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his life witnessed a complete

the history of steel development carrying the dream of industrialization of new china

in the steel city located in the northeast corner of wuhan's main urban area, there are many blast furnaces. one of them is the no. 1 blast furnace of wuhan iron and steel corporation, which was retired in 2019 and listed as a national industrial heritage in 2021. when you put your hand on the touch screen of the historical restoration scene, "molten iron" will rush out like a fire dragon, simulating the first furnace of molten iron smelted in 1958.

zhang shourong, former chief engineer of wuhan iron and steel corporation and academician of the chinese academy of engineering, was the commander of the blast furnace. on july 14, 2024, zhang shourong, 96, passed away.

zhang shourong joined anshan iron and steel at the age of 21, transferred to wuhan iron and steel at the age of 29, and witnessed the reorganization of baosteel and wuhan iron and steel into baowu group, the world's "steel aircraft carrier", at the age of 88. he was never absent from the history of the development of the steel industry, which carried the dream of industrialization of new china and was once the "marshal's promotion to the post".

on september 11, 2005, academician zhang shourong attended the fifth china youth science and technology entrepreneurs management forum. photo/china news service

from "big up" to "big down"

in 1949, zhang shourong graduated from the metallurgical department of beiyang university with the first place, and in september he was assigned to anshan iron and steel company by the northeast bureau.

at that time, the construction of anshan iron and steel was the top priority of the national economic construction. at the groundbreaking ceremony, the cpc central committee and the central military commission presented a silk banner with the words "struggle for industrial china". the national steel output that year was only 158,000 tons, of which anshan iron and steel accounted for 94,700 tons.

anshan iron and steel retained 104 japanese technicians, and the production organization was mainly based on them. after serving as an apprentice to japanese technicians and veteran workers for half a year, zhang shourong began to serve as the foreman of the no. 1 blast furnace in the spring of 1950.

he gradually figured out that smelting iron was just like cooking. the amount of rice, water, fire and cooking time were all very particular. otherwise, you might end up with a pot of half-cooked rice, or burn the rice, or even burn through the pot and cause the stove to go out.

at that time, the blast furnace was not modernized to a very low level, there were no computers, and various meters were not complete. being a foreman made him develop a pair of sharp eyes. for example, he observed the iron flow to judge the silicon and sulfur content in the molten iron. as the silicon content increased, the sparks in the molten iron gradually became scarce, with more forks and high jumps; when the silicon content was above 2.5%, no sparks could be seen, but small fireballs appeared in the iron flow; the higher the silicon content of the molten iron, the worse the fluidity and the more serious the iron groove sticking.

in 1951, zhang shourong was promoted to production duty supervisor. the following year he became production section chief, and in the third year he became assistant factory director.

among the 156 major projects built by the soviet union in china, there are 7 projects in the steel industry (actually 8 projects), namely anshan iron and steel, wuhan iron and steel, baotou iron and steel, benxi iron and steel, north manchuria steel plant, jilin ferroalloy plant, and rehe vanadium titanium mine. among them, anshan, wuhan, and baotou are the three major steel bases. as the leader, anshan iron and steel has provided a large number of talents in the gradual construction of these enterprises.

in may 1956, zhang shourong was sent to wuhan iron and steel corporation to participate in the review of the preliminary ironmaking system plan compiled by the soviet union. from then on, he became associated with wuhan iron and steel corporation. after new year's day in 1957, he was officially transferred to wuhan iron and steel corporation and became the person in charge of the construction of the ironmaking plant.

on september 12, 1958, wuhan iron and steel's no. 1 blast furnace was ready to start up. the blast furnace used many new technologies and had a capacity of 1,386 cubic meters, which was larger than anshan iron and steel and also ranked among the top in the world. this was during the "great leap forward" and this date was the result of several speed increases.

