China's automotive industry has lost an outstanding pioneer, a witness and witness.
Comrade Li Gang, former director of the First Automobile Manufacturing Plant, former general manager and chairman of the Board of Directors of China Automobile Industry Corporation, and winner of the first China Automotive Industry Rao Bin Award, died in Beijing at the age of 96 at 7:20 on February 9, 2022 due to ineffective medical treatment. The farewell ceremony for the remains of Comrade Li Gang is scheduled to be held at 10:00 a.m. on February 13, 2022 at the Babaoshan Funeral Home in Beijing.
After hearing the news, many old leaders and experts in the industry expressed their nostalgia and sorrow for Li Gang in various ways.
"The news of the death of Chairman Li Gang is very sad and beyond words. Comrade Li Gang is an outstanding leader of China's automobile industry and a representative of the first generation of automakers, and he is the pioneer of China's automobile industry. Comrade Li Gang has made great contributions to the development of China's automobile industry, and we deeply miss him and will never forget him. Fu Yuwu, honorary chairman of the Society of Automotive Engineers of China, said emotionally to reporters.
"After hearing the news of Comrade Li Gang's death, I was very sad. Comrade Li Gang is more than 90 years old, and he is also very concerned about the development of China's automobile industry, the reform and adjustment of the automotive industry, the creation of new glory by FAW, and the rise of its own brands. He is an example for us to learn from and we will always miss him! An Qingheng, director of the China Automotive Industry Advisory Committee, told reporters. (An Qingheng specially wrote an article reviewing the bits and pieces of Li Gang's work, and expressed deep remembrance: An Qingheng remembers Li Gang - a little memory of mine)
"I have the great honor of working for several years as the most grassroots employee in the China Automobile Industry Corporation, where Comrade Li Gang was the general manager and chairman of the board. From listening to the old man's report and studying the instructions and instructions given by him, he deeply felt Comrade Li Gang's lofty political foresight and in-depth and rigorous work style. Only then can we have the opportunity to profoundly appreciate that an industry and an integral part of a country have been invincible under the strategizing of an outstanding leader like Comrade Li Gang, who has both political integrity and ability, and has developed in the future and opened up the future. I will always miss my beloved Comrade Li Gang. Li Wanli, a member of the China Automotive Industry Advisory Committee and deputy inspector of the Department of Original Industry Policy of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, said in an interview with reporters.
01 Preparing for the construction of FAW Witness the start of China's automotive industry from scratch
Li Gang, who entered the Department of Mechanical Engineering of Southwest United University in 1944 and graduated from Tsinghua University in 1948, served as the technical deputy director and the fourth director of the First Automobile Manufacturing Plant (hereinafter referred to as "FAW"), and in the 1980s he served as the general manager and chairman of the Board of Directors of China Automobile Industry Corporation, making historic contributions to the incubation, birth and development of China's automobile industry.
"Comrade Li Gang is a pioneer and one of the outstanding leaders of China's automobile industry, he has made significant contributions to the development of China's automobile industry, and he is a microcosm of the history of China's automobile industry. As one of the members of the three-member leading group formulated by the central government, he participated in the construction of FAW in an all-round way. Fu Yuwu recalled.
In 1952, Li Gang, who worked at the Tianjin Automobile Factory, received an order from the Automobile Preparation Group of the Ministry of Heavy Industry of Beijing and began to associate with FAW.
From 1952 to 1954, he participated in the FAW working group sent to Moscow by the Ministry of Heavy Industry, and participated in the approval of the overall design of the Soviet Union on behalf of the Chinese government on behalf of the Chinese government, responsible for supervising and tracking the design of the Soviet side, ensuring the progress of FAW's construction and the liaison and communication between the two countries.
On July 11, 1953, Meng Shaonong brought back to Changchun the total schedule of design delivery prepared by the Soviet side as the basis for arranging the construction of the factory, and gave Li Gang the task of the representative of the chief orderer of the FAW project in Suzhou.
In November 1954, Rao Bin went to the Soviet Union for a reminder and inspection, and at the end of that year, Li Gang ended his two-year life in Moscow. After returning to China, Li Gang reported to the Automobile Bureau of the First Machine Department, was promoted to engineer, transferred to FAW, and then assigned to the Engine Workshop Technology Section, and was put into the construction of the vigorous site three links and one level, equipment installation and production commissioning.
In July 1956, after intense installation, cleaning, trial operation and trial production of parts, the first Jiefang brand engines were produced. It can be said that Li Gang has witnessed the breakthrough and leap of China's automobile industry from scratch.
After the central government issued the task of designing and manufacturing domestically produced high-end cars to FAW, Li Gang led young technicians to carry forward the fine tradition of arduous struggle, not to pay attention to status, not to pay attention to treatment, not to talk about material enjoyment, and to hope to contribute to the country, and to devote themselves to technical research day and night. To this end, the whole factory organized hundreds of quality commandos, 30-year-old Li Gang led a group of college students who had just graduated from college for a few years to form a hydraulic tappet commando team, focusing on solving the technical problems of hydraulic tappets with short life during high-speed operation of the engine. With this spirit of not being afraid of difficulties and facing difficulties, they have solved many technical problems and mastered the core technology step by step.
