榮根
Kwok Wing Kan was a textile factory technician. Young people today might ask, “What is a textile factory?” Kwok explained that, “In a textile factory, cotton is spun into long threads, and in this process the cotton has to be beaten repeatedly so that it is loosened up, making particles and dust fly around. Such factories began to be called Sha Factory in Chinese, i.e. Sandy Factory, and later termed Textile Factory instead”. Kwok said that he looked after maintenance of the machines, so he did not have to face the sandy dust. On the other hand he had to be locked up all day in the stuffy machine room with temperatures over 30°C, it was hot and tiring, making work conditions hazardous. “At the end of the 1960s, I was 14, and a neighbour introduced me to work as an apprentice at the textile factory, the famous “East Asia”. At that time, the work day was 12-hours long and there were risks of getting hurt. The wound on my arm was caused by an injury when I was 17 years-old; I was hit by a razor blade which flew t from the machines. I had to take a year of rest before I recovered”, Kwok reminisced. However, to make a living for his family, he had to endure even harsher hardships and keep working. Many workers gave all their salary to their parents, and would save money by walking to work. The greatest entertainment was to spend a little bus fare and go to Tsuen Wan to swim. “In the summer after work, a group of men co-workers would go to swim. The waters at the beaches were very clear, and we slept especially well after a good swim. It was our biggest fun”, Kwok recalled smilingly.
Kwok witnessed the 1970’s; when the textile industry boomed, he led a group of co-workers to hop over to a different factory which paid them 30 to 40% extra. In the 1980’s when factories moved north to China, he had to go alone to work at a factory in Guanavgxi. However in 1982 he came back to Hong Kong, because his son was two years-old and he wanted to work closer to home. In a circuitous manner, he finally got employed by the Garden Factory, and worked as a machine maintenance technician until now. Today, Kwok Wing Kan says he neither loves nor hates his job as a maintenance technician. To the people of those old days, it was too remote to talk about ideals; they just kept on doing their work, for the sake of their family’s well-being.