it takes about 1,400 waste sleepers to start the furnace. the command center requires that they be loaded in 4 hours, while smaller furnaces at anshan iron and steel require 8 to 12 hours to load. after the furnace is dried with hot air, the furnace temperature is above 50°, and the workers are sweating profusely. there are many nails on the old sleepers removed from the railway, and some workers were scratched. zhang shourong, the commander of the furnace, asked several masters to hammer the nails flat. the sleepers were finally installed as scheduled.

at 3 a.m. the next day, li yiqing, general manager of wuhan iron and steel, put a torch into the furnace and the fire started. at 3 p.m., mao zedong climbed onto the rooftop platform of the workers' lounge in front of the no. 1 blast furnace to watch the first batch of molten iron coming out of the furnace. after about 20 minutes, the iron outlet opened and molten iron gushed out. mao zedong led the standing ovation and the scene cheered.

soon, the no. 2 blast furnace of wuhan iron and steel corporation broke ground. the construction period of a blast furnace is generally 8 to 10 months, but under the general situation at that time, after a major battle by various construction forces, the no. 2 blast furnace was put into production in just 4 months and 20 days, setting a world record for the fastest construction. in september, the no. 1 open-hearth furnace of the steelmaking plant was put into production, 10 months ahead of schedule. the primary rolling mill was also put into production in july 1960, more than a year ahead of schedule.

the normal process of steel production is to first beneficiate and sinter iron ore, then make iron in a blast furnace, then make steel in an open-hearth furnace, then roll it into ingots, and finally roll it into various steel products such as steel plates and steel pipes. however, since the figures of iron and steel making can best reflect the achievements, they are highly valued, and resources are more inclined to the middle links of the production process.

in 1960, wuhan iron and steel corporation was issued a production target of 1.5 million tons of iron and 900,000 tons of steel. in order to achieve such high targets, the construction of the plate rolling mill and large steel rolling mill, which belonged to the first phase of the project, had to be suspended or slowed down, and the construction force was concentrated on the no. 3 blast furnace and the no. 5 and no. 6 open-hearth furnaces, which belonged to the second phase of the project. due to the disruption of the construction sequence, when the no. 1 blast furnace started construction, it could only use lump ore of lower quality instead of sintered ore, and it was difficult to roll the steel ingots into steel products in time, which affected the coordinated production.

zhong gang, former chairman of the wuhan iron and steel literature association and vice chairman of the china metallurgical writers association, is the author of "zhang shourong's autobiography: a life of steel". he told china news weekly that after the no. 1 blast furnace was put into operation, the biggest pressure zhang shourong faced was how to reduce failures and maintain normal production. through repeated exploration, he has mastered the unique skill of troubleshooting blast furnaces. he is the initiator and promoter of china's large blast furnace longevity technology, which has enabled china's large blast furnaces to have a generation (without maintenance) service life of more than 20 years.

in 1961, with the central government's adjustment of the national economy, the steel industry changed from "big up" to "big down". in 1960, the national pig iron output was 27.16 million tons, which dropped to 12.81 million tons in 1961 and 8.05 million tons in 1962. in 1965, the national economic adjustment task was basically completed. the state required wuhan iron and steel to form an annual steel production capacity of 2 million tons within three years, "grasp the two ends and lead the middle", and concentrate on making up for the shortcomings at both ends.

but after the cultural revolution began, wuhan iron and steel's production fell into chaos. at the worst time, zhang shourong could only assist the factory leaders in technically ensuring that "the blast furnace was kept warm and people's lives were saved." the bottom line was that the furnace could not go out and no major safety accidents could occur. he himself became an object of overthrow and was sent to work in a team. the workers teased him in a friendly way that he was four "180", that is, height 180, weight 180, blood pressure 180, and salary 180.

as production order gradually recovered, the main projects of the first and second phases of wuhan iron and steel were basically completed by the end of 1971, reaching the designed production capacity of 2 million tons of steel per year. this was originally planned to take three years, but it took nearly ten years.

