Raymond Zhou

Names in stone mark workers' much-deserved appreciation

By Raymond Zhou (China Daily)
Updated: 2006-01-21 07:20

In an act of powerful inspiration, a public library has carved on its wall the names of the construction workers who built it.

There are 626 names engraved on a white marble plaque displayed in the brand-new Hainan Province Library, divided into seven categories by the origins of their birthplaces: Hainan, Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Anhui, Sichuan and Hubei provinces.

It was a treatment usually reserved for inscriptions by senior officials and corporate names of architects and builders, or in Western countries, for donors whose money funded the building.

But this acknowledged the blood and sweat of migrant workers who physically built the structure.

"They come from five lakes and four seas, but they are the heroes who have built up our province," gushed Chen Wendong, general manager of Hainan Construction Company. "When we urban dwellers enjoy the fruit of their hard work, we should not forget their contribution."

You can interpret it as grandstanding you can even view the whole act as a symbolic gesture, which it in fact is.

But in this case, the symbol is powerful: The tens of millions of migrant workers who are shaping China's skyline with their hands should be treated with respect. It is especially urgent in a time when they are the most visibly downtrodden stratum of our society.

The Hainan authorities in charge of the project have gone beyond what they were supposed to do, which was to pay the workers properly and without delay.

"I participated in three construction projects in Hainan last year, but only the library did not owe me a penny," said Chen Tongxue from Sichuan, whose name is listed on the plaque.

At another job in Jiangsu Province, the defaulted payment for him and 279 of his co-workers ran up to more than half a million yuan (US$61,730). "We are laying the bricks and tiles for urban build-up, but it is hard to get the pay promised us. And now it is the end of the year again," he said.

The end of year on the lunar calendar is traditionally a time to clear all debt. It is also a time when some business operators in China, especially those in the construction industry, will go to extreme lengths to avoid paying their employees what has been contractually owed for months.

The marble plaque in Hainan Library cost some 100,000 yuan, but its value as a beacon of business ethics and decency is priceless. The latest reports show there are people visiting the library just to see the plaque and read the names.

There has always been something fetishistic about carving names in stones. Ever since the fictional Monkey King etched "Wukong has been here," generations of Chinese tourists have followed suit and carved their names in the stones of the Great Wall and other historical buildings in a vain attempt to acquire immortality at the cost of defacing public properties.

Another fictional character, Willie Stark in "All the King's Men," had a penchant to inscribe his name on all kinds of public structures. Based on real-life Louisiana Governor Huey Long, the protagonist of the Robert Penn Warren novel named a lot of things built during his reign after himself.

This is far from the worst offence for a politician. The man certainly had an oversized ego, but the projects seemed to serve public interests, at least the ones shown in the 1949 Oscar-winning movie version. He put up structures like bridges, which are not exactly white elephants, and more importantly, he did not pilfer public funds. (But then, he engaged in murder, which is a crime for any person.)

Officials deserve to have their names on public projects, which bring maximum benefit to local people and the officials are the single biggest force to make these projects possible. Isn't that better than spending the money on wining and dining? Then, the architect's name could be prominently displayed if the structure has the potential to be culturally significant.

To plaster hundreds of names of the people who actually build it, names that normally only the building contractor would have a record of, is not only unconventional, but has a touch of genius.

Now, it would take another genius to put up another plaque, in a conspicuous place, that inscribes the names of employers who treat migrant workers like dirt. Let's call it the "Wall of Shame," and I bet it would be an even bigger attraction.

E-mail: raymondzhou@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily 01/21/2006 page4)