposite the ceramic market is a telecommunications company, which may be doing some promotion, or there is still some activity.Colorful flags are fluttering, and high-pitched and exciting music is playing from the tweeter.

The three of them looked around, but they didn't find any restaurants nearby.Wang Yiyuan saw a tall white building next to the intersection not far ahead, with four big red characters on the roof, Tanggang Hospital.

Wang Yiyuan smiled and said, let's go, let's go forward.There is a hospital over there, and there should be places to eat next to the hospital.

Not far away is the Tangshan Boiler Factory.Walking through the Boiler Factory is the crossroads, opposite the Post Office and China Mobile's business hall.And to the east of the intersection, there are indeed a long row of small restaurants, which may be the place to eat, and the business seems to be pretty good.

(End of this chapter)