Conference–Food and Shelter

On the other side they would have to solve three immediate problems:

1. Basic survival. Food, shelter, clothing, water.

2. Security from violent threats, be it human or animal

3. Security against natural disasters, such as bad weather or plague

Obviously compared to the problems of the grand visions of industry and machinery that the technical groups had been discussing, the vast majority of people were more concerned with these immediate survival issues.

Modern society was highly developed with an extreme degree of specialisation and division of labour. Every little bit of modern convenience required an entire industrial system to maintain. Every single drop of water that comes out of a tap was a result of an enormous yet unseen industrial machine, requiring electricity, chemical purification, steel and cement and so on.

In 17th century Hainan, none of this existed. Rice was grown in paddies. After a simple sedimentation, the only way of disinfection was to boil it. There was no way to just buy clothes. The wealthy could hire tailors, and ordinary people could only rely on their wives to cut and sew.

As the leader of the General Affairs Team, responsible for the day-to-day lives of everyone, the catalogue of equipment proposed by Xiao Zishan caused quite some controversy.

“Rice mills, flour mills, such grain processing equipment… Do we really need to bring all of this? The spare parts and energy consumption are both problems… In ancient times weren’t there already water-powered mills? Even in the 1950s many people in rural China still used such mills.

“Well, I think that even if we really want to mechanise grain refinement, such machines could be made by our machinists right. I feel that it's a waste of our weight budget to bring them over.

“There are even sewing and hemming machines, cutting machines… Leader Xiao, are you planning to open a fabrics factory or something?”

“The Agricultural Group agrees with the need for grain processing equipment! Even if the General Affairs Team hadn’t brought it up, we would have requested their purchase anyway!” Wu Nanhai said.

“The problem is always processing speed. The traditional method of pounding rice and grinding down flour is very labour intensive. We have a few hundred mouths to feed, it would take far too much manpower to do it all manually.”

“You can still use a water mill.”

“Then you’d still have to build such a mill, right? What about the manpower and materials needed to build it? If we can get electricity then we can run this equipment, and we can process a lot of food very quickly.”

“The problem of spare parts can be solved by the mechanics in the Industry Group.” Xiao Zishan had anticipated the arguments from everyone, and with Wu Nanhai on his side it was much easier. “People in the rural areas of China store dry grain frequently. We should base our rations on the standard back during the planned economy era:^[1] 12 kilograms of rice per month^[2] for adults. So, with 500 people, we’d need at least 6 tons of rice per month at this ration.

“However, this 12 kilogram ration is the standard for ordinary citizens. For manual labourers this should be higher. There will definitely be a lot of manual work after crossing, so to be safe I estimate 14 kilograms for monthly ration. Then, if we want to hire local labour, we’d have to provide even more rice. This means we’d need at least 7 tons of rice every month.

“The good thing is that the grain processing by machine would be of good quality. Unlike for a stone-mill, if the stone isn’t good then the flour obtained will have a lot of rocks and sand, which would make it hard to eat.”

“The same argument applies to sewing machines. Clothes will be worn out later, and must be replaced. Who would make clothes for you? Your girlfriend?”

“Maybe you’d be able to marry a local woman. She can’t make clothes like ours, but we might still be able to teach her. However, no matter what, a single item of hand-made clothing would take several days even for a skilled seamstress.

“Of course, maybe a few days isn’t a big deal. The problem is that we must expand our labour force as we industrialise, and even, later on,” he lowered his voice, and whispered conspiratorially, “raise an army.”

Letting his words sink in for a bit, he then returned to a normal volume and spoke. “These uniforms, are they going to also be sewn by your wives?”

The people around the table laughed.

“Taking your words at face value, then ancient soldiers didn’t wear clothes then?”

“Ah, but they were outfitted on the premise of having an entire nation’s worth of cheap or even free labour. We don’t have such luxury!” Xiao Zishan said with some grief in his voice. “Our lifespans are limited, and we should focus our efforts on re-climbing the technology tree. In summary, it is better to bring the machinery and equipment directly. We can also use these items as samples for future imitation.”

With that established, housing was the next major issue. The General Affairs Team originally planned to simply purchase a large number of tents, and then gradually transition into actual houses later. However, the construction team had a different idea. They proposed to get some prefabricated houses. Such prefabs are used most frequently on construction sites as worker dormitories and offices. They came in a diverse range of materials and shapes, and could be tailored according to need. They were all light in weight, easy to set up, had a decent amount of insulation, and would be far more comfortable than tents. They were also far more durable: if properly maintained, they could stand for seven or eight years.

“One of the departments in my old company had been using the simplest painted steel mobile homes as warehouses and offices for almost a decade, and they’re still in pristine condition.” The one who spoke was Aunty Tian’s daughter Li Xiaolu, who was a thin northern woman about 30 years of age, with fair skin and wearing a pair of thin-rimmed glasses. “They can also be stacked on top of each other with just some light steel reinforcement.”

“Because the environment is going to be relatively harsh we should use some stronger materials.” she said in a thin and dreamy voice, “Hmmmm. Prefabs made from magnesium composite panels with polystyrene foam inserts. With doors and windows frames, and a light steel brace to hold the whole thing together. No special heavy machinery needed for assembly. Experienced workers can probably set up a standard house with about 60 square metres in about 4 hours with simple hand tools.

