Core themes of this volume
In the early days of reform and opening up, China's steel industry was completely dependent on imports, core technologies and equipment were fully monopolized overseas, the state-owned steel mill system was rigid and bloated, township industries struggled to survive, and private commerce had no say. This volume focuses on getting rid of blind obedience to technology, exploring independent research and development, breaking the solid pattern of state-owned enterprises, tearing open the gap in the planned economy industry, and laying the foundation for independent and controllable steel technology. The entire process is intertwined with fierce institutional political struggles, government-enterprise interest games, Chinese and foreign technological confrontations, and public-private business conflicts. It fully witnesses the ten-year transformation of China's steel from stagnation and rigidity to difficult ice-breaking.
The core plot line of this volume
The resumption of the college entrance examination in 1978 ushered in the changes of the times. Lin Yanzhou, a young man from a poor family, officially entered the steel industry, determined to serve the country with technology; the state-owned Linjiang Iron and Steel Plant adhered to the old open-hearth technology, with low production efficiency and serious waste of resources. The country could only produce low-end crude steel and construction steel. High-end plates, precision steel, and core production equipment were 100% dependent on imports from Japan and Germany, and were completely controlled by others. Lu Zhenshan, a veteran, seized the dividends of rural industrial reform and bucked the trend by establishing a township cold-rolled steel mill, which impacted the exclusive monopoly of state-owned enterprises. Throughout the process, he encountered resource blockades, policy suppression, and rejection by state-owned enterprises. Xu Qianfan, a young man from the bottom, wandered into the material loopholes of the planned economy and made his fortune by reselling steel materials, leveraging the rigid barriers to material circulation. The confrontation between the conservative and reformist factions in the factory has become increasingly fierce, technological innovation has been repeatedly blocked, and reform has been difficult. A group of pioneers have struggled to find a way amidst institutional shackles, foreign investment suppression, and industry chaos, and have accumulated strength for the following ten years to break through the wall.
