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

2. The initial stage of the independent formation of the shipbuilding industry system (1961-1978). This period mainly lasted from 1961 to the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee in 1978. This is the 18 years of tortuous progress of China's shipbuilding industry, and it is also a key stage for China's shipbuilding industry to make breakthrough progress and form a complete industrial system. In 1960, the Soviet government unilaterally broke the Sino-Soviet Second naval order Agreement (referred to as the "24 Agreement"), and in 1966, China experienced the "Cultural Revolution" that lasted for ten years. In this context, China's shipbuilding industry to overcome numerous difficulties, self-reliance, hard work, not only make our country in the world with nuclear submarines and ocean range fleet of the ranks of the few countries, and basically formed a relatively complete shipbuilding industry system. During this period, China's shipbuilding industry mainly made contributions in four aspects (Policy Research Office of the General Office of China Shipbuilding Industry Corporation, 1994) :

(1) China's shipbuilding industry eliminated interference, worked hard, and independently developed first-generation combat ships and special ships such as nuclear-powered submarines, guided-missile destroyers and ocean-going survey ships; China became the fifth country in the world with nuclear submarines and the third country with a fleet of ocean-going range, and the overall technical level of the shipping industry was equivalent to the international level in the early 1960s. 

(2) Large-scale construction of civil ocean ships to meet the needs of the development of ocean transportation. The shipyards of Dalian, Hudong and Jiangnan have built nine new (expanded) shipyards of more than 10,000 tons, and the shipyards of Shanhaiguan, Beihai and Chengxi have built eight new (expanded) shipyards of more than 10,000 tons. These shipyards and shipyards have formed a large shipbuilding and repair base centered on Dalian, Tianjin, Shanghai and Guangzhou. According to statistics, from 1960 to 1978, China built a total of 119 domestic ships of more than 10,000 tons and 1.97 million tons, of which the largest batch construction was a 50,000-ton tanker. 

(3) By the end of the 1970s, a relatively complete ship supporting network system had been basically formed. The shipbuilding industry has more than 60 professional supporting equipment plants such as Marine power, Marine auxiliary machinery and special auxiliary machinery, precision navigation instruments, underwater sound, underwater weapons, batteries, and other departments of metallurgy, machinery, electronics, weapons, chemical, nuclear industry and Marine supporting equipment plants of relevant provinces and autonomous regions, with a total of more than 160 professional factories and more than 350 production points. 

(4) A scientific research design system with relatively complete specialties and relatively complete and advanced test methods has been preliminarily established. Most of the existing scientific research and design institutions of China's shipbuilding industry were founded and constructed during this period. For example, the China Ship Research Institute was formally established in 1961. The China Ship Scientific Research Center affiliated to the institute has advanced and fully equipped test pools, wind tunnels, water tubes, large test platforms and other test facilities, ranking first in Asia and one of the few in the world. It was a comprehensive ship engineering design research institution with complete professional support at that time. Shanghai Ship Research and Design Institute was formally established in 1964, and is still a civil ship design unit with international influence under China State Shipbuilding Corporation. In summary, during this period, China's shipbuilding industry moved forward in twists and turns, the overall technical level remained basically stable, and basically formed a relatively complete shipbuilding industry system including shipbuilding, ship repair, ship supporting and ship scientific research and education.

(2) The revitalization and development stage of China's shipbuilding industry after the reform and opening up (1979-2019)

With the reform and opening up in 1978 as the symbol, China's shipbuilding industry has entered the stage of revitalization and development. Shipbuilding industry is one of the earliest areas of China's reform and opening up, and it is also a strategic pillar industry related to national security and important national economy and people's livelihood.  In the past 40 years of reform and opening up, China's shipbuilding industry has experienced three historical development stages: reform and opening up to release market vitality (1978-1998), from small to large and high-speed development (1999-2008), and from large to strong and high-quality development (2009-2019). It has achieved three major historic leaps from planned economy to market economy, from domestic market to international market, and from small shipbuilding country to big shipbuilding country.