Century Erqi Factory witnessed the early workers’ movement in China.

　　Original title: Century Erqi Factory witnessed the early workers’ movement in China.

The century-old factory area of Erqi Factory has now become the 1897 Science and Technology City of Erqi Factory, providing a brand-new urban living space for the surrounding residents. The picture shows the surrounding residents visiting the exhibition. Photo by Ping Liu

　　In 1897 Kechuang City, Erqi Factory, the former site of the "Erqi" strike in Changxindian, Fengtai District, a special exhibition called "Centennial Follow-up" is going on. Precious exhibits and historical materials, such as the "foreign" railway tracks more than 120 years ago and the payroll of railway workers in Changxindian a hundred years ago, show the vigorous workers’ movement in Changxindian area in the 1920s and the century-long development course of railway construction in China.

　　Eight modern buildings remain in the former site of the "February 27" strike.

　　Walking into the 1897 Kechuang City of Erqi Factory, there are several European-style buildings scattered around the central lawn. The unique triangular mountain flowers and round ventilation window on the gable are unique. These old buildings with a hundred years of history are the modern architectural remains of Erqi Locomotive Factory.

　　The history of Erqi Locomotive Works can be traced back to 1897. As a part of Lubao Railway, the Qing government set up a simple small factory on the north side of the west bank of Lugou Bridge that year-Lugou Bridge Machinery Factory of Lubao Railway. In 1900, under the coercion of western forces, the northern end of Lubao Railway was extended to Qianmen and renamed Jinghan Railway. The original Lugouqiao Machine Factory of Lubao Railway was moved to Changxindian and renamed as "Changxindian Machine Factory of Jinghan Railway". The earliest batch of industrial workers in Beijing was born here, which is one of the birthplaces of modern industry in Beijing, and it has become the starting point and model of combining Marxism with the workers’ movement in China in the changing historical process. Mao Zedong once commented, "The China Workers’ Movement started from Changxindian Railway Factory."

　　In 1966, the factory was renamed as "Beijing Erqi Locomotive and Rolling Stock Factory", which was named after "Erqi" for the first time. Since then, Erqi Factory has continued to operate until it stopped production and transformed in 2018.

　　Today, there are still 8 modern architectural remains in Erqi Factory, including 7 office buildings and 1 production workshop. Among the office buildings, 6 are French style buildings and 1 is Belgian style buildings. As a whole, the building is built with fair-faced brick walls, with two slopes covered with iron tile roofs, modern doors and windows decorated, triangular mountain flowers on the upper part of gables, decorative lines around the feet, and a circular ventilation window in the center. The production workshop is a typical modern workshop building form.

　　These eight modern architectural remains of Erqi Locomotive Works were selected as the seventh batch of "National Key Cultural Relics Protection Units" in 2013, which is one of the former sites of the "Erqi" strike in Changxindian, Fengtai District. After the dismantling of the manufacturing industry of Erqi Locomotive Company in 2018, these modern architectural remains are in an idle state. At present, Fengtai District Cultural and Tourism Bureau has organized and started the structural inspection of cultural relics buildings, and the repair work will be carried out later.

　　Precious historical materials reproduce the railway workers’ movement a hundred years ago

　　In the auditorium of the factory, which was built in 1933, the special exhibition "One Hundred Years of Follow-up" is under way. Entering the special exhibition hall, a train "drives" head-on. This is a set based on the first generation locomotive of "Mao Zedong". The hammer and caliper on the front of the locomotive are the symbols of workers. The ground under the locomotive is covered with glass plates, and there are two rails under the glass plates. These two railway tracks have a lot of origins: one was made in 1896 and the other was made in 1897, when they crossed the ocean to Beijing and were used to build the Lubao Railway.

　　There is a historical photo of Zhang Zhengui in the exhibition, which is the image of Changxindian Railway Station when it was completed in 1899. Mao Zedong, Deng Zhongxia and other revolutionary movements in Changxindian all got off here.