“Their modularity is higher than that of painted steel prefabs. The lateral area can be easily expanded or reduced. The positions of doors, windows, and front and rear walls can be shuffled at will. After some extra reinforcement, it would also be easy to build vertically.

“They also have good water-proofing, heat insulation, and are fireproof. The walls are mould-resistant, anti-corrosive, earthquake-proof and are most importantly very light. A single house only weighs around 2,200 kilograms. If set up properly and looked after, each such unit can last more than a decade.

“I expect that this type of structure can be used for dormitories, offices, and small warehouses.”

“What about factories?” The Industry Group of course raised their concerns.

“A large factory building or warehouse can’t be built in such a way. We could use prefabbed concrete slabs however.” Li Xiaolu continued. “Well, more precisely, concrete reinforced with rebar. They are much heavier than the usual materials, but the advantage is that they last for more than two decades and can be used to build large unsupported interiors as well as 2-3 story tall buildings.

“Concrete slabs…” someone hesitated.

“The Construction Group had just discussed it and believe that it isn’t a big problem to produce cement and steel rebar with the industrial system discussed previously. If the factory building isn’t particularly urgent, you could just bring the structure diagrams and tools and build it over there from local materials.”

“Either way, erecting prefab buildings is a technical job. My suggestion is to send some people to these companies to learn from them.”

Wen Desi nodded and quickly noted in his memo: ‘Practical skills training.’

"Can water and electricity be supplied to prefab houses?"

"Yes, although you can’t set pipes in the walls without compromising the structural integrity, there’s no problem if you attach them on the exterior. However, the construction team is of the opinion that individual water supply and drainage systems shouldn’t be installed in dormitories and offices to cut down on overhead.

"We think it would be best to have a single public facility that provides bathrooms, showers and toilets. Such a centralised system would make it much easier to install the plumbing and sewage systems. Now, given the frequent tropical rainstorms in Hainan, we should run enclosed corridors between all dormitories and offices to these public washroom facilities. Finally, in our preliminary designs, we didn’t include heating systems since the winters are quite warm in Hainan, unlike in the north."

"What about cooling? Hainan is very hot and humid in summer. There ought to be air conditioning, right?"

This remark brought about plenty of eye rolls. However, in their hearts, they all hoped to have AC more or less. Being modern people, they were used to using air conditioning, but in Hainan in the Ming Dynasty, there were not even electric fans.

"Traditional AC is impossible." Li Xiaolu glanced at Xiao Zishan. Seeing no objection, she continued on. "Traditional AC requires loads of electricity and chemical refrigerants. It's way too extravagant for us. If the Executive Committee really wants it though, we only have two alternatives." She seemed a little dizzy and nauseous. She stood on the table for a while before continuing: "One is an evaporative AC, which removes the need for an indoor fan and compressor, and uses the water as refrigerant. It saves electricity, but on the downside creates a lot of humidity, and the manufacturing of the ventilation system is also quite difficult."^[3]

"The other is to use groundwater cooling. However, the initial investment of this method is steep, requiring the excavation of deep wells, and the evaporator also needs to use precious copper pipes."

"Personally, I prefer this second option, as it is much more efficient.”

“These systems are banned currently, right? They say it wastes water.”

“But there’s no regulations on the other side though.”

“Well, I know that. But it is still wasting water nonetheless, it is not environmentally sustainable.”

“Is environmental protection a concern over there?”

“You can re-inject groundwater, so there is no waste.” Li Xiaolu explained, “If we want something more advanced, we can even use a geothermal cycle. The method is similar. Generally, by about ten metres underground the temperature of the soil is at a constant 20 degrees or so. Thus, we can drill a hole to this depth, and then circulate water as a heat exchange medium. This would keep us warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Of course, our base must then be built in an area with no geological activity, otherwise we’d only get heating."

Everyone looked at Xiao Zishan–he was the one in charge of internal affairs. Xiao Zishan in turn looked at Wen Desi, the chairman of the Executive Committee. In Xiao Zishan’s heart, he supported all the ideas that improved the quality of life of all the travellers. It was far easier mentally to go from poverty to luxury than it was the other way. This group of people were all pampered by modern city life, and if they were forced to start from mud and sticks on the other side, their morale would plummet. However, he did not dare to express this opinion openly. Ensuring such a high quality of life would necessitate the dedication of a large part of the industrial capability, and he really did not have the courage to directly approve it.

Wen Desi exchanged glances with him for a long time, and then looked at the leaders of each working group for a long time, and finally said the catchphrase of any leader: "Let's continue studying this issue."

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1. Until about 1978, China had a planned socialist economy, and since then has transitioned into a mixed economy. See wiki. ↩︎

2. About 400 grams of rice per day, which is about 520 calories, or about one fifth the recommended daily calorie intake of an adult male. Which in my opinion is far below starvation rations, unless supplemented by other foods. ↩︎

3. I’m pretty sure that evaporative cooling doesn’t work well in places like Hainan, where there’s high humidity. ↩︎