the twists and turns of the 1.7-meter rolling mill

as early as 1957, mao zedong proposed that after the fourth five-year plan, the goal of annual steel production of 35 million to 40 million tons should be achieved. 1971 was the first year of the "fourth five-year plan". when the state compiled the "fourth five-year plan", this goal was broken down to each steel plant. among them, wuhan iron and steel's task was to achieve an annual output of 4 million tons of iron and 4 million tons of steel during the "fourth five-year plan", referred to as "double four hundred", and for this purpose, expansion was required.

during this period, the international and domestic situation also changed greatly. sino-us relations thawed and sino-western relations eased. in august 1972, the state planning commission submitted a report to the central committee, proposing to introduce a batch of advanced foreign complete sets of technical equipment within three to five years, which was estimated to require us$4.3 billion in foreign exchange, so it was called the "43 plan". mao zedong approved the report.

the most expensive rolling mill in the import plan is the "1.7-meter" rolling mill (i.e. the effective length of the rolling mill roll is 1.7 meters). the report believes that insufficient steel rolling capacity and incompatible steel varieties are a prominent problem in the current national economic development. it costs $300 million to import 2 million tons of steel plates each year, so it is cost-effective to spend $600 million to import such a rolling mill. considering the tense sino-soviet relations at the time and anshan iron and steel's location in the "front line" of northeast china, the central government decided to place this project at wuhan iron and steel in the central part of the country.

after shopping around, it was finally decided that the main body of the 1.7-meter system, "three plants and one workshop", would be imported from west germany and japan, namely, the hot-rolled strip mill and the cold-rolled silicon steel sheet mill were imported from nippon steel corporation, the cold-rolled sheet mill was imported from germany's demag, and the continuous casting workshop was imported from germany's schleimann and sms. the system was at the world's advanced level at the time, and the rolling process was controlled by 25 electronic computers, with a maximum computing speed of 1 million times per second.

the estimated cost of the project was rmb 3.89 billion, of which the import cost was us$600 million, equivalent to rmb 2.228 billion. the project started in september 1974, with a construction scale exceeding the total construction of wuhan iron and steel corporation in the past. at the peak period, the construction team reached more than 100,000 people.

in 1978, the system entered the trial production stage. at that time, the cultural revolution had just ended and there were many problems, far from reaching the approved production capacity. in august 1980, many representatives attending the national people's congress questioned wuhan iron and steel, and japanese technicians who came to wuhan iron and steel also reported the problems they saw to the relevant state departments. deng xiaoping made instructions and criticized wuhan iron and steel.

in august 1980, the organization department of the cpc central committee transferred huang mobin from baotou iron and steel to wuhan iron and steel as manager. after huang mobin took office, he began to vigorously rectify this "difficult" enterprise in the metallurgical industry. in september 1982, zhang shourong, then deputy chief engineer of wuhan iron and steel, was appointed as deputy manager and chief engineer. he was envied by his peers and nicknamed "the most powerful chief engineer of a steel company in the country." before that, he had been the person in charge of ironmaking production. from then on, he began to be fully responsible for the company's entire metallurgical process, especially the 1.7-meter rolling mill system.

at that time, the current situation of the 1.7-meter rolling mill system was that there was water seepage underground, the factory building was leaking, the cables were in disarray, and some equipment had lost its original color. the automatic control room was piled with fish bones after meals, and some workers slept and smoked in the workshop. due to foreign exchange limitations, the main power room of the cold rolling system was not equipped with air conditioning, and more than 200 plug-in boards were burned out in one summer. no spare parts were purchased when the system was introduced, and spare parts could only be imported through china technical company. the procedures were complicated, and the order form had to be submitted one year in advance. in addition, some spare parts had been updated and could not be bought, and some cost ten or even dozens of times more.

according to the investigation report submitted by japanese technicians when they visited the hot rolling mill, in 1982, due to poor management, 59 pieces of equipment were changed from automatic to semi-automatic, and some were changed to manual, and 80% of the accidents were caused by poor lubrication. some japanese personnel wrote to the central leadership, saying that if the wuhan iron and steel hot rolling mill continued like this, the equipment would become a pile of scrap metal in two or three years.

