A century of struggle is committed to the party, and industry contributes a new chapter to the country. On May 28, the opening ceremony of the first batch of patriotic education bases of China Baowu Iron and Steel Group-Meishan Iron and Steel Factory History Exhibition Hall was held in Meishan Iron and Steel Company.

   Zou Jixin, member of the Standing Committee of China Baowu Party Committee, Secretary of the Party Committee and Chairman of Baosteel Co., Ltd., attended the unveiling ceremony. He said that the Meishan Iron and Steel Plant History Exhibition Hall is an important part of China's Baowu "Red Gene Bank". It records the historical chapter of hard work, carries a rock-solid faith and belief, and demonstrates the timeless original mission.

   The exhibition hall is located on the left side of the administrative building of Meishan Iron and Steel Company. It is a two-story small building in the architectural style of the Republic of China. More than 50 years of Meishan Iron and Steel Plant history is slowly unfolding here. The top and both sides of the prologue hall are supported by three steel beams and pillars. "From the first day of construction, the people of Meishan Iron and Steel have set up an iron and steel corpus to serve the country, and will be the'steel backbone' of the rise of a great country and the development of the city. 'Steel in charge', submit the'steel answer sheet' for a better life."

   A factory history exhibition hall, a history of the steel industry in New China. Since the establishment of the factory in 1969, several generations of Meishan Iron and Steel people have worked tirelessly and steadfastly for more than 50 years. Keeping in mind Premier Zhou Enlai’s “snatching Meishan Iron”, they have upheld the original intention of serving the country with steel and the mission of making the country strong. Their commitment and indomitable resilience have erected the steel backbone for the rise of great powers.

   More than 50 years of passion have witnessed the torrential history of Meishan Iron and Steel, and has accumulated and passed down the spirit of Meishan Iron and Steel from generation to generation. The yellowed photos and the slightly blurred images are behind them all shining heartstrings of struggle stories, enduring and renewing.

   Iron because of ore, steel because of iron, and city because of steel, one tree and one pile, one nail and one riveting, flourishes because of the original intention of steel to serve the country. Meishan Iron & Steel was originally a steel raw material base constructed in Jiangsu by Shanghai relying on Nanjing Meishan iron ore resources. In the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, as the most important industrial city in China, Shanghai had been facing the dilemma of “with steel but no iron”. On April 24, 1969, Meishan Iron & Steel’s predecessor, the 9424 Plant Engineering Headquarters, was established, and Nanjing was silent. The southwestern suburbs suddenly boiled. In accordance with Premier Zhou Enlai’s ardent exhortation of “to engage in a congress war, be quick, and get the iron out as soon as possible”, more than 20,000 construction troops from Shanghai, Jiangsu and all over the country gathered in Meishan. A large ironmaking base was built on the hill, providing a steady stream of pig iron resources for Shanghai's iron and steel industry.

   On April 30, 1969, 12 members of the Meisteel Engineering Construction Advance Team, led by the commander Song Xinglu, came to Meishan for preliminary preparations. There was nothing at the scene, so I could only stay at the PLA Nanjing Military Foreign Languages Institute in Banqiao as a temporary resident. The headquarters did not have an operating fee, and the Foreign Languages Institute borrowed 5,000 yuan and 800 jin of food coupons before it opened. There are not enough desks, so I use beds instead, working during the day and sleeping at night.

   This winter, Nanjing encountered an extremely cold current, and the reed shed where the headquarters was located could not survive the winter. They put a thick layer of mud on the reeds to keep it warm. Commander Song Xinglu took this precious image. Although the cold wind blew through the wall, snow covered the iron bed, and the storm hit the work shed, on the back of the photo, the old commander wrote this sentence: This is the starting point of a large steel conglomerate!

   Unstoppable weather and race against time, Meishan Project continues to create new records one after another. The body of a blast furnace weighing 270 tons is the first in China for overall production, overall transportation, and overall hoisting. The words "Chinese people have aspirations" on the body are particularly eye-catching, and it still seems to be so shocking today.

   The short slogan shining with Meishan Iron and Steel's deep feelings of serving the country with iron and steel. On July 31, 1970, the first coke oven successfully produced coke; on August 8, the No. 1 blast furnace successfully produced iron. The people of Meishan Iron and Steel created the miracle that the world's large ironmaking plants were constructed in one year, put into production in one year, and basically completed in two years.

