Thirty-sevenyearshaveflownbyforLu
Jiangxin,asheremembershisfirstdaysat
theChinaBaowuSteelGroup,thenknownas
BaoshanIronandSteelCo.Ltd.(Baosteel).
Asafreshgraduateofatechnologyuniversity,
LujoinedthecompanyinShanghaiin1982.
“Constructionwasgoingfullsteam.Thesite
wassurroundedbyorchardsandricepaddies,”
herecalls.
Hewasassignedtoaresearchofficetostudy
steelforpetroleumpipelines.“Therewasno
officebuildingyet.Weworkedindormitories.
Twoyearslater,officebuildingssproutedup
onpreviousfarmland,”hetoldBeijing Review,
speakingfrominsideastylishbuilding.
Overnearlyfourdecades,Luhasgrownfrom
arookietechnicianintoanaccomplished
scientistheadingtheStateKeyLaboratoryof
DevelopmentandApplicationTechnologyof
AutomotiveSteels.
Baowuhasdevelopedintoabehemothinthe
steelindustry,andisnowthelargeststeelpro-
ducerinChinaandthesecond-largestinthe
world.Thegroupranks149thontheFortune
Global500and40thonthelistofthetop
enterprisesinChina.
In2018,thegroupproducedmorethan
milliontonsofsteelandmadeaprofitof33.
billionyuan($4.75billion),accordingtoits
financialreport.
“Baowu’scontributionismorethanprofit.
Thecompany’sproductshaveeffectivelysup-
portedlargenationalscienceandtechnology
projectssuchasnuclearpowerplants,largeair-
craft,mannedspaceflightsandlunarprobes,”
SunJipeng,SeniorManagerattheStrategy
PlanningDepartmentofBaowu,said.
Great expectations
Baowuwasformedin2016throughamarriage
oftwolargeironandsteelconglomerates.
One,WugangIronandSteelCo.Ltd.(WISCO),
locatedinWuhan,thecapitalofcentralChina’s
SPONSORCONTENTIn Search of
Excellence
HubeiProvince,wasthefirstlarge-scaleiron
andsteelplantbuiltafterthefoundingofthe
People’sRepublicofChinain1949;construc-
tionoftheplantbeganin1955anditwentinto
operationin1958.
Backthen,Chinawaseagertotransformfrom
anagrariancountryintoanindustrializedone,
andindesperateneedofsteel.“Theironand
steelindustryisthefoundationofthenational
economy,”Sunsaid.“Atthattime,itwas
especiallyimportantforChina.Withoutiron
andsteel,industrialmodernization,national
defenseandmodernagriculturewouldallbe
outofthequestion.”
“In1949,China’ssteeloutputwasonly
158,000tons,averyinsignificantamount.That
outputwashardlyenoughtoequipeveryone
inthecountrywithahoe,letalonemeeteco-
nomicdevelopmentneeds,”heexplained.
In 1957, China set the goal for its steel
production to overtake that of the U.K. in 15
years. In the quest for rapid industrialization,
during the country’s Great Leap Forward
(1958–60), small backyard steel furnaces
were built in virtually every village and urban
neighborhood to expand steel production.
But the quality of steel produced by back-
yard furnaces did not meet standards; thus
the experiment failed.
Nevertheless,officialstatisticsshowthatfrom
the1950stothe1970s,steeloutputgrew
rapidlyinChina,inmostyearshittingdouble
digits.
Atthetime,theworld’ssteelindustrywasalso
quicklyexpanding.In1978,China’stotalsteel
outputreached31.78milliontons,closeto
thatofWestGermany,andsurpassingthat
oftheU.K.andFrance.However,thiswas
onlyaboutone-fifththeoutputoftheSoviet
Union,thenthelargeststeelproducerinthe
world;one-fourththatoftheUnitedStates,the
second-largest;andone-thirdthatofJapan,the
third-largest.
Baowu’sotherpredecessor,Baosteel,estab-lishedin1978,istheoffspringofChina’sreform
andopeningup:Itbrokegroundrightafterthe
conclusionoftheThirdPlenarySessionofthe
11thCentralCommitteeoftheCommunist
PartyofChina,themeetingthatlaunched
thesenationalpolicies.In1985,itsfirstblast
furnacewentintooperation.
“Atthattime,theproductmixandproduction
technologyofChina’sironandsteelproducts
werestillfarbehindsomedevelopedcountries,
atleast20yearsbehindJapan,”accordingto
Li Ming and the Path of Baosteel,abookon
Baosteel’sfirstdirectorpublishedin2017.Steel
productionfacilitiesinChinawereoutdated,
onlyproducingsteelforindustrialequipment
andbuildings,butnotforvehiclesandhouse-
holdelectricalappliances.China’s largest steel producer attests to the nation’s
industrial transformation By Wang Hairong