after taking office, zhang shourong focused on the "four restorations" of the system, namely, restoring the appearance, accuracy, system functions and automation of the equipment. first, more than 3,000 tons of garbage were removed, and then stagnant water, waste oil from the ditch, rust removal and paint were done. after a year, the equipment was finally able to see its original color.

the 1.7-meter rolling mill system mainly produces "six plates and one piece", namely automobile plates, bicycle strip steel, galvanized plates, tinplates, ship plates, ordinary plates and silicon steel sheets. in 1982, wuhan iron and steel produced 2.777 million tons of steel, of which 276,000 tons were waste, accounting for one-tenth. some users reported to the ministry of metallurgy that the tinplates produced by wuhan iron and steel used to make cans cracked when punched; the galvanized plates used to punch washbasins split along the edges. the ministry of metallurgy ordered wuhan iron and steel to send people to "carry back" these plates. in response, zhang shourong proposed the goal of "reducing waste by half" in one year.

once, a quality accident occurred in the cold rolling mill, and many galvanized sheets were scrapped. the wuhan iron and steel workers' newspaper exposed the accident and said that the unreasonable reward method (a reward of 5 yuan for one ton of overproduction and a deduction of 3 yuan for one ton of scrapped) was the root cause of the idea of ​​focusing on output and neglecting quality. this reward method was issued by zhang shourong. the newspaper called him to ask for his understanding, but he said that this is how newspapers should be run, and he accepted the criticism.

by the end of 1983, the waste reduction target was achieved. zhang shourong proposed to reduce waste by another third in 1984 and meet the target again by the end of the year.

wuhan iron and steel organized a special team to purchase from abroad, and the cycle was shortened by half compared to the introduction through china national technical corporation. at the end of 1984, the state gave wuhan iron and steel greater autonomy, allocating foreign exchange every year for independent imports, and organizing domestic surveying and mapping, so the source of spare parts was guaranteed.

in 1985, the 1.7-meter rolling mill system finally reached its approved production capacity. seven years had passed since the trial production. at the end of the year, wuhan iron and steel also achieved the goal of double 4 million tons of steel production. among them, the steel production was 3.978 million tons, and the scrap volume was 100,000 tons, about 1/40.

the rectification targets visible wear and tear, but there is also invisible wear and tear, because equipment will age and technology will become obsolete. zhang shourong also organized the digestion and innovation of technology. in 1990, the project "development and innovation of new technology for wuhan iron and steel's 1.7-meter rolling mill system" won the national science and technology progress special award, and zhang shourong was the first person to complete it.

steel industry "roller coaster"

after the enterprise reorganization was completed, wuhan iron and steel corporation faced a new situation of reform and opening up.

in may 1984, the state council issued a regulation to expand the autonomy of enterprises, allowing steel enterprises to sell 2% of the planned steel products on their own, with the price floating up by 20%. in january 1985, the state abolished the 20% price increase restriction, and the dual-track pricing system for steel products began to be fully implemented.

with the completion and production of baosteel's first phase project in 1985 and the influx of foreign products, wuhan iron and steel's dominance in the domestic thin plate market was gone forever, and the emperor's daughter was no longer in a position to have no worries about finding a husband.

in the late 1980s, the steel industry was like a roller coaster. in 1988, the national economy was overheated, and steel was in high demand. the market price of inferior steel was much higher than the state-allocated price of planned genuine steel. some steel companies desperately rushed to increase production and produced shoddy products, while others violated contracts and converted some planned steel into unplanned steel and sold it at high prices. with the introduction of governance and economic tightening policies, the steel market turned weak again in 1990, and users defaulted on payments in large quantities, resulting in serious triangular debts. all of these had a serious impact on wuhan iron and steel.

