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Chinese Railway Lives, 1912-1937 PDF

308 Pages·2017·55.74 MB·English
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Chinese Railway Lives, 1912-1937 Stephen Lloyd Morgan June 1995 A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of The Australian National University. DECLARATION This thesis is my own original work. No part of this dissertation has been previously included in a thesis, dissertation or report submitted to this university or any other institution for a degree, diploma or other qualification. Stephen Lloyd Morgan June 1995 u Abstract During the first four decades of the 20th century the railways created a new type of worker in China, the railwayman. He was employed in the use of a new and evolving technology, and he was organised and managed in ways different to the previous organisation of Chinese labor. This study, in looking at the experiences of railway workers, inquires into the origin and formation of the emergent Chinese industrial working class in the first half of the 20th century. The years up to 1937 were those during which the working for the railways became an established occupation and the administration was placed in the hands of a new elite of managers who were increasingly trained specially for the tasks of running the railway system. By inquirying into the lives of railway workers this dissertation opens a window onto a vista of complex questions about the development of modem industry in China and its working class. The study is focussed on those who ran the Chinese National Railways. What was it like for former peasants and artisans to become railwaymen in a large bureaucratic organisation that required and enforced new work practices and discipline in a world of mechanised regularity? How did one become an engine driver, a workshop craftsman, or a station hand? Was the experience of Chinese railwaymen different from that of their counterparts elsewhere? What does the experience of railwaymen tell us about the early Chinese working class? Were they part of a new class, or did the persistence of the past, the ties of village and kin, fragment railway workers? In common with recent studies of Chinese labor this dissertation has used the archival and other sources which have become available over the past decade to draw a different picture to that which we have become acquainted through the past labor history of China. The workers and their families are made to speak to us. In their stories which are is told here we see the crucial role of native place and family in the recruitment of railway workers and the segmentation of skill. Work was organised differently on the railways. Its discipline system structured the working day, determining career and life outcomes. Hard as this system might have been at times, there were also big rewards: the railway worker was well off compared with other industrial workers. They earned more than most, had steady work, and shared in a large social wage which included education, medical and welfare benefits. In an analysis of the long-run trend in real wages this dissertation demonstrates a sustained rise in living standards from the late 1910s to the mid-1930s. This finding is a major contribution to our understanding of the distributional effect of economic growth during the interwars years of Republican China. Ill Table of Contents Abstract ni List of Tables iv List of Figures vii Acknowledgements X List of Abbreviations xi Introduction 1 evolution of the network and administration 8 1. Historians and the Chinese working class 19 sources and methods 19 historiography of the labor movement 25 conclusion 36 Appendix LA 37 Appendix LB 38 Appendix l.C 39 2. The Railway worker . . . 40 the size of the railway workforce . . . 42 the distribution of railway workers 53 gender and age structure of the workforce 62 conclusion 68 Appendix 69 3. Social origin and recruitment 70 provincial origin of railway workers . . . 73 role of the family and social origin in recruitment 89 conclusion 94 Appendix 96 4. Work, discipline and career 98 regimes of work 99 discipline rules 104 careers and advancement 110 IV conclusion ... ... 114 5. Wages and incomes ... ... ... ... 115 salary and wage regimes ... ... 117 wage differentials and labor markets ... 124 sources of income and actual earnings ... 135 long-run change in nominal wages . . . 145 real wages and the standard of living ... 149 summary of findings .. . ... 163 Appendix ... ... 165 6. The quality of life . .167 health and welfare .. . ... ... 167 education and literacy . . . .. . ... 184 railway family life .. . ... . . . 205 conclusion ... ... ... 212 7. Labor organisations and strikes ... . . . ... 214 early organisations and disputes . . . ... 215 large-scale mobilisation and reaction, 1920-27 . . . 220 conflict, coercion and corporatism, 1928-37 . . . 232 conculsion ... . . . ... 239 Conclusion ... • • • • • • .. . 