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THE FACTORY MANAGER. The deputy governor of Sichuan province, which, with its population of 100 million, would rank among the world's ten largest countries, calls Yang Yixuan "one of the newly discovered managers." She is in charge of weaving at the No. 1 Sichuan Cotton, Spinning, Weaving and Dyeing Factory, a sprawling red brick plant with 10,000 workers on the northern edge of Chengdu. A smiling, unassuming woman, Yang, 48, was promoted from the workshop floor to become one of six deputy managers of the plant, which is one of the most successful experiments launched last year under then Governor Zhao Ziyang.
"During the Cultural Revolution, there was so much fighting between factions in this factory that production was suspended three times and we lost 100 million yuan," says Yang. She then proceeds to reel off a clutch of figures showing the recent improvement: "Last year the value of our out put increased by 22.3% over the year before. Our profits increased by 56%.
For the first six months of this year, our profits are year." up She 117% over attributes last the increases to greater self-management at the factory—deciding what varieties of cloth to make, what raw materials to use and where to sell over-the-quota goods on the free market. "We reduced our costs by 3.1%," Yang says. "We also started to produce more of the high-quality goods that bring in a higher profit than the low-quality goods we made before."
The No. 1 Sichuan plant, a prized example of progress, demonstrates the other new features of China's reformed economy. The mill keeps 30% of its profits and gives its workers bonuses averaging 200 yuan ($136) a year, which is just over three months' average salary. The mill also uses its profits for plant expansion and new housing. Yang points proudly to a new dyeing workshop. "It is one of the additions we built ourselves."
The factory is still very much a socialist enterprise. The state fixes its prices and 80% of its production quotas, and there is far less competition from other factories than there would be in a free-market system. But Yang and her co-workers are not complaining. Says she: "In the past, if we proposed something new, it had to be approved by the higher authorities. Now we can do much more on our own." How does she feel about her own increased responsibilities? "The possibility that the production will not go well, and the plant will suffer a loss—that's my only worry."
THE FORMER RED GUARD. The tiny fourth-floor walk-up that Wang Keping shares with his mother, brother and sister is crowded with powerful wooden sculptures. There is a large twisted head of a man choking on a cylinder stuffed into his mouth. There is a bust of Jiang Qing in the shape of a rifle (power comes out of the barrel of a gun, said Chairman Mao). There is the severed head of a bureaucrat. "A head but no brains," Wang explains, "a nose but no nostrils, a mouth but no lips, in short, a bad cadre."