Haichuan’s “Season of Gratitude”: The bond between master and apprentice throughout the year, and a brotherly friendship for life【Anhuan District 003】

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This post was last edited by wamj6566 on 2016-1-15 at 16:04. The bond between master and apprentice lasts a year, while the friendship between brothers endures a lifetime. I am an experienced chemical engineer; after graduating from a chemical technology school in the early 1990s, I was assigned to a local fertilizer factory (a small nitrogen fertilizer plant established in the 1960s, mainly producing ammonium bicarbonate and liquid ammonia). After completing factory-level safety training, I was assigned to the carbonation workshop, where deionized water is used to absorb gaseous ammonia to produce concentrated ammonia solution. This solution then reacts with carbon dioxide in the shift gas in a carbonation tower to form an ammonium bicarbonate suspension. After granulation using a centrifuge, the finished ammonium bicarbonate fertilizer is packaged to become the final product. During the workshop-level safety training, the workshop’s process supervisor said to me, “Xiao Wang, you graduated from a chemical technology school, so you have a solid theoretical foundation. (Hehe, back then, graduating from such a school was considered quite impressive; out of the more than 1,300 people working in our factory, there were very few university graduates. Those like me who graduated from chemical technology schools were considered highly skilled workers.) Your supervisors don’t have much theoretical knowledge; most of them graduated from middle or high school before starting work, but they do have extensive practical experience. Once you start working there, ask more questions about operations and fewer questions about theory, so as not to put your supervisors in an awkward situation if they can’t answer them.” A few days later, I was assigned to Shift 2 in the workshop to take on a new role: using an absorption pump to pressurize deionized water, dilute ammonia, or carbonization mother liquor and feed them into a high-level ammonia absorber; there, ammonia gas was absorbed to produce concentrated ammonia water, which was then used in the carbonization process. On this team, there were three operators – one of them was a beautiful woman whom I called Sister Song; she was 5 years older than me and not married yet. The other male member was the team leader, whose surname was Gong; he became my mentor. He was my first teacher and also my only mentor. Two years later, when the company set up a urea production facility, I was assigned to the decarburization task, and at that point I began to train my own apprentices. In those days, the master-apprentice relationship was very formal yet also very warm; there truly was a sense that masters and apprentices were like father and son. Even my father would say to my master in a solemn tone, \"Please take care of this child. If there are any mistakes, scold him as needed, and punish him if necessary.\" ； Hehe, is this really a father? My mentor is only 2 years older than me; he has been working at the factory for less than three years and isn’t married yet. I respectfully called out to him, “Mentor.” Master Gong said to me, \"Xiao Wang, we’re about the same age; it feels a bit strange to call you master. From now on, just call me Brother Gong. Hehe… I only called him master once; after that, I kept calling him Brother Gong.\" Bro Gong doesn’t have a high level of education; he was hired by a factory right after finishing middle school. However, he is eager to learn, and his skill level is among the best in our workshop. He isn’t tall, but has an average build; yet he works quickly and efficiently, and also has plenty of strength. After following Brother Gong, I began a 11-year career working in shift work. I studied chemical engineering processes at a technical school; the theoretical knowledge related to my job was easy to understand, but the practical aspects were not so simple. Brother Gong patiently taught me, step by step, the basic operations such as turning on and off valves and starting and stopping pumps ； For example, for Pump No. 1’s dilute ammonia water valve, it needed to be turned three turns. After I learned how to do that, after a while, Brother Gong said to me, “Xiao Wang, turn that valve another turn.” I went to the pump room, with Brother Gong watching over me. Relying on my memory, I finally found that valve among the nearly 20 pumps in the room. I looked at Brother Gong, who nodded, indicating that I was on the right track. I bent down and grabbed the valve’s handle, but I didn’t remember which way to turn it. Seeing my hesitation, Brother Gong came over and said, “You’re not sure about the direction, are you?” I nodded in shame. Brother Gong smiled and said, “It’s okay; everyone feels this way at first.” Then he told me, “Xiao Wang, remember this: for these type of stop valves, the direction of rotation of the handle determines whether they’re opening or closing—clockwise means closing, counterclockwise means opening. To make it even simpler, think of it as ‘left for opening, right for closing’—if you turn the handle to the left, it opens; if you turn it to the right, it closes.” I tried it, and it was indeed easy to remember. Brother Gong then patiently explained to me that the pumps were numbered in sequence from south to north or from east to west, how to apply proper force when turning valves, how to avoid getting injured by adjacent valves, and other operational details and precautions. From then on, I began to learn formally under Brother Gong’s guidance. Later, he gave me his operation notes and asked me to copy them down (at that time, there weren’t any formal operating procedures or manuals; everything was recorded on the spot during work, including information on the principles of each station, process parameters, and how to identify and handle abnormal situations. Such information was usually kept confidential and not shared with others. Heh, my mentor was really great.) When I started working at the factory, Brother Gong already had a fiancée; she worked at a textile factory in our city, working the day shift. She’s scheduled to get married in a few months, and she’s really kind to Brother Gong – so kind that it’s enviable. When we were on shift, we would often bring delicious meals for Brother Gong; of course, I got to benefit from that as well. When other workers wanted to eat something, my sister-in-law would say, \"Xiao Wang, you guys are already the older brothers and sisters – how dare you let your wives bring you food?