In 1999, my aunt's print shop was probably still operating. When I visited in 1999 I see bundles of copies in the storage. The print shop was in her house, which was a yard house.
Very soon after the visit in 1999, my grandmother received a letter from my aunt. Due to municipality's city planning, the road the yard house was located at was due to expansion, hence it needed to be demolished. Under her eyes, my aunt's years of work become dust. The material of the house so solid that the demolition team had to extra round of engineered blasting.
Due to tightening of anti-pirate copy policies, my aunt stopped running the business. Today she lives in an apartment assigned by the municipality, as compensation to her demolished house.
me: Can you tell me a bit about aunt's printing business?
Father: The business is not printing pirate copies as you assumed, they are printing illegal copies, which were, publications that were not formally published by a publisher, mainly prep books for primary and secondary schools. In Linfen, Shanxi Province, there is a industry chain of printing and distribution of illegal publication. Many primary and secondary school teachers were responsible for drafting tests. Farmer families in Guo County set up workshops in their own yards, with 3-5 printing machines, printing illegal prep books day and night. Farmers from two nearby counties, Hong Dong county and Huo county, would proceed with the industry chain by distributing copies across schools all over the country. A generation of farmers become rich from selling book; and a generation of printshop owners become rich from printing; teachers earned remuneration but didn't become significantly richer. After ten years of prosperity, the industry chain was banned by central government.
Your uncle(aunt's husband), was amongst that generation of printshop owners. After government banned illegal printshops, he became unemployed. Until now, he hasn't been working. In these some twenty years, he tried to run a transportation business for a few months and lost money; two years ago he tried to raise goats in the mountains and lost money.
Now he stays at home, cooking, smoking some cigarettes, and drinking a bit.
And that's it.
In Hong Dong county and Huo county of Shanxi Province, every single farmer is going out, making book business across the country.
In Linfen City, every single teacher is drafting tests.
In Linfen City's Guo Village, every farmer's family is running printing machines day and night.
Hundreds of families, over 10000 printers, farmers all become workers; In Linfen City, Hong Dong county, Huo County, over hundreds of thousand farmers travel to secondary schools all over different parts of the country to sell prep books. This unprecedented industry chain had been broadcasted by the BBC.
Your aunt, had applied for temporary absence from the school she worked at, to help with your uncle's small print factory. She was doing accounting work. After the business closed, she returned to the school and resumed her teaching life.
Now your aunt and uncle have quite an nice, easy life. Because they had some compensation for the demolished house and some money left from the printing business.
Father: This reflects in historicity how urban villages became marginalized in China; reflects transformation of outer villages of urban areas; reflects in context of economic liberalization, how farmers became residents; reflects how farmers lost their land.
Before, farmers' land cannot be traded. These days, real estate developers purchase their land. Farmers lost their land, and are compensated of a few apartments. It may seem that they are well-off temporarily, however their offpring lose their land forever, which is the most precious asset.
Farmers in Guo county from now on, are dispossessed of their productive material; degrading to labor force in production process.
me: What a history expert.