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Show The Salt Lake Tribune, Sundav, Februar 25, l'lrtb A3 Soviets Pin Hopes of Future on Desolate , Frigid Siberia Editor s note. In a time not lono ogo, Soviet leoderi exiled tneir enemies a desolate land ot snow where men lived hard lives ond died haid deaths. Temperatures that dropped 40 degrees below zero could bring machinery to a stand still. An acclaenta! deep breath could freeze the Jungs., oday Siber ia is still a land ot hardship, but Insteod of being forced Into exile Hussions ore being lured there Incentives by Western-styl- e hig rer pay, private cars and swimming pools carved Into the permafrost. UHl Moscow correspondent JacK Redden visited this Siberia, where the Russians hove found o wondrous recently land of plenty lust below the ice. 1o By Jack Redden I'mted Press International Ciod created the earth he filled a bag with gold and silver diamonds and oil, intending to spread the riches equally among the peoples of the world. But according to Yakutian lore, when he flew over Russia he got so cold his hands froze and he dropped the sack, forever spilling the world s wealth across one of the most barren regions of the globe Siberia When The Soviet Union today is trying to retrieve what God lost With promises of better pay, privates cars, new apartments and lengthy vacations, the Soviets are trying to lure Russian workers to a part of the world where doors and windows have to be three layers thick, where school's close when temperatures hit 50 degrees below zero, and where the ice fog coats the towering statue of Lenin with powdery white ice. Historically, the Soviet Union's natural resources have made it an international power, but those resources that were easily exploited or in better climates are either exhausted or inadequate. The search for new sources has turned inevitably to this spot more than 3.000 miles and six time zpnes from Moscow. The 1.2 million square mile Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic of Yakutia six times the size of France and nearly eight times that of California boasts an array of resources few places on earth can match. Gold mining has been under way for 60 years. Diamonds come from three different mines. Oil and gas are tapped for local needs and reserves could be the largest in the Soviet Union, already the world's leading producer. Other minerals include copper, lead, zinc, mica the list goes on and on. . Showpiece of the development is the complex around Neryungri, 400 miles south of the regional capital at Yakutsk and site of a coal mine that eventually will be the heart of an gaping open-pi- t industrial zone turning nearby iron into steel. "I came here in 1975 and it was completely forest, taiga all around," said Pyotr Fyodorov, mayor of Neryungri. Now it is a 60.000-stroncity. Almost an equal number live in settlements around the town. Where a few geologists tents once stood, the mine aims to remove 13 million tons of coal this year and a new power plant pumps steam into the frigid Siberian air. has been a classic Soviet project. Once the decision was in Moscow, all resources were mobilized. Thousands of were assigned, scarce equipment was diverted from other areas and construction went on around the clock. A new factory turns out slabs for prefabricated buildings that rise from the permafrost-dotte- d land in a matter of months. Gaunt steel frames of new factories stand nearby, indistinct in the icy mist. , .Soviet planners see this as the first of a string of industrial centers defying the vast distances and nature's hostility in the resource-ricSoviet east. But if the riches of Siberia are immense, so are the costs now and probably forever. Everything in this forbidding region costs the state drastically more, from workers salaries to the equipment they use, the food they eat and the houses they live in. Yevgeni Varshovski, 50, the chief of construction who has been on the project since the start, said the Neryungri development has cost $2.6 billion so far, helped by a Japanese loan of $450 million g It h Western-Styl- e - From NERYUNGRI, U.S.S.R. (UPI) high pay and new cars, the Soviet Union has incenturned unabashedly to Western-styl- e tives to attract workers to build the communist future. Arc lights slash through the frigid Siberia air to keep construction going around the clock. A state greenhouse struggles to grow vegetables in a land with nine months of snow. An enlarged airport carriers workers off to long, cheap vacations. The state is now trying to entice people to a region where Stalin once shipped exiles. Party slogans may line the tops of buildings, is rarely but the rhetoric of heard. Young people working here can have their own cars," said Neryungri Mayor' now being repaid in coal exports. Those figures, however, pale against costs of the future. call for extension of a rail spur connecting to the Mainline railway, itself just completed last year at a reported cost of $39 billion. The new line, now just south of