Written by: Xia Qing
Posted on: September 18, 2018 | 
| 中文
Shaniyanmu Simayi teaching a new student
The workshop of Jinfute Yarn Industry Co. Ltd. in the Textile and Clothing City of Korla is very busy. The 48-year-old Assistant Director Shaniyanmy Simayi is teaching new employees how to connect thin thrums.
Shaniyanmu says, “I came from a village and I’ve been in this business for 28 years. Now I have good income. I’ve always believed that hard work is necessary to have a good life.”
In July 1990, Shaniyanmu, who was working on the family farm after graduating from high school, joined a cotton spinning training class organized by a government department of Yuli County and worked as a textile worker afterwards. Over 100 people were employed by the factory at the same time but many of them left one after another due to lack of endurance and qualification. Shaniyanmu, however, saw it as an opportunity and worked hard at learning weaving and spinning skills without any complaints.
She continues, “I met a very good teacher when I first came to the factory. She was the same age as myself and was very patient in teaching me the techniques in Chinese. We became close friends soon. In a competition organized by our factory, we both won the first prize as a teacher and as an apprentice.”
By the year 2006, Shaniyanmu had worked as a spinner for 16 years and became an experienced teacher. She had many apprentices who were learning from her, so she had another reason to work hard. In order to obtain more professional knowledge, Shaniyanmu wanted to learn air conditioning techniques so that she could address the humidity in the workshop. The proper temperature and humidity of a workshop are both vital to the quality of yarns: if it is too dry, yarns will break easily and if it is too moist, the yarns can rot. Finally, Shaniyanmu acquired all the skills and became one of the very few female air conditioning technicians in the factory.
In 2015, Shaniyanmy came to Jinfute Yarn Industry Co., Ltd. in Textile and Clothing City of Korla Now. The machines she used were the most advanced in China, and the textiles produced from these machines would fill in the blanks of the industry of Bayinguoleng Mongolia Autonomous Prefecture.
“In all these years, I can see the continuous development of the working environment of factories where I have worked. The environment and machines were not very good in the olden times, and we all needed to work with both hands; now, our working places are covered by trees and green plants, the automation level of machines has been upgraded so much that the advanced and highly efficient low-noise equipment can help us sort out many of our troubles, so the labor intensity of workers is very much smaller than before,” says Shaniyanmu.
28 years of persistence and hard work has helped Shaniyanmu go from an ordinary spinner to a skilled manager, and her income has also increased from less than 1,000 to over 5,000 a month. “Now my family lives in a new apartment house and we bought a car last year. I’m very content with my life now,” says Shaniyanmu proudly.
Pushed by the very beneficial policies of Chinese government, the number of spindles produced from Korla Textile and Clothing City will reach 10 million. Meanwhile, the clothing factories, viscose fiber plants, and dying plants in the City will be constructed and put into operation. The business and trade, tourism, and logistics industries are also developing very quickly here, attracting huge amounts of people in Southern Xinjiang searching for a new life. Shaniyanmu will become the first teacher for many of them. She hopes that the new employees will adapt to their new jobs and change their life through their own hard work.
All photography by Xia Qing.
Translated by Zhu Siyu
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