241 246 Appendix 257 Bibliography 293 Glossary List of Tables Table 1 Railway construction in China, 1881-1932 (route kilometres) 13 Table 2.1 Statistical reporting and estimates of the railway workforce in 50 China, 1912-45 Table2.2 Approximate size of the railway workforce in China, 1912- 53 1937 Table 2.3 Employes of the Chinese National Railways, 1919-1936 54 Table 2.4 Distribution of employment by departments, 1919-1936 5 Table 2.5 Employment by type on the CNR, 1919, 1924 and 193 57 Table 2.6 Employment in railway workshops and locomotive sheds, 59 1912-36 Table A2.1 Employment on the Chinese National Railways by department, 69 1912, 1924,1932 and 1936 Table 3.1 Origin of BLR workers by departments 74 Table 3.2 Workers place of origin at the Sifang Works, Qingdao, 1934-35 76 Table 3.3 Locomotive works departments (selected place of origin), 1934 78 Table 3.4 Summary of employment applicant and guarantor relationship 90 Table A3.1 Place of origin of the manual grades on the Chinese National 95 Railways, 1934 Table A3.2 Analysis of the native place of origin of workers at the Sifang 96 Railway Works, Qingdao, 1934-35 Table 4.1 Disciplinary rules of the Beijing-Hankou Railway, 1923 106 Table 4.2. Rewards and punishments on Chinese National Railways, 1934 108 Table 5.1 Salary scale of staf on the Chinese National Railways, 1930 19 Table 5.2 Salary grades of artisans and workers at the Puzhen Works, 122 c. 1930 Table 5.3 Distribition of wage levels of manual grade workers on the 126 Chinese National Railways, 1934 Table 5.4 Analysis of the real wages of selected north China railway 151 workers, 1905-1936 Table 5.5 Comparison of real wages for north China workers, 1920-35 160 Table 5.6 Consumption availability level 161 VI Table A5.1 Wage and price data for the calculation of the real wages of 165 workers on the Beiping-Liaoning Railway, 1910-37, and selected other workers Table 6.1 Reported incidences of epidemic diseases, 193-34 170 Table 6.2 Sumary of cause of death by disease type 171 Table 6.3 Causes of death on the Qingdao-Jinan Railway, 1931-35 173 Table 6.4 Sumary of railway leave requests, 1934 174 Table 6.5 Education levels of the manual grades on the Chinese National 186 Railways, 1934 Table 6.6 Educational levels of manual grades on selected railways, 1934 187 Table 6.7 Schol enrolments for railway children, 193 and 1934 197 Table 6.8 Education levels of the Qingdao-Jinan Railway workers, 1934 201 Table 6.9 Change in the education levels of workers on the Nanjing- 203 Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway between 1935 and 1947 Table 6.10 Mariage age on the railways and in rural Hebei, c. 1930 207 Table 6.1 Age diference betwen railway spouses, c. 1930 208 Table 6.12 Household size at the Puzhen Works, c. 1930 209 Table 7.1 Major railway strikes from August 192 to February 1923 27 Table A Sumary of disputes and industrial actions up to 1937 246 Table B Summary of selected labor legislation promulgated 1928-35 256 List of Figures 18 Figure 1 Map of China Figure 2.1 Age of the manual grades on the Chinese National Railways, 64 1934 66 Figure 2.2 Age structure — Beijing-Hankou line, 1925 (%) 66 Figure 2.3 Age structure — Beiping-Hankou line, 1934 (%) 67 Figure 2.4 Age structure — Beijing-Fengtian line, 1925 (%) 67 Figure 2.5 Age structure — Beiping-Liaoning line, 1934 (%) vn Figure 3.1 Provincial origin of the manual grades of the Chinese National 73 Railways, 1934 (%) Figure 3.2 Origin of workers on the Tianjin-Pukou Railway, 1934 74 Figure 3.3 Origin of workers on the Nanjing-Shanghai-Hangzhou Railway, 75 1934 Figure 3.4 Origin of workers on the Guangzhou-Hankou (North) Railway, 75 1934 Figure 3.5 Year employment began for the manual grades of the Chinese 84 National Railways, 1934 Figure 3.6 BHR: year employment began by department 86 Figure 3.7 TPR: year employment began by department 86 Figure 3.8 BLR: year employment began by department 86 Figure 3.9 NSHR: year employment began by department 86 Figure 3.10 QJR: year employment began by department 87 Figure 5.1 Highest and lowest daily wage rates for manual grades of the 125 Chinese National Railways, 1933 (C$) Figure 5.2 Wages of locomotives drivers, 193 128 Figure 5.3 Wage range for firemen, 193 128 Figure 5.4 Wage range of engine cleaners, 193 129 Figure 5.5 Comparison of wage differentials for locomotive drivers, 129 firemen and engine cleaners, 1933 Figure 5.6 Wages of railway carpenters, 193 131 Figure 5.7 Wages of railway blacksmiths, 193 131 Figure 5.8 Wage range for railway fiters, 193 131 Figure 5.9 Wage range for railway workshop laborers, 193 131 Figure 5.10 Nominal average wages on the Beiping-Liaoning Railway, 146 1910-1937 Figure 5.1 Skil ratios on the Beiping-Liaoning Railway, 1910-1937 147 Figure 5.12 Purchasing power of selected north China railway workers, 150 1905-36 Figure 5.13 Purchasing power of Beiping-Liaoning Railway workers by 153 skill classification, 1910-37 Vlll Figure 5.14 Real wage index for Beiping-Liaoning Railway workers by 154 skill classification, 1910-37 Figure 5.15 Real wage index of Beiping-Liaoning Railway workes and 155 Kailuan Coal Mine workers, 1910-37 Figure 5.16 Change in index of real wages for workers of the Beiping- 156 Liaoning Railway and Kailuan Coal Mine Figure 5.17 Index series for railway wages and prices in Guangdong, 1912- 157 26 Figure 5.18 Real wage trends for Beiping-Liaoning Railway and Kailuan 158 Coal Mine, 1920-35 Figure 5.19 Real wage trends for Beiping-Liaoning Railway and Kailuan 158 Coal Mine, 1920-37 Figure 6.1 Distribution among departments by level of education, 1934 186 IX

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