Twenty-one, With Calloused Hands

Yan Na’s rugged hands and face made her look older than her 21 years. Her fingers were spotted with blisters and sores from working at the Tianshui Xintian Silk Carpet Company.

She picked up the shuttle tool with her small right hand; her eyes were concentrating on the blueprint of the carpet she was weaving. Her hands jabbed into the loom. The noise of the factory drowned out the sound of Yan’s batten procedure.

"When I started working here my hands used to hurt and my nails used to break constantly," Yan said. "But now I am used to it."

Her hands kept moving.

Her outfit was pieced together: a cerulean shirt and khaki Bermuda shorts, with white and black stripes at the knee. Her long black hair was pulled back with a simple rubber band enabling her to see well.

Yan, a native of Tianshui in China’s Gansu province, never had the opportunity to attend high school or college. She began working shortly after she finished junior high.

It has been a year since she started working at the silk carpet factory. Depending on how many carpets Yan finishes, she could earn between 30 to 60 U.S. dollars a month (200 to 400 RMB). These days, Yan said she makes about 14.67 U.S. dollars (100 RMB) in an average month, because demand has slowed.

"Workers work hard," said Wang Xiauchun, who is in charge of the factory’s finances and is one of its five shareholders. She has been in the weaving business since 1980 and has worked for the company for 10 years.

Most of the carpets made in the factory are kneeling carpets, for Muslims’ prayer time. There is not an obvious type of buyer for these carpets in the community. Gansu’s population does not consist of many Muslims. Chinese government officials buy rugs and give them to their overseas Muslim business partners.

Yan works from 8 a.m. till midnight. She gets to take a lunch break at 2 p.m. Many of the workers prefer not to go home for their break. Instead, they take a quick lunch and continue working.

"After the lunch break, the workers return to their workstations. Even after three decades in the business, Wang marvels at their productivity.

“I wouldn’t be able to do this kind of job," Wang said.

“The ladies just earn a little wage for the labor, but the corporation earns a lot of money," Wang said. "But the more they work the more they earn." At her age, Yan spends most of her days in the factory sitting at her station, on a small bare wooden bench without a reclining back.

When asked if she could do anything in the world, she replied, "Working in the field of service for restaurants." Yan worked as a waitress at her previous job and was forced to leave because of her mother, she said vaguely.

"I liked doing it more then this because I got to talk to more people," Yan said. "I was happier."