The Sewing Workshops in Alleys

The first 2 interviews were mainly about getting to know the working contents of sewing workshops. We did not talk enough with the workers. So we decided to go back to these 2 workshops and interview the bosses and workers. Different from the former 2 interviews, this time we were divided into 2 groups. We went to the sewing workshops on Changan St. and Jihsian Rd. We hoped to know more about their stories and thoughts. Of course, we had to come up with the questions of our interview.

The teacher no longer helped us with the interview and we had to do it on our own.

We first interviewed Mr. Huang and asked the questions that had been asked the last time.

We were divided into 2 groups for the interview. Thanks to our previous preparation, the interview went smoothly.

The aunts introduced the machines in the factory. We came to know about the facilities of sewing workshops.

Our thoughts:

We came to Mr. Huang’s factory for the second time. Different from the last time, there were less people this time, only 6 including 2 teachers. Others went to visit Yi-ping’s father’ sewing workshop. This time we asked questions.

“Why did you choose this profession”?
Mr. Huang said: at that time people were not as lucky as you are. They had to work very early to support their families. Jobs were introduced by relatives and friends. So you had to take whatever other gave you. You didn’t have many options.

“Many factories have moved abroad, have you thought about it? “
Mr. Huang answered: that needs a lot of money, small and medium size companies don’t have that money, so we are not able to do that.

“Do you like your job? “
“Of course, in fact, every trade is good. As long as you have confidence in it, every trade can be good. One year, I went to Japan and bought some samples of short sweaters which were very popular in Japan then. But in Taiwan it was the long sweater that was popular. So my sweaters did not sell well. I lost over 400 million. I could not fall asleep at time and was depressed. Thanks to the comfort of my wife, I went back on track.” Said Mr. Huang.
“Beside natural disasters and holidays, do workers have any other day off?”
Mr. Huang: Depends on whether you have things to do.”
“Will you hand your factory to your kids?”
Mr. Huang: if they can bear enough pressure.”

Mr. Huang told us something very important: Sincerity is most important in doing business. You can be whatever when you grow up except a black-hearted businessman.

Then we interviewed uncle and aunt separately.
“Which part of sweater was most difficult? “

Aunt: the collar. That sewing machine had many needles and it hurt the eyesight a lot. My eyesight degenerated. When I saw other wear my clothes, I felt very proud.”

“How to tell wool?”
“By burning. If it is smelly, then it is wool. Otherwise it’s not.”

We gained a lot of insight into the business. Thanks uncle, aunts for solving our questions no matter what we asked. You helped us a lot. (Ya-guan Wang)