   In 1972, the documentary "Working Class Creates Miracles" filmed by the Central News Documentary Studio became popular all over the country. The story of the construction of the Meishan Ironmaking Base spread throughout the streets and alleys. At that time, young Shanghai painters Wei Jingshan and Chen Yifei who were gathering in Meishan were infected by the construction pride and enthusiasm of Meisteel. The oil painting "Pioneer of the Road" written by Chen Yifei once came out, it caused a huge sensation in the Chinese painting scene that has been silent for many years. , Has become a classic of Chinese contemporary industrial painting themes. The "Pioneer of the Road" is not only closely connected with Meishan Iron and Steel, but also a source of strength for the Chinese nation to stand up from suffering and continue to realize the dream of an industrial power.

   With the continuous development of the company, “hate iron but not steel” has always been the most difficult complex for Meishan Iron and Steel people to let go. The fire illuminates the world and the red stars shine in purple smoke. It is also the biggest wish of Meishan Iron and Steel people to realize the “big mountain dream” of “making steel from a hundred” . However, it is not easy to make the leap from a single iron-smelting enterprise to a steel complex.

   An electrical schematic diagram marked in English is quietly displayed in the Meishan Iron and Steel Plant History Exhibition Hall. This is a drawing hand-painted by an American technician when Xie Xiangqun, chief engineer of Sandian at Meishan Iron and Steel Hot Rolling Plant, studied in the United States in 1993. Xie Xiangqun has collected it for more than 20 years.

   On November 28, 1991, the Meishan Iron and Steel Hot Rolling Project started, which officially sounded the clarion call for the construction of a steel complex. There is no experience in the construction of hot rolling, no relevant technical ability, how to install a set of second-hand equipment in place and successfully put it into use, this problem is literally placed in front of the people of Meishan Iron and Steel. In the face of difficulties and challenges, the people of Meishan Iron & Steel did not shrink back, pondered and tried repeatedly. Not only did the project go into operation as scheduled, but also a set of second-hand equipment was built into a domestic first-class hot-rolling production line.

   Moving forward, never forget the time and path, and never change the dream from the beginning. Fifty-two years ago, on the banks of the Yangtze River and Sanshanji, the people of Meishan Iron and Steel began a magnificent entrepreneurial road through arduous efforts. Over the past 52 years, Meisteel’s people have been cutting waves, striving to innovate, taking root in the hot soil under their feet, and ushering in great changes to create glory. Today’s Meishan Iron and Steel is one of the four major high-quality steel manufacturing bases of Baosteel Co., Ltd., the core subsidiary of Baowu Steel, the world’s steel aircraft carrier. The underground digital iron mine with the highest management level and the most advanced equipment in China.

   In 2020, Meisteel successfully created an industrial tourism zone in Jiangsu Province; in 2021, Meisteel's "How Steel Is Made" industrial tourism project was selected as the Nanjing Party History Study and Education Boutique Route. From national ministries and commissions to surrounding communities, from university professors to primary and secondary school students, from large state-owned enterprises to small and micro enterprises, from the "same circle" of heavy industry to other industries with rare intersections, more and more "circle of friends" visit Meisteel Industrial tourism area.

   Working hard and innovating, the people of Meishan Iron and Steel have inherited the "double innovation" gene for more than 50 years, continue their spiritual blood, and gain forward strength. Shi Bing, member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee of Baosteel Co., Ltd., Secretary of the Party Committee of Meishan Iron and Steel Co., Ltd., and chairman of the board of directors, said that at the historical intersection of the "two centenary goals", Meishan Iron and Steel will make a new round of high-quality development in wall chart operations. "Accelerate", enter the industry’s first phalanx, and strive unremittingly for China Baowu to become a world-class great company, and to build Baosteel into the world’s most competitive steel company and a listed company with the most investment value.

   Green lawns, colorful flower beds, densely growing jungles, as well as towering colorful fairy-tale cooling towers, industrial chimneys...the factory area of more than 7 square kilometers, there is no dust and no coal powder falling. , The large slogan of "Building the Cleanest Factory in the Global Steel Industry" is particularly eye-catching. "Appreciating the flowers blooming in front of the court, watching the clouds rolling in the sky" is not a park than a park, here is Meishan Iron and Steel, a large-scale industrial production base with an annual output of 7.6 million tons of steel in the southwestern suburb of Nanjing.

   In the atrium of the Meishan Iron and Steel Factory History Exhibition Hall, there is a sculpture with iron ore and Mobius ring as the main elements. The Mobius ring symbolizes the endless cycle. The iron ore on the base of the sculpture weighs about 5 tons. It is mined -330 meters underground from the Meishan Iron Mine. From the rust at the bottom to the light at the top, it implies the evolution from ore to steel, interpreting the ecological properties of steel, and also showing plum The growth power of steel. 

Source: Jiangsu Economic News