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At the end of 1979, I fell seriously ill and almost died. After jumping the queue and returning to Shanghai, I was assigned to work as a sand foundry worker in the Shanghai Iron Pot Factory. After living in the countryside for eight and a half years, I dreamed of returning to Shanghai and entering a factory. But when I actually returned to Shanghai and entered a factory, I began to wonder: Is this Shanghai and this factory what I dreamed of? The sand foundry shop is a black world. Three to four thousand square meters, from floor to ceiling, every inch is black and covered with thick black powder. The iron pot factory produces jet black iron pots for cooking. Iron pots are made by sand casting, pouring molten iron into molds, and then cooling them into shape. In order to prevent the molten iron from adhering to the mold, a layer of silicon powder needs to be applied to the mold before casting. Silicon powder is a toxic metal powder. When the silicon powder applied on the mold touches the hot molten iron, strong smoke will rise, and black powder will come out of the mold, dyeing everything black.