Neryungri, would reach Yakutsk by 1995. There is even a plan for continuing the line through even more hostile terrain, to the isolated Pacific port of Magadan. As can be said of all progress in Siberia, the climate is the most Plans formidable opponent According to Soviet officials, punishinglv low temperatures push the cost of housing 3j times above the Moscow lev el, salaries more than double. State farms sell meat for half the cost of production. When the thermometer hits 40 degrees below zero, some mine equipment stops moving, although it can never be turned off. When it hits 50 degrees below zero schools close and outdoor work halts. This is not rare: The temperature hovered in the minus-5range in Neryungri for two weeks last winter. Yakutsk is even colder, shrouded for much of the winter in the dense ice mist. To get workers to accept the conditions, the government has offered incentives such as higher wages, longer vacations, bonuses for staying and priority in getting a private car. But more is needed, and the government knows it. Officials boast of building apartments, schools, theaters, swimming pools and other comforts in a city where outdoor activity is severely curtailed. But they also admit there is a 3l a year wait in temporary wooden housing before moving to a new apartment. "If we don't solve this problem it will be hard to provide the work force for the region," said Nikolai Chersky, head of the Yakutsk branch of the Soviet Academy of Sciences, who has lived in Yakutia for 33 years. Still, for those who are there, there is a certain bravado. Outsiders are typically told, Only the weak leave." In the never-endinbattle against the cold, doors and windows are made three layers thick. Walls are thicker, water and sewage pipes are heated, and, most importantly, builders must deal with permafrost just beneath the surface. The frozen earth extends to 4,750 feet deep, the deepest anywhere on earth. must avoid constructing anything that will melt the Builders placing buildings atop stilts to keep the earth Wildly undulating floors of old. ground-touchinwooden structures testify to the consequences of turning the frozen earth to mud. Vehicles cannot be turned off for fear they will not restart Anyone breathing too quickly is in danger of freezing their lungs. Two area villages have registered temperatures of minus 94. For us there is a saying, Varshovski said. June is not yet summer, and by July summer is already past." Indeed, in Neryungri it snows from September to May. The brief summer, which sends temperatures soaring into the 90s, draws more complaints than the winter. In Yakutia, about 300 miles south of the Arctic Circle, a large statue of Lenin in front of party offices is barely visible through the ice fog that shrouds the city for weeks at a time. Despite the hardships, efforts to build the area are succeeding. The 1 millionth citizen of Yakutia was born in November. The population continues to grow well ahead of the national rate. Greenhouses struggle to produce fresh vegetables. Residents in Neryungri boast they now have cucumbers nine months of the year. Reindeer and ponies raised by the natives for meat are better suited to the climate, but fodder is imported to raise dairy cows, cattle and hogs in barns. The easiest adjustment comes from people themselves. With warm clothing, a careful watch for frostbite and a rugged constitution, residents of east Siberia survive their famous cold without trouble. Some even enjoy it. "Every day before I go out, I take ice in a cloth and massage my face," said Nina Nikin, relating a beauty secret to visitors to Neryungri. In the summer I take ice from the refrigerator." 0 g g Yakutia region of Siberia boasts an array of resources, in- - The - United Ptesi inet national and gold, coal eluding oil, iron, few places on earth can match. Vud Few Signs of Life Siberian Railway Delves Into Savage Desolation - SIDING. U.S.S.R. (UP!) Each is separated by wide gaps of frozen hills of taiArctic vegetation and the blue-gra- y ga roll on until they merge with the sky. It is one of the most inhospitable regions on earth. The view of the rail construction, under way more than a decade, ended at Yakutia Siding which consists of a lone railway building. A monument to the workers who labored through the Siberian winters stands high on a Cutting across this desolate land of savage nearby hill. The walk up, over fallen trees and winters, permafrost and isolation are parallel across snow packed into dense crusts, testifies bands of shiny new steel. The Little BAM rail- to their hardship. The temperature was a relatively mild 22 below zero Fahrenheit, but the way. In the south this railway intersects the still wind knifed into any exposed skin. From the summit, under the "Glory to the Mainline (BAM) railunfinished Baikal-Amu- r way. But to the north, this is the first leg of an workers of BAM" monument, the vast taiga land ambitious rail system that Soviet engineers will of pine trees and swamp stretches to the horistill