78 Chapter 4
twelve- to fifteen- hour shifts. Chinese “strike workers” overfulfilled 174
percent of their work quotas in the Sofinsk mines. In the Niman- Urginsk
district, Chinese workers overfulfilled their quotas in competitions by 150
to 170 percent. Some of the Eastern miners even produced 200 percent of
the work quota. Yet, none of the Eastern miners in these cases received
their due bonuses.^122 The Chinese and Korean miners were to have received
free spa trips during their vacations as part of the Soviet insurance for mine
workers. (It appears that, generally, miners were sent to spas, natu ral
springs, or the like, as it was thought that these benefits would negate the
additional health risks that miners faced.) The Eastern miners never re-
ceived the passes to the spas, and it is unclear what their man ag ers did with
the unused passes or coupons.^123 In the Spassk district cement factory, fac-
tory workers maintained a club house where they could relax, read, chat, play
cards, checker, or chess, and indulge in other activities before or after work.
The Rus sian workers posted a sign “No Chinese allowed.” When informed
that this be hav ior was “chauvinistic,” the workers replied that they would
leave the club if any Chinese came in. This did not necessarily mean that
Koreans were excluded, however.^124 Generally, Chinese workers had a much
more difficult time assimilating into Soviet life than Koreans. Il He stated
that in his village of Dubovskoe in the Spassk district: “We [the village
children in a mixed Rus sian/Korean village] teased the Chinese regularly or
made jokes at their expense. They didn’t seem to understand the jokes very
well. We would laugh and then run away.”^125 The Chinese were overwhelm-
ingly immigrant workers and farmers (few had been born in Rus sia), whereas
the Korean population were a mix of Soviet natives (and Rus sian native
speakers) and recent immigrants. Even in the 1920s to 1930s there were
some Koreans who were already third- generation Rus sian/Soviet residents.
The cited facts and vignettes demonstrate that some Chinese and Korean
Table 5. Production and Pay in the Artemovsk Mines for Two National Categories
Period
Production Payment
Rus sian
MinersEastern
MinersRus sian
MinersEastern
Miners
Cut
Coal/
RockCleaned
Coal/
RockCut
“/ ”Cleaned
“/ ”Cut
“/ ”Cleaned
“/ ”Cut
“/ ”Cleaned
“/ ”December 1929 4.71 5.25 5.34 5.74 4.56 5.34 2.92 2.96
January 1930 4.70 9. 30 5.18 6.07 4.63 4.69 3.06 3.06
Source: GARF f. 3316, o. 64, d. 1078, l. 77.