zhang shourong once recalled that 1991 and 1992 were the two most difficult years for the company. the mines of wuhan iron and steel were depleting, which affected the iron and steelmaking capacity. since 1991, the supply of 600,000 tons of external steel billets has been completely stopped, and the 1.7-meter rolling mill system is facing the problem of insufficient supply.

after analysis, zhang shourong and others believed that although the steel market was generally weak, some high-end steel products were still selling well, and wuhan iron and steel could only seek breakthroughs by upgrading its products. they determined the key points of new product development: first, replacing imported steel, and second, trial production of steel for major technical equipment. wuhan iron and steel organized several technical research teams, with zhang shourong in charge.

silicon steel is known as the "artwork" of steel and has become the signature product of wuhan iron and steel. in 1990, five high-grade cold-rolled silicon steel sheets, including w08 and wtg200, developed by wuhan iron and steel were listed as key scientific and technological projects in the "seventh five-year plan" by the state. among them, w08 and w07 are used to manufacture 200,000-600,000-kilowatt super-large steam turbine generators, replacing imported products; non-oriented silicon steel sheets have become the core material for the construction of the mainframe of the beijing electron-positron collider.

in may 1992, zhang shourong, 64, retired to the second line, but he still worked in the original office building, went to get off work on time, and did front-line work. the leaders of wuhan iron and steel corporation asked him to continue to play a role and be responsible for some strategic research and major technical research projects.

in 1996, zhang shourong accompanied huang mobin to japan to negotiate the introduction of japanese silicon steel technology, especially oriented silicon steel technology.

as early as 1974, wuhan iron and steel signed a contract with nippon steel of japan to introduce silicon steel production technology. the japanese side clearly stipulated in the contract that the technology could not be transferred to a third party, silicon steel products produced in china could not be exported to other countries, and the technology confidentiality period was 20 years. with the good reputation of keeping silent for 20 years and nippon steel's understanding and trust in huang mobin and zhang shourong, the introduction work was successfully completed, and the two sides signed a confidentiality clause again.

not only did zhang shourong continue to work after retirement, his personal career also reached a new level.

in 1994, the first recommendation and selection of academicians of the chinese academy of engineering began. the notice mentioned that the chief engineers of large enterprises, especially those who had served for many years, met the recommendation conditions. the following year, zhang shourong, who had served as the chief engineer of wuhan iron and steel corporation for 12 years, was elected as an academician of the chinese academy of engineering, becoming one of the first batch of academicians elected after the establishment of the chinese academy of engineering.

"blast furnace miracle doctor"

in zhang shourong's office, three walls are occupied by large bookcases filled with professional books on iron and steel metallurgy. on the table is a thick stack of "daily production report of wuhan iron and steel's overall production and sales information system", which he must read every day. he can often tell where there is a problem at a glance and rush to the workshop to investigate immediately. whether it is smelting technology or engineering management, no one can deceive him about professional issues.

he went abroad for exchanges almost every year. at the age of 83, he still went to dusseldorf, germany to attend the european steel annual conference and served as the chairman of the ironmaking branch. he always seized every opportunity to communicate with foreign colleagues, and language was not a barrier for him. the beiyang university he once attended was known as the "cornell of the east". it used original english textbooks and the lectures were mainly in english. he never stopped learning english for decades. he set aside a fixed time every day to study and took time to listen to english on the learning platform recommended by his children. until his later years, he could still write papers directly in english.

he was known as the "magic doctor of blast furnaces". when he was in japan, the japanese steel industry called him "the first person in china to make iron".

zhang shourong in front of the blast furnace of anshan iron and steel group. photo: zhang shourong's autobiography - a life of steel

in 2009, shougang jingtang iron and steel company's ironmaking plant was put into operation. its 5,500 cubic meter blast furnace is the largest blast furnace in the world. it is very difficult to operate and has many faults. xu kuangdi, president of the chinese academy of engineering, and zhu jimin, executive vice president of the metallurgical industry association, asked zhang shourong to lead blast furnace experts to help solve the problem. the iron and steel association established a blast furnace expert committee, with zhang shourong as the chairman. the committee members included more than 60 experts from baosteel, ansteel, masteel, shougang, shagang, wuhan iron and steel and other units. after the experts adjusted the plan, shougang jingtang blast furnace production returned to normal.