be struggling to complete into the next cen- zon. The track disappears into the north part of the dream is complete, the rest is still to tury. For 60 miles, two East German-mad- e cars come. East Siberia is a vast warehouse of resources, filled with Western correspondents rolled smoothly behind a Soviet diesel engine. The only everything from aluminum to zinc. Men once reached here by foot, by boat and signs of life on the frozen landscape were isolatduring the 1920s ed trucks grinding along the road that parallels by Mongolian camel. But without a railthe rail line, and buildings for railworkers at road there was no way to get those resources intervals of many miles. Beyond that, there was out. no indication of the existence of man. First came the Railway, the crowning engineering achievement of the czars. But it is south of the mineral wealth. So. with forced labor, Stalin started a new line, the BAM. further north. World War II not only halted construction, the new rails were torn up and d in the west to coal mine, which will eventually fuel a local cheap holidays in both allied and nations steel industry, is expensive. although permission is carry supplies to the pivotal battle of Stalinmore important than money for travel grad. Salaries are adjusted from the Moscow level. Anyone going to Neryungri receives abroad. In 1974 work resumed and in 1984 the governan immediate 70 percent raise, followed by Many workers are willing to come, for ment announced the 2,000 bridges, 17 miles of yearly raises of 20 percent for three years money, adventure or to start a new life. tunnels and 2,000 miles of track were complete. and 10 percent for two more. After five Keeping them, however, is a problem. Simultaneously, the Little BAM joined the We think the most important thing for to the BAM and was pushed years, a worker plateaus at 2.5 times his base salary. keeping the work force is the provision of north into Yakutia. Mine employees average about $780 a good living conditions, said Yuri Korkim, Abel Aganbegyan, who directed scientific asmonth in a country where the national avermayor of the regional capital of Yakutsk. pects of the project, predicts grand industrialBut even if every amenity is provided, it ization along the BAM and networks of roads age is one third that level. With rents at only will always be difficult to find permanent $13 to $33 a month, they have plenty to spend. and railways extending to the north. it was 62 Much of the cash is soaked up in annual residents. The cold is inhuman "The map of our country is simply being rebelow zero as the New Year struck in Nervacations, which are 42 working days inhe said. drawn," stead of the standard 24. Every third year an yungri and the isolation is so extreme they 1995 in the Little BAM is to reach Yakutsk, call other parts of the Soviet Union the By employee receives a free flight anywhere 500 miles north of the mainline. the vast country. A factory poster listed mainland." YAKUTIA ragged tree Trans-Siberia- n Perks Attract Soviet Workers to Siberia Pyotr Fyodorov, sounding like a Western mayor enticing investment to his town. "We have approximately 5,000 private cars in the one for every 12 people. city The buying capacity here is very high 2.000 rubles $2,600) a year in disposable income. re-lai- Trans-Siberia- The state has made sure Siberians have something to spend it on. The mayor boasted of consumer goods unavailable even in the populous western part of the country. Oranges and apples were d something ofshops piled in ten lacking even in Moscow. Neryungri is a government priority, even Sibemore than other areas of resource-ricria. Attracting and keeping workers for the well-stocke- h n Peasant Girls Working for Affluent Maids Becoming Chinas New Status Symbol 0 By Jim Mann Los Angeles Times Writer Zhu Jianyun's baby PEKING girl was born only last October, but Zhu returned to her job in the Peking offices of the Communist Youth y maLeague even before her thanks to a ternity leave expired maid imported from the Chinese countryside. The maid, Zhang Li, is a peasant girl who had never before been away from her farming community in China's Henan province. She spends her days feeding and singing to the baby while Zhu and her husband, a surgeon doing graduate work, pursue their careers. "The complete work of taking care of the child is on her Zhang's shoulders now, Zhu, 29, said. Zhang is one of tens of thousands of women from rural areas who have come to Peking over the last few years to do household chores and take care of the young, the sick and the elderly. Now, having a maid is a status symbol among urban Chinese, but at the height of China's Cultural Revolution in the late 1960s. the employment of domestic help would have been denounced as a form of exploitation. The People's Republic is beginning to follow the lead of Hong Kong, where for the last decade more affluent Chinese families have been importing Philippine women to look after children and do household chores. Inside China, the