Thursday, 27 May

At 10.30 am we went to see the sewing factory. We were also accompanied by the Vice Chairman Voks Zotov. I went with Counsellor Chen Jingchen and Secretary Chen Daichu and Secretary Gou Zengqi. The factory was quite close to the Embassy, and was not spacious. We went to the manager’s room first and the manager told us about things in the factory and said that the factory was established in 1931. Before the war, it specialised in ladies’ underwear, dresses and hats. Since the beginning of the war it had made epaulets for soldiers whose rankings were lower than sergeants. The manager accompanied us to the first room, which was the cutting room for epaulettes and collar badges. The second room was the room for drawing shapes of badges. The third room was for sewing collar badges and hats. The manager gave me a casual hat. The fourth room was also for sewing epaulettes. In the end, we looked at the workers’ canteen and on the menu it listed the amount for a normal worker (they only took lunch here, morning and supper were done at home.), he could have one soup, weighing 550 mls and it cost about 15 cents. Millet congee weighed about 240 mls and cost 25 cents. A piece of fish 47mls cost about 70 cents. For a Stanabev (super) worker, he could have extra tea and bread. I asked him how many super workers they have. He replied just over 200 people, and they were about 51% of the workers. If you counted it this way, the total workers would be about 400. (When I asked him the total he did not give me an answer. But it was funny that he indirectly mentioned it.) After we returned to the manager’s office, we talked about the workers’ conditions. He said before the war most of them were male workers, but after the war all were female. Their monthly wages are between 300 to 1,000 roubles. This is based on the number of products they can turn out. They took care of their own sleeping arrangements. They had lunch at the factory. As for the working hours, before the war it was eight hours daily, but now is eleven hours, from 7.00 a,m, to 6.30 p.m. and in-between they had a half hour break during lunch. They could take a rest for a few minutes if they worked for two and a half hours. If the workers were sick and had a medical certificate from hospital they could take rest. If they worked in the factory more than a year, during their resting period they got full salary. (Based on the average of that worker’s three monthly earnings.) If they worked less than a year, they would get 80% of their wages. Sick leave was limited to two months. For those exceeding two months they needed to receive a doctor’s check-up and they would decide whether one was disabled or not. There were three categories for disabled workers. The third class could still work, and the rest would be given government pensions. As for the workers’ accommodation, each person could have 5 square metres. The rent was quite cheap.

This morning the Turkish broadcast said Stalin has already given the reply letter to Roosevelt via Davies. According to the news from Berlin, with regard to the American demand to use the Soviet air force base to bombard Japan, in Stalin’s letter there was no reply to this request. For the past few days the broadcasts from Rome and Berlin talked extravagantly about Japanese victory in the Far East and its power. It seems this was intended to make Britain and the United States to concentrate their strength to counter Japan, so as to lessen their own pressure. The British side kept saying Davies had accomplished his mission, and Stalin seemed to be quite fine with Roosevelt’s letter and his reply also seemed to be quite friendly. The Soviet Union has resumed its relationship with the Vatican. From all of these indications, we can see the political manoeuvring of the various countries. So when I left Chongqing, I said the political process of the world would become decisive in the coming summer and autumn. If our country can handle diplomacy well, we can prosper. With regard to the future of our country we as diplomats should be very careful.

Today the Swedish Embassy’s secretary told Secretary Chen that the day before yesterday when we went to see the Industry University that the university had been preparing for a whole week. So the students had been trained on how to deal with us.