The Real Deal Part 4 Fuan

Out of the hundreds of factories I visited, the most challenging one was in a city called Fuan, located a hundred miles north of Fuzhou, Fujian. To pave the roads, the local governments implemented a temporary one-way traffic system for several hours. Many times, we had to wait for four hours before we could continue our journey. It took between eight and twelve hours to get there.

Each village handled the construction passing through its area. If the mountains blocked the planned road, they dynamited them and cut the houses in half. Most workers wore suits or Mao jackets while they worked.

Both men and women worked on the road.

Because of the large potholes and jagged rocks, our car occasionally got a flat tire or scraped its bottom. Car difficulties in the mountains might prolong the trip by half a day. This car was the one I rode in during the accident, where we hit and fatally injured the woman on a moped. That was a scary incident.

When I finally reached the city, there was one hotel and a restaurant. I ate lunch and dinner at the factory-owned diner every day. Few people ate out, and I received lots of attention as the only customer. After dinner, we walked down the hall to the factory-owned karaoke.