584 



The Review of Reviews. 



October 1, 1906. 



CHINESE WORKMEN. 



By One Who Has Employed Them in China. 



Some interest will be aroused by Mr. Barrett 

 Smith's article in the Engnicering Magazine upon 

 Chinese Labour. The writer speaks from personal 

 experience, having been occupied for more than a 

 year on work connected with a large industrial es- 

 tablishment in China. The natives employed in- 

 cluded stokers, enginemen, electricians, fitters, 

 machinists, masons, carpenters and coolies : — 



The average foreigner compelled tor the first tune to 

 struggle witli tlie labour problem in Chiua will, alter a 

 brief experience, be possessed of some two or three re- 

 markably distinct impressions in the general confusion of 

 ideas. If it constitutes his introduction to the Chinese 

 people, he will probably be struck fir.st b.v the ditferences 

 between individuals. Wheieas he has pictured the Chinese 

 as cast all pretty much to the same mould, Ite will find 

 t,hat they display quite as much individuality as Western 

 peoples. Secondly, he will descry, usually only under 

 some especial stress, however, evidence of surprising clever- 

 ness, not onl.v at imitation, but at creation. Finally, he 

 will come to the conclusion that these beings, whom he 

 h.xd thought of before almost as creatures apart, are after 

 all surprisingly human. 



The Chinese have been accused of fatuous con- 

 servatism, owing to their addiction to their own 

 tools. But. says Mr. Smith, while most of their 

 commonest tools differ in some radical way from 

 ciur own, it is never safe to assume the superiority of 

 the Western product. He then relates why the 

 carpenter, naturally pre-eminent among the skilled 

 craftsmen of China, refuses to use a hammer, rely- 

 ing instead upon his small axe. This is a beauti- 

 fully balanced tool, and the Chinese are remark- 

 ably adept in the use of it, but it is a very poor 

 substitute for a hammer. It turns out, however, 

 that it was at any rate as good as the European 

 hammers which were foisted upon the native car- 

 jienters at first. 



EEOEPTrraNESS OF THE CELESTIAL MIND. 



To prove that the Chinese workmen can do work 

 which is strange to them, just as well as Etiiopeans, 



Mr. Smith relates the building ot a cooling tower, a 

 complete no\eltv to his workmen. 



It may be well imagined how much of its ultimate suc- 

 cess was dependent on the receptiveness of the Chinese 

 mind. The mainstay in the execution of this important 

 work was the boss-car])enter. who quickl.v absorbed, not 

 only the proposed structural features, but the utility of 

 the cooling tower. It must be confessed that be arrogated 

 to himself the functions of construction superintendent, and 

 bossed carpenters, masons, and fitters alike, with a sur- 

 prising absence of friction. Even design was not be.vond 

 him, and he evolved and submitted a very clever device 

 for the compensation of expansion of the timber in the 

 tower, under the influence of moisture, which was adopted 

 and worked ideally. Certainly this case was an exceptional 

 one, but it amply demonstrated that in the Chinese work- 

 ing classes there are men without foreign training who are 

 fully capable of taking active leadership in the industrial 

 regeneration of China. 



SOrTH VERSUS XOETH. 



The Southern Chinese display a consistency of 

 energy unusual in inhabitants even of semi-tropical 

 countries. They are superior to the Northern 

 Chinese in trade and industry ; a superiority which 

 is so strong a tradition that no .Southerner, begin- 



ning business in the North, fails to make known his 

 native habitat. There is a very strong provincial 

 tspi-ii-de-corps, a factor which Mr. Smith availed 

 him.self oi in order to avoid labour difficulties. Half 

 the force were Northerners, half Southerners: — 



Whereas one would be apt to expect endless trouble from 

 sectional jealousy, tlie sectional or provincial esprit-de-eorp* 

 being so very strong, there resulted only a healthy compe- 

 tition between the factions. Immediate personal contact, 

 and therefrom the opportunity to disagree and make 

 trouble, were prevented by the arrangement of the various 

 gangs according to race, each gang being made always 

 homogeneous. Whenever it was necessary to Employ men 

 from both factions on the same piece of work, ine super- 

 vision of a white man was invariably a part of the pro- 

 gramme. 



TREAT tVITH JUSTICE. 



Considerate treatment is undoubtedly an important fac- 

 tor, and many plant managers court disaster by brutal 

 treatment of workmen. In this case considerate treatment 

 is not meant to imply kindness in any decided degree, but 

 principally justice. The Chinaman is keenly appreciative 

 of the '■ square deal " in everyday life, but he is neverthe- 

 less quick to take advantage, like all Orientals, of any 

 display of sentiment on the part of a superior. While 

 manifest kindness is unsafe, a great many, far too many 

 plant managers, construction superintendents, and others 

 having supervision over native labour, err on the side, not 

 of severity tiut of brutality. ... In extenuation it mu^^t 

 be said that the Chinese workman with his methods, ©spe- 

 cially if he be a bit raw. is beyond proper management 

 the moment tbe least irritability is manifested. . ... A 

 strike due to wounded sensibilities is always a more serious 

 matter than a strike over wages or the like, because his 

 dignity, or his " face " as he calls it, is al>solutely the 

 Cliinaman"3 most valued possession. It. is almost impossible 

 to persuade workmen so offended to return on any terms, 

 and the unfortunate manager must gather a new force as 

 best he ma.v— not always an easy task to accomplish on 

 short notice, especially if it be a case of skilled labour. 



WAGES AND HOURS. 



The standard of wages is low. One shilling a 

 iJav for skilled, and sixpence a day for unskilled 

 labour. When working for a native employer every 

 minute of daylight is utilised ; when a foreigner em- 

 ploys the working day is generally ten hours. In 

 times of stress, the Chinese ability to labour con- 

 stantly with scanty rest is remarkable. In conclu- 

 sion, Mr. Smith says: — 



Experience certainly justifies a fair measure of optimism 

 in estimating the future of the Chinese, as they are now 

 l)eing tried and will further be tried in an ever-increasing 

 variety of modern industrial vocations as the material 

 welfare of the Empire advances. 



The Qiiivtr for August pursues its role of philan- 

 thropic recorder. Mr. D. William Mackeith tells 

 the wonderful stor\- of the Quarrier's Homes. Lady 

 Henry Somerset writes very wisely on the method 

 and spirit of lifting the fallen, insisting that deep 

 penitence is often the late fruit of a reformed life, 

 and not to be expected too soon. Mr. H. B. Phil- 

 pott gives a sketch of the Guild of the Brave Poor 

 Tilings in Bemiondsey and elsewhere. " One of 

 the most popular religious writers in the world " is, 

 apparently, Dr. I. R. Miller, whose story is told by 

 Mr. G. T. B. Davis. Dr. Miller, who lives in Phila- 

 delphia, has been assured by the Tsarina of Russia 

 that she has read his books and enjoyed them very 

 much. 



