POLITICIZATION OF CHINESE CRAFT ORGANIZATION
91
The policy of the People's Republic with respect to Hong Kong residents continues to involve encouraging individual Chinese to declare the People's Republic of China as the object of their national loyalty, of their "patriotism", and a steady stream of news concerning the accomplishments of the People's Republic is filtered down through the Federation and other organs of Peking bureaucracy designed to instill pride in the socialist motherland. This nationalist component of Chinese policy toward Hong Kong is manifest in preferential treatment accorded China's "national" as opposed to "compradore" bourgeoisie in Hong Kong. The pro-Peking "patriotic" community in Hong Kong includes some rather wealthy businessmen who deal in Chinese commodities either exclusively, or in part, or who rely on Communist China for raw materials or equipment for their businesses. This can sometimes lead to the seemingly bizarre configuration of a pro-Peking employers' association negotiating with a pro-Taipei union of workers over wage demands, as was the case in the ivory carving industry.
In any event, a somewhat less bizarre array of forces obtained in the carved furniture industry, with the left wing Woodwork Carvers' Union emerging in the 1970's in the aura of a legitimized People's Republic as the dominant voice of the workers in the carved furniture industry. While many of the union's pre-1971 efforts may have fallen on deaf ears, the international recognition of communist China, the increasing concentration of capital and increasingly proletarianized production, and the decreasing significance of place of origin have helped make the proletarian message of the Woodwork Carvers' Union more acceptable to its potential constituents on the one hand, and have provided a context conducive to the creative transformation of traditional craft practice and organizational structure on the other.
The union is more than simply the object of the larger forces, and its activities have had an important contribution to make in its emergence as the dominant force in the industry. These activities may be grouped into two not quite mutually exclusive categories:
1. activity designed to promote proletarian/pro-Peking consciousness and workers' welfare
2. conscious adaptation and incorporation of traditional craft practice and guild-like institutions into its organizational repertoire,
POLITICIZATION OF CHINESE CRAFT ORGANIZATION
91
The policy of the Peoples' Republic with respect to Hong Kong residents continues to involve encouraging individual Chinese to declare the Peoples' Republic of China as the object of their national loyalty, of their "patriotism", and a steady stream of news concern- ing the accomplishments of the Peoples' Republic is filtered down through the Federation and other organs of Peking bureaucracy designed to instill pride in the socialist motherland. This nationalist component of Chinese policy toward Hong Kong is manifest in preferential treatment accorded China's "national” as opposed to "compradore" bourgeoisie in Hong Kong. The pro-Peking "patrio- tic" community in Hong Kong includes some rather wealthy bu- sinessmen who deal in Chinese commodities either exclusively, or in part, or who rely on Communist China for raw materials or equipment for their businesses. This can sometimes lead to the seemingly bizarre configuration of a pro-Peking employers' asso- ciation negotiating with a pro-Taipei union of workers over wage demands, as was the case in the ivory carving industry.
In
any event, a somewhat less bizarre array of forces obtained in the carved furniture industry, with the left wing Woodwork Carvers' Union emerging in the 1970's in the aura of a legitimized Peoples' Republic as the dominant voice of the workers in the car- ved furniture industry. While many of the union's pre-1971 efforts may have fallen on deaf ears, the international recognition of com- munist China, the increasing concentration of capital and increas- ingly proletarianized production, and the decreasing significance of place of origin have helped make the proletarian message of the Woodwork Carvers' Union more acceptable to its potential consti- tuents on the one hand, and have provided a context conducive to the creative transformation of traditional craft practise and organi- zational structure on the other.
The union is more than simply the object of the larger forces, and its activities have had an important contribution to make in its emergence as the dominant force in the industry. These activities may be grouped into two not quite mutually exclusive categories:
1. activity designed to promote proletarian/pro-Peking con- sciousness and workers' welfare
2. conscious adaptation and incorporation of traditional craft practise and guild-like institutions into its organizational repertoire,
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