70 years of Chinese shipbuilding industry: history, achievements and enlightenment

First, the main development course of China's shipbuilding industry in the past 70 years

Since the founding of New China in 1949, China's shipbuilding industry can be roughly divided into two stages: the development of the foundation before the reform and opening up and the revitalization and development after the reform and opening up. Among them, before the reform and opening up (1949-1978), it roughly experienced two stages: the introduction of external foundation development (1949-1960) and the initial formation of an independent ship-building and repair industrial system (1961-1978), and the shipbuilding industry realized a historical leap from scratch to existence, from external dependence to its own system. After the reform and opening up (1979-2019), the shipbuilding industry has roughly experienced three historical development stages: the release of market vitality by reform and opening up (1978-1998), the development of high speed from small to large (1999-2008), and the development of high quality from large to strong (2009-2018). From the domestic market to the international market, from a small shipbuilding country to a large shipbuilding country three major historic leaps. After 70 years of development, China's position as a major country in the world shipbuilding industry is increasingly stable, and it is embarking on a historical journey of transformation and development from a shipbuilding country to a shipbuilding power.

(1) The foundation development stage of China's shipbuilding industry before the reform and opening up (1949-1978)

After the founding of New China in 1949 and before the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee in 1978, it was the foundation development stage of China's shipbuilding industry. During this period, China's shipbuilding industry mainly provided the main equipment for naval construction, shipping transportation and Marine development, and was a strategic pillar industry related to national security and important national economy and people's livelihood. Specifically, this period can be roughly divided into two stages: the introduction of external foundation development (1949-1960) and the initial formation of an independent ship-building and repair industrial system (1961-1978).

1. The development stage of external introduction after the founding of New China (1949-1960). This period began with the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and lasted until around 1960, with the core achievement of laying the foundation of China's modern shipbuilding industry with the technical assistance of the former Soviet Union. In June 1953, the Chinese government and the former Soviet government signed a naval order agreement (referred to as the "June fourth Agreement"), through the "transfer of manufacturing" method to introduce the Soviet military ship manufacturing technology, the construction of a number of then-more advanced combat ships, which opened the modernization of China's shipbuilding industry to lay the foundation for development. In the process of "transfer manufacturing", China carried out technical transformation of shipyards such as Jiangnan, Hudong, Qiuxin, Wuhu, Wuchang and Guangzhou at that time, and built a number of key equipment factories such as Marine high and medium speed diesel engines, instruments and meters, special auxiliary engines, underwater acoustic equipment, and underwater weapons. Among these new plants, six belong to 156 national key construction projects with complete sets of technical assistance from the Soviet Union. In terms of shipbuilding technology, welding has generally replaced the traditional riveting process, the hull section and total section construction method has replaced the whole ship bulk method, the ship process has been improved, the degree of mechanization has been increased, the shipbuilding cycle has been shortened, and the shipbuilding quality has been guaranteed. By 1959, 116 military ships were basically completed, and their combat performance was equivalent to the international level of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Together with other military ships, China's shipbuilding industry produced 484 military ships in 10 years (Policy Research Office of the General Office of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, 1994). During this period, ship Science Research Institute, Shanghai Shipbuilding Industry School and Shipbuilding Institute and other ship research and design institutions and schools were established from scratch, and some universities also set up shipbuilding departments. The Soviet Union has repeatedly sent experts to guide and assist, and China has also selected nearly 100 cadres and workers to study in the Soviet Union, through the method of inviting in, going out and learning while doing, China's ship technical management cadres and workers have gradually grown up. In general, with the support of external assistance, the new China shipbuilding industry after 10 years of hard work, initially achieved the foundation development of modern shipbuilding industry.