　　In the exhibition, there is also the wage table of Changxindian Locomotive Works at that time, that is, the "salary" list. At that time, the factory was very strict with the management of workers, and implemented a "big week" working system, that is, one day off every two weeks, going to work at 6 am and leaving work at 6 pm every day, excluding lunch breaks. Ordinary workers had to work 11 hours a day, but their wages were only a few cents, and it was difficult for these ordinary workers to get all their wages. However, foreign factory directors and employees work 8 hours a day and take a day off every week, but their wages are several times, dozens of times or even higher than those of workers.

　　At that time, apart from the double oppression and exploitation of imperialism and warlords, the foremen also set up many unreasonable regulations privately, such as fines for drinking water and speaking during working hours, and the foremen used the money exploited by the workers to build houses for the workers to live in collectively, and forced the workers to join in for dinner, which was called "Guo Gang". There are twenty or thirty people to fifty or sixty people in each "pot gang", and at most 70 people live in three rooms. After layers of exploitation, workers get very little salary.

　　Before and after the May 4th Movement, in order to find the knowledge and truth of saving the country and strengthening the country, a large number of aspiring young people went to France to work and study. Why did the preparatory class for studying in France choose to be established in Changxindian? It turns out that Changxindian Railway Factory was built and managed in the French, which has the foundation of learning French and can also provide opportunities for work-study.

　　After the May 4th Movement, railway workers in Changxindian began to accept the influence of new ideas. In March, 1920, Li Dazhao, Deng Zhongxia and others secretly established the Marxist Theory Research Association in Peking University. Shi Wenbin and Ge Shugui, railway workers in Changxindian, were members of the Marxist Theory Research Association. In order to publicize Marxism to workers and awaken their class consciousness, the communist party early organization in Beijing put forward the slogan of "Go among the workers". After the establishment of the Beijing communist party Group at the end of 1920, Li Dazhao sent Deng Zhongxia and others to Changxindian to consult with Shi Wenbin and other workers to organize a labor cram school. Changxindian labor tutorial school is known as the rising place of "Red Star in the North" and has trained a group of backbones for the workers’ movement. In the second half of 1921, Shi Wenbin, Wang Jun and Kang Jingxing joined the Party and became the first batch of workers in Changxindian, party member.

　　The old factory area, which has witnessed the vigorous workers’ movement for a hundred years, has been transformed into a science and technology city with a new format. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, China’s railway industry has also developed vigorously, and its independent innovation ability has been continuously enhanced, and it has made one remarkable achievement after another.

　　Transformation of Erqi Old Factory Building Embracing New Business Form

　　The history of Erqi Factory has continued from modern times to this day. The present 1897 Kechuang City of Erqi Factory was transformed from a century-old factory. Walking in the factory, I saw the boring machine turned into a waterfall fountain, the waste industrial iron drum turned into a black-and-white cow, the small crane became a road flag, and the shovel head and valve were painted with different colors to become tropical fish and bouquets.

　　In addition to these amazing landscapes under the arrangement of waste instruments and tools, the whole factory has bid farewell to the old appearance of industrial production and become a brand-new urban living space.

　　Here, we can see a new space with industrial style and fashionable style inside, and Building N16 is one of the representative works. It used to be a factory building with an area of more than 600 square meters and a height of 10 meters. After careful design, it was transformed into a three-story space with a usable area of more than 1,200 square meters. It has a large-scale ladder "classroom" that can accommodate more than 120 people at the same time, a shared reading area, and a multi-functional conference room, office and living room that can accommodate 30 to 100 people.

　　Factory buildings have been transformed into incubators, cultural and creative spaces, restaurants and bars, children’s entertainment spaces and shopping spaces, enriching people’s lives in Changxindian and even the west bank of Fengtai section of Yongding River. The 1897 Science and Technology Innovation City of Erqi Factory has injected a strong vitality into Changxindian and led a new way of regional development. (Sun Ying)

　　Guide to visit the former site of the "February 27" strike

　　Address: No.1 Yanggongzhuang, Erqi Road, Fengtai District

　　Opening hours: The "Centennial Follow-up" special exhibition will be held from Tuesday to Saturday from 9: 00 to 16: 00 (it will be closed from 12: 00 to 13: 00 and closed at 15:30).

　　Appointment method: Pay attention to "Beijing Fengtai" WeChat WeChat official account, and click "Pavilion Appointment" at the bottom of the homepage.