Reborn in a Bygone Era: From Apprentice Fitter to Master Craftsman

After transmigrating to the 1950s, Song Yang became an apprentice fitter at a machine factory in the capital.

Faced with China’s woefully underdeveloped industry and an international blockade, he used the resources and conditions at hand to promote and apply “small-scale technical innovations” and “low-tech construction methods,” ushering in reforms where “small technologies made a big difference.”

The spread of group drilling techniques made drilling three to five times more efficient. Whirlwind milling and simple jigs and fixtures boosted the output of existing milling machines and lathes several times over, without adding new equipment. Ductile iron technology made it possible to produce parts from cheap pig iron with performance comparable to steel.

“Turning instead of boring,” “high-speed cutting,” “turning slender shafts,” “die forging”...

These technologies were like seeds growing in the industrial soil of the 1950s, eventually becoming the sturdy foundation that supported the towering edifice of Huaguo’s industry.

Many years later, when someone told him, “Chief Engineer Song, you deserve a great deal of credit for laying such a solid foundation for Huaguo’s industry,”

Song Yang waved a hand. “I was only standing on the shoulders of countless others.”