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Reflection on May Day for the nation

By Chen Weihua (China Daily)
Updated: 2009-04-18 08:02

Many people are planning for the May Day, or International Labor Day holidays, and yet few are thinking of or even know the origin of the festival - the tough fight by US workers for eight-hour workdays and massive strikes like those in Chicago in the late 19th century.

And even fewer people now associate the day with workers' rights, their solidarity and the respect for workers.

Unlike decades ago when urban children dreamed of becoming a "glorious" factory worker, such jobs are now looked down upon.

A Shanghai survey found only 1 percent of the 4,000 people polled wanted to be factory workers.

Most sought jobs as white-collar workers in monopoly industries, banking and insurance firms, which pay more but require less physical exertion.

This is partly why so many factories have found it so hard these past few years to find qualified technical workers. Meanwhile, millions of college students are struggling to find a job they want, not even considering a factory job.

Even small children these days do not regard physical work as honorable.

Studies by the Shanghai Adolescents and the Children's Research Center show that just 10 percent of students hope to become a labor secretary, with the majority of students averse to dirtying their hands and preferring instead the arts, sports and publicity.

Though an intellectual gap between manual and mental workers has always existed, the lack of respect for hard physical labor in our society has never been worse than today.

The other day I met a friend, who was pulling two-wheeled schoolbags for his twin children. I asked the 10-year-old boy: "Why don't you pull the bag yourself and don't you have to clean the floor in classroom?"

"Only the bad students do that," he replied with a smile of pride on his face.

In past decades, we have used hard physical labor as a punishment for criminals and wrongdoers, such as by sending prostitutes to so-called "reform-through-labor" camps.

There's nothing wrong with aspiring to use your brain instead of your body in the workplace.

Both are honorable and contribute to society and human progress.

But the sheer fact that hard-working manufacturing jobs are not respected anymore shows a total moral mis-orientation of our society.

Many people believe they don't have to earn a good life through hard work, by working guanxi (connections), winning the lottery or marrying someone rich and famous.

The big businessmen who strike gold overnight and the many corrupt officials who live a more decadent life than what is normally affordable for a "public servant" have set a bad example.

On the contrary, we have seen few workers among the tens of millions-strong manufacturing workforce live a life like a real "master" as they are legally and publicly known in this country.

The sad truth is that while International Labor Day has been traditionally a festival for manufacturing workers, few of them are among the large holiday makers during the annual May Day festival.

This is as sad as it is ironic. It is high time for many people to reflect on the true meaning of labor and learn how to respect hard-working laborers.

E-mail: chenweihua@chinadaily.com.cn