\" Hehe, those workers would joke, \"Look at Xiao Wang; his wife cares so much for him.\" Hehe, that always made me blush. Thanks to Brother Gong’s thorough instruction and my own dedication to learning, I was able to operate the equipment independently in less than three months. When Brother Gong took a month-long marriage leave, it was I who handled all the operations. To reward my rapid and excellent learning pace, our shift leader applied specifically to the workshop to allow me to receive my bonus ahead of time (our workshop’s policy at that time was to give new employees 50% of their bonus after three months, with the full amount being given only after six months). Later, the workshop supervisor conducted tests on my theoretical knowledge and practical skills, and made an exception by granting me the full bonus starting from the fourth month. Hehe, back then my monthly salary was only around 100 yuan, while my bonus was at least 50–80 yuan, which made my colleagues who joined the factory together with me very envious; they all said I was lucky to have such a good teacher and shift leader. In the fifth month after I started working there, my brother Gong and his wife got married; it was winter at that time. The dozen or so people from our team got together, and a few of the women rode bicycles (Gong’s hometown was in the countryside, about 30 miles away from our company) to attend the wedding celebration. We returned around midnight; it was a very lively occasion, and we didn’t feel cold or tired at all. Thinking back now, we really weren’t picky back then – even some of the female colleagues rode bicycles such a long distance just to attend the wedding. Hehe. Thanks to Brother Gong’s careful guidance and my own efforts, after 1 year I was transferred from the workshop to the third shift to take on the role of team leader (the previous team leader was a female colleague who was on maternity leave). Two years later, when the company set up an urea production unit, I was sent for training and then appointed as team leader for the decarboxylation process. By the 10th year since I joined the company, I was appointed as a process technician for both decarboxylation and desulfurization tasks in our workshop. Later, the carbonation process was discontinued, and ammonium bicarbonate was no longer produced; Brother Gong was then transferred back to the decarboxylation task. Hehe. Brother Gong wasn’t promoted any further because of his lower educational qualifications and advanced age; he had always served as a team leader. Yet our master-apprentice relationship has remained strong for over twenty years. I still remember the lessons Brother Gong taught me regarding how to conduct myself, how to handle tasks, and how to perform certain operations. When I started teaching my own apprentices, I did so in the same patient manner in which Brother Gong had taught me back then. 8 years ago I switched to my current company (which is still in our city), and we have met less often. But the connection between me and Brother Gong has never been broken; every New Year’s Day I would make a special trip to his house to wish him and his sister-in-law a happy New Year and bring them some gifts. I couldn’t bring too many gifts though (even though my salary now is much higher than that of my master). If I brought too many, not only would my master get angry, but he wouldn’t even let me stay. He would always say, “I’m happy just to have you come. You’re so busy with work yet still take the time to visit me and bring gifts; that’s really nice.” Whenever that happened, my eyes would fill with tears. All these years later, my master still treats me as that little apprentice from back then. Of course, the master and his apprentice would have a drink together, talk about life, work, and their children. The master’s wife would always prepare plenty of dishes to go with the drinks, and she would also bring out the best cigarettes and alcohol for the master. Even my wife said that the master and his wife are really kind to you ； On days off, when I have time, I invite my master, his wife, and my younger sister-in-law (my master’s only daughter, who is about the same age as my eldest daughter; hehe, I got married 4 years after my master did, but he decided to have children later in life) to my house. Or I drive my wife and children to my master’s place to spend time together; after drinking, I leave the car at his house and pick it up again the next day. Over the past twenty-odd years, my relationship with my master has grown increasingly strong. My children and wife also get along very well with his family. Sometimes, my wife suggests that it’s been a long time since we’ve seen Brother Gong and his sister-in-law, and that I should call them so we can go visit them, or invite them to come to our house. I am grateful to my mentor for his careful guidance over the years; he taught me how to conduct myself and handle tasks in life, and helped me develop good study and work habits. My current small achievements are a result of his dedicated instruction back then.