Contemporary Chinese Iron and Steel Industry Technical Evolution(1949-1965): Interview with Academician Wei Shou-kun

This article uses materials from the series of interviews with famous iron and steel expert, WEI Shou-kun (1907-2014), academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, focusing on the contemporary China's iron and steel industry issues. Chinese steel industry went through an unprecedentedly rapid development, as well as many fluctuations, between 1949 and 1965. Its entanglement with development in Chinese society, politics, foreign relations and other aspects is evident both during the early phase of “learning from the Soviet Union” in the 1950 s, when the base of Chinese iron and steel industry was established, and during the phase of “independence and self-reliance as core, foreign assistance as supplement”, when China experimented with a unique way of development, or the frenzy of the Great Leap Forward, which caused much damage to Chinese iron and steel industry. Some technologies that emerged and subsequently disappeared in the course of development of Chinese iron and steel technology, represented by open-hearth furnaces introduced during the period of ‘learning from the Soviet Union’, side-blown converters introduced during the period of “independence and self-reliance”, and by “backyard furnaces” as typical for the obstacles and frequent reversals of development. Some of these technologies emerged and were replaced in a natural process of technical innovation, because of exaggerated insistence on particular lines of thought; some were naturally eliminated by history and real life after the period of frenzy. Although these technologies have all become history today, this interview attempts to formulate the major development models and features of the iron and steel industry of modern China, using many new perspectives and asking new questions. Its main subjects are open-hearth furnaces, side-blown converters and backyard furnaces as case studies for discussion, in order to deepen our understanding of the changes in the iron and steel industry of modern China and their relations with social phenomena, and to explore the ideals and learning processes within the development of iron and steel industry in modern China from the historical perspective.