entering the 21st century, china's economy developed rapidly and the demand for silicon steel increased greatly. however, after 2000, almost all silicon steel companies in the world stopped transferring silicon steel technology to china.

at that time, there were two opinions in wuhan iron and steel. one was that silicon steel sheets had already firmly ranked first in china and should vigorously develop automobile sheets; the second was that the advantage should be expanded and silicon steel sheets should continue to be larger and stronger. zhang shourong was the representative of the second opinion. he believed that wuhan iron and steel had no advantage in making automobile sheets and should focus on developing silicon steel, which was wuhan iron and steel's life project and hope project. wuhan iron and steel finally adopted this opinion.

upon learning that the country was going to set up a number of engineering technology centers, zhang shourong, who was nearly 80 years old and blind in one eye and had to walk with a crutch, still went to beijing in person to fight for wuhan iron and steel. in 2007, the national silicon steel engineering technology research center was established in wuhan iron and steel. after years of hard work, wuhan iron and steel surpassed nippon steel to become the world's largest silicon steel sheet production base.

in 2016, baosteel and wuhan iron and steel were reorganized into china baowu steel group, becoming one of the world's top 500 companies. in 2023, baowu group's crude steel output was 130.77 million tons, ranking first among global steel companies; china's total crude steel output was 1.0191 billion tons, ranking first among steel-producing countries. zhang shourong and others keenly realized that china still had a long way to go to transform from a large steel manufacturing country to a strong steel manufacturing country.

in 2018, zhang shourong served as the leader of the project team of the chinese academy of engineering's "comparative study on the structural adjustment of the steel industry in china and the united states - reflections and references". the research report pointed out that the top priority for the development of china's steel industry is to adjust the structure and improve the overall situation.

the study said that both china and the united states experienced open-hearth steelmaking in the 1950s and 1960s and the development of converters in the 1970s. after that, the proportion of converters in china continued to rise, while the proportion of converters in the united states began to decline, and they turned to vigorously develop electric arc furnace steelmaking using scrap steel as raw materials. now, as china's steel development enters the era of reduction and the national resource tax, environmental tax and carbon trading are implemented, the advantages of scrap steel as a renewable resource will gradually become more prominent, and the structure of china's steel industry will undergo major changes.

the report found that the scrap steel in the united states is mainly produced in machinery, automobiles, ships and buildings, with a short production cycle; china's scrap steel is mainly produced in reinforced concrete for construction, with a long production cycle, but the steel reserves are large, reaching 12 billion tons by 2025, with an annual output of scrap steel of 270 million to 300 million tons; by 2030, the steel reserves will reach 13.2 billion tons, with an annual output of scrap steel of 320 million to 350 million tons. the total amount of scrap steel resources will be very sufficient, and the proportion of electric furnace steelmaking should be increased to at least 35% to effectively digest it. in the future, china's steel industry should develop in the direction of reducing total output and greening, intelligence and branding.

"zhang shourong is not only a technical expert, but also a strategic scientist. he has always looked at issues from the macro perspective of the country's steel development, and many of his views are forward-looking." li tielin, secretary-general of the wuhan iron and steel association for science and technology and zhang shourong's secretary for eight years, told china newsweek.

after zhang shourong passed away, his family and li tielin sorted out his collection of books according to his instructions and prepared to donate them to the future school in qingshan district, wuhan. qingshan district also plans to build an academician exhibition hall for him here.

more than 60 years ago, qingshan district was still a vast expanse of terraced fields. it was here that zhang shourong began his life in the steel industry of new china.

(this article refers to "zhang shourong's autobiography: a life of steel" written by zhong gang)

reporter: song chundan