spreading phenomenon of the baomu, or housekeeper, is given impetus by a number of social forces. Young women in rural areas are curious to see a bit of life in the city, and the improved efficiency and reforms of Chinese agriculture have 100-da- east-centr- al Lot Angeles Times Photo Communist Youth League worker Zhu Jianyun holds her baby left. daughter, who Is cared for by maid Zhang Li, 17, ( made their hands less necessary the rice paddies. in In the cities, the demand for maids has increased because of the imand beproved standard of living cause of the increasing difficulty in keeping together the extended family network of aunts, cousins and grandparents that in the past would have been relied upon to look after the young, the aged and the disabled. The arrival of the maids, welcome though it is, has presented city dwellers with a whole new set of social problems. Some thefts have been reported, and authorities acknowledge that there have been isolated cases of kidnapping and baby selling. Chinese newspapers also now publish some Dear Abby-typ- e letters from married women who fear that their husbands have developed a romantic interest in the baomu. A newly married Peking couple complained recently that they had been enjoying unheard-o- f privacy in a spare apartment turned over to them until they were by their parents obliged to share the place with a baomu, who had been hired to care for an aging grandparent at a nearby hospital and had nowhere else to sleep. The apartment was fine for two but not for three," the couple lamented. Sometimes, it is the maids themselves who complain. According to a Chinese source, the maids in an apartment building inChinese govhabited by high-rankin- g ernment officials recently joined together, in a kind of labor union to put pressure on their employers. They asked for higher salaries and the source for better conditions, said. '( Apparently, the maids' most sought-afte- r benefit is a television set. Some of the girls ask whether the family they will live with has a TV." a Peking resident said. If you have one, they'll come work for you. If not. they won t." Other amenities prized by the baomu include hot running water and an inside toilet. Not all households in Peking can provide such luxuries, particularly those living in the capital's aging courtyard houses, some of which date from the Ming Dynasty: thus, the maids prefer to work for families in new, high-ris- e apartment buildings. The demand for maids is so strong that it has touched off competition between private and state-ru- n organizations that serve as cut-thro- Peking officials say that until two years ago. the market in maids was dominated by private, underground gangs" from rural areas run by older women who, for a fee, would supply peasant girls to city homes. An old woman, the gang leader, would be on hand in the city to send young girls from their hometown to the city families asking for them," Zhao Jiu, a Peking city official, said. "The young girls were very afraid of these old women. Once they got a salary, they would have to pay a large portion of it to the old women." Most of the Peking maids supplied in this way come from Anhui province, a relatively poor rural area in eastern China that historically has had trouble feeding its people. Chinese historians say the local records show that, in times of drought or other natural disasters, county leaders in Anhui would encourage some of the population to leave the land and look for work in the cities. Peking officials now acknowledge that even in its revolutionary days, the Chinese Communist Party helped perpetuate this practice. Two years ago. in an attempt to drive the private gangs out of business, the Peking Women's Federation set up its own state-ru- n agency, the March 8 Domestic Service General Co. (March 8 is observed as Women's Day in China and in many socialist company-suppliecountries.) The state-ru- n maids for 15,000 Peking households last year, including those of such high-levofficials as Vice Premier Li Peng. But the private operations are stili flourishing. At free markets in at least three different Peking locu: more often tions, middlemen offer to supply middlewomen maids from the countryside. Although the private maid market presents some opportunity for abuse and exploitation, city officials acadknowledge that it also has some vantages. The convenience is that you can make a deal on the spot. said Zhao, the Peking city official, who manages the March 8 company. "They can pro vide maids freely and quickly. If you have to check out papers and get apadproval from various units. Our vantage is that we can provide maids who are reliable and do so in an orga- - - nized way. The families hiring the mauls generally pay them 30 to 35 yuan a month, about $9 to $11, plus room and board. The pay is sometimes slightly higher for women who must care for the elderly or for sick or disabled persons. But this is what the Chinese pay. foreigners in China must pay at least 10 times as much. |
