Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 583 Textile City in the s
After discussing the matter, everyone went home.

Fang Minghua was driving back to his own courtyard in Chaoyangmen. His wife and two children were sitting in the back seat when he heard Song Tangtang sighing softly.

Fang Minghua laughed and said, "Why? Are you worried that my eldest sister's business will fail? Don't worry, I will cover her up."

"No, the eldest sister is a bit like your mother in her aggressive way. I think she is suitable for doing business."

"Then why are you sighing?"

"I was wondering, how could such a good textile factory become like this now? Minghua, do you still remember the novel you wrote called "Red Skirts Are Popular on the Street"? " Song Tangtang asked.

"How can you not remember? That was in 82, and it was later made into a movie." Fang Minghua said with a smile.

"Yes, whether in novels or movies, the textile workers are described as wearing the most fashionable clothes. After work, they go to the park in groups of three or five. They are the catwalks of fashionable young women, cutting their skirts... How enviable!"

"But now they are facing layoffs! Some time ago, the company recruited three cleaners to clean the house, but a lot of them came, most of them were laid-off female workers from the textile city! They were all over 40 years old. One older woman cried and said that she and her husband were laid off. Her son is now in the third year of high school. He is a good student and can definitely get into a key university, but I heard that the university charges tuition and the family can't afford it. I felt sad when I heard it."

"Then you should recruit a few more." Fang Minghua said.

"But we also have to consider the company's economic benefits." Song Tangtang sighed: "Later, we hired two more people, one of whom is the eldest sister, and the other eldest sister's husband is sick and stays on duty all night."

"You did a good thing."

"But our power is limited after all. There are so many laid-off female workers." Song Tangtang sighed again.

"Maybe there will be more in the future." Fang Minghua's tone was calm: "Now the society is transforming, enterprises are restructuring to develop, and they need to reduce staff and increase efficiency. These are all forced. It's just that the national social security system has not been fully established. Pushing so many people into society all at once is a big problem."

"What should I do?"

"It may be better to take it step by step and get through this stage. By then, the country will be richer and gradually establish a more complete social security system. But this is something the government has to consider. We can only do our best to help more people." Fang Minghua continued:

"When the Red Army makes money from real estate in Hainan, I want to use part of the funds to help the families of laid-off workers. As for what method to use, I haven't thought about it yet, so we can discuss it later."

"In fact, the best way is to let them find jobs. Having a job and getting a salary is better than providing relief." Song Tangtang expressed his opinion.

"That's easier said than done." Fang Minghua sighed:
"You just said that the laid-off workers are all female workers in their early 40s with low education levels. Apart from the textile work they used to do, what else can they do? Most of them are cleaners, nannies, and waiters in hotels and restaurants. After all, only a few of them want to open clothing stores or restaurants and be their own bosses like my elder sister."

"Yeah."

Couples often talk about this topic, a topic with no clear answer.

Time quickly arrived and it was the sixth day of the first lunar month, and it was time to go back to work.

The shortlisted works for the first World Chinese Literature Award were announced in Guangming Daily before the New Year, but the final selection will not be carried out until mid-April to give the jury members enough time to read the shortlisted literary works.

At that time, the thirteen jury members will gather in Xijing, and after repeated discussions, they will finally select the winning works, and then a grand award ceremony will be held in Xijing at the end of April.

Fang Minghua has not had anything specific to do recently. Today the weather is good, his wife is at work, and his two children were taken home by his uncle to play. Fang Minghua was bored at home alone, so he simply drove out for a stroll on the street.

Drive through Chaoyang Gate and head east along Changle East Road, and you will soon arrive at Baqiao, where the Textile City is located. Go southeast along the Textile Main Street, where the core of the Textile City is located, with the National Cotton Mill No. 4, No. 5, and No. 6 standing in a row.

In fact, Fang Minghua seldom came here. What she remembers most clearly was that in 82, when she wrote "Red Skirts Are Popular on the Street", Fang Minghua even went to the No. National Cotton Mill where her elder sister Fang Mingmei worked for three days to collect folk songs on the spot.

Driving slowly along the way, Fang Minghua discovered that the street architecture had not changed much from ten years ago, with Soviet-style buildings everywhere.

The so-called Soviet-style buildings are all multi-story old Soviet buildings built with the participation of Soviet experts in the 1950s. They are symmetrical along the central axis, with the middle being high and the sides being low. The main building is tall and the corridors are wide and gentle. Secondly, they have a "three-section" structure, and the "three sections" refer to the eaves, walls, and base.

This is better than the tube-shaped building, with thick blue brick walls, warm in winter and cool in summer, and simple and solemn.

Fang Minghua remembered that in the early 1980s, the buildings in this area were considered relatively good in the whole of Xijing, but now they seem to have begun to fall behind.

The streets are bustling with people coming and going, and perhaps because it is almost time to go to work, there are still a sea of ​​bicycles.

Fang Minghua simply parked the car on the side of the road and watched the female workers going to work.

He felt that there were far fewer young girls than ten years ago, and many were middle-aged women around 34 years old. The textile jobs that were once enviable were now slowly being abandoned by young people.

The female employees riding bicycles are still chatting and laughing, but they no longer have the proud looks they had ten years ago.

Their time has passed.

The future is even bleaker.

Fang Minghua looked for a while, and waited until there were fewer workers on the road before he drove around and went back. When he looked at the factory buildings on the roadside, he suddenly remembered the TV series "Fang Hua" that he had watched before he traveled to this era.

The TV series devotes a lot of space to telling the story of Mr. Fan, the director of Hangzhou Huxi Knitting Factory, who bravely ventured into Shanghai and built a national brand, and the story of Miss Wang from No. 27 The Bund who won an order for jeans.

The TV series is still warm and touching. Mr. Fan and Ms. Wang are both successful in the end, and a large number of employees in their factory also have a livelihood.

But in reality, many cotton mills were eventually restructured or even closed down. However, whether it was restructuring or closing down, there was one result: a large number of workers were laid off.

In fact, there is another very niche movie directed by Wang Quanan.

Speaking of Wang Quanan, before Fang Minghua came into this era, when netizens mentioned this name, the first thing they thought of was prostitution.

Secondly, it is his ex-wife Zhang Yuqi.

Finally, you may reach the level of director.

But now, in 1992, he had just graduated from Yenching Film Academy and was assigned to Xijing Film Studio as a director, in the prime of his life.

More than ten years later, he wrote and directed the biographical film "Tuya's Marriage", starring Yu Nan and Sengge. The film won the Golden Bear Award for Best Film at the Berlin International Film Festival and became famous overnight.

Two years later, he collaborated with Yu Nan again to shoot a relatively niche movie called "The Weaving Girl".

(End of this chapter)