Chinese Industrial Cooperative Association "gōngyè hézuòshè (工業合作社), that is, the

Chinese Industrial Cooperatives, known as INDUSCO, was formally established in August,1938

in Hankow, then the wartime capital of China. The movement was organized by Rewi Alley of
New Zealand; Edgar Snow, Nym Wales (Helen Foster Snow), and Ida Pruitt of the USA; and a
group of Chinese including Hu Yuzhi and Sha Qianqi. Through the sponsorship of Madame
Chiang Kai-shek, Finance Minister Dr. H. H. Kung supplied government financial support. The
slogan "Gung Ho" (gonghe) was created, which also became popular in English. The CIC
organized small scale self-supporting cooperatives, mainly in rural areas, to create employment
for workers and refugees and goods to support the War of Resistance against the Japanese. [1]

In January, 1939 The International Committee for the Promotion of Chinese Industrial
Cooperatives (the Gung Ho International Committee, or, ICCIC) was established in Hongkong.
Ida Pruitt toured the United States to raise substantial financial support. The number of
cooperatives reached its peak in 1941 at approximately 3,000 cooperatives with a membership of
nearly 30,000. Their factories produced blankets, uniforms and other army supplies. Both the
Nationalist government of Chiang Kai-shek and the Communist movement of Mao Zedong
supported the movement and tried to control it. Alley placated the Nationalists but his
sympathies and eventual loyalties were to the emerging Communist government. After Mao’s
victory in 1949 Alley stayed in China, but there was no need for the CIC and ICCIC. Work was
suspended in 1952, but 1983 a new CIC was formed, and a new ICCIC was formed in 1987.