02 Expansion and replacement are all hard battles
In 1956, the Liberation Truck was put into production, and 1654 units were produced that year. Due to the lack of oil, only 22,547 vehicles were produced until 1960. At that time, it was urgent to liberate trucks to expand production, but it was extremely difficult due to conditions.
In 1963, Li Gang, who was then the director of the planning office of FAW General Plant, was responsible for the production and development planning of the whole plant. The task of liberating trucks to increase production naturally fell on his head. According to the central government's policy of "adjustment, consolidation, enrichment and improvement", FAW needs to develop to a production of 100 vehicles in two or three years, that is, from an annual output of 30,000 vehicles to 60,000 vehicles.
On April 14, 1965, the First Machine Department informed FAW of the state-approved production increase project and asked FAW to report a specific plan for the expansion of 60,000 vehicles. Li Gang and the planning room and other relevant workshop personnel were looking for idle factories that could be used in the northeast region. The transformation of 60,000 vehicles with diffusion technology has yielded fruitful results, and the whole plant has achieved more than 3,000 technological innovations, of which 32 are the most important. After the implementation of the renovation project, the effect of increasing production and saving has appeared year by year, and by 1971, 60,010 vehicles were produced, achieving the planned output and achieving the effect of both increasing production and saving.
The second generation of liberation CA141 transformation is even more of an uphill battle. Around 1976, there was a demand for newer models for the Jiefang car. Li Gang, then the first deputy director of the factory, and Liu Shouhua, the director of the factory, became the main responsible persons.
In 1978, Li Gang led a team to Japan to conduct a six-month field study tour of 11 Japanese automobile companies. After returning to China, Li Gang popularized the experience he learned in saving money, saving manpower, factory management, and quality improvement in the whole factory, and made an inspection report to thousands of cadres at or above the director of the department in the Great Hall of the People, which triggered an upsurge in the machinery industry to emancipate the mind, learn and promote advanced foreign experience, and promote the modernization of enterprise management.
In 1980, Li Gang organized the independent development of a new FAW replacement truck, that is, the "Liberation 141 Program" for the complete replacement of the whole vehicle. In 1981, FAW produced the first CA141 prototype car, and the bench and driving tests fully met the design requirements, and on December 30 of the same year, it passed the first in-plant appraisal.
In January 1982, Li Gang became the director of FAW. On July 15, 1986, the second generation of liberation CA141 five-ton vehicle with the international level of the 1980s achieved vertical conversion, and this car used FAW's own parameters to reach the most advanced level in China, which was equivalent to the level of similar cars in the world, so that the Jiefang brand truck was reborn.
03 Care for independent brands Focus on China's automotive industry
"After leaving the leadership position, Comrade Li Gang still pays attention to and cares about the automobile industry for which he has struggled all his life, and once served as the main leader of China Automobile Corporation and made important contributions to the industry." Fu Yuwu recalled, "He attaches great importance to innovation and has given unlimited expectations to the innovation of the automotive industry; he attaches great importance to talents and pays special attention to the growth of innovative talents in the automotive industry; he is very upright and never says anything against his heart, which I particularly admire." ”
Li Gang once summed it up like this: "What is relied upon to create these miracles is the entrepreneurial spirit of hard work." This is in stark contrast to some of the phenomena of relying on the introduction of technology and not engaging in independent development. In May 1982, China Automobile Industry Corporation was established, and Li Gang successively served as the general manager and chairman of the board of directors of the company. Li Gang took the backbone enterprises as the leader and established 6 associated companies, which should both compete and cooperate with each other, straightening out the relationship between enterprises and enterprises.
In 1982, Li Gang was elected as an alternate member of the Central Committee of the 12th National Congress of the Communist Party of China. From 1987 to 1997, he was a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and deputy director of the Economic Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.
In 2000, Li Gang wrote to the Premier to think about "How China's Automobile Industry Develops", proposing to choose the latter between "continuing to take the 'open and dependent' road" and "finding an 'open and autonomous' road". He also proposed that "it is not too late to concentrate on making up for and innovating in the development of automotive products, so as to pave a 'open and autonomous' automotive industry." ”
In 2011, Li Gang wrote a monograph for China Automobile News entitled "Vigorously Strengthening the Development of Self-Owned Brand Vehicles". He put forward "breaking the 'three theories' and enhancing confidence." (Note: "Three Theories" for the development of the world automobile industry freeze-frame theory, independent development experience obsolete theory, market for technology theory)", "it is recommended that enterprises should break the impetuous mood and solidly improve their ability to innovate", "it is recommended that enterprises should have a strategy of creating famous brands", "it is recommended that enterprises should have a perfect system and mechanism", "it is recommended that enterprises should fulfill their social responsibilities and promote the synchronous development of upstream and downstream enterprises" and other discussions that embody in-depth thinking about the industry.
In 2015, the 90-year-old Li Gang won the first China Automotive Industry Rao Bin Award, and he donated all 200,000 yuan in prize money. At that time, the award speech read: "He is a firm creator of the independent development and development of Chinese automobiles, and has been working tirelessly for more than ten years to set up a development car fund for independent design, and finally succeeded." He promoted the development of China's automobile industry from the national strategic height, in order to improve the strategic position of the automobile industry, and worked with people of insight in the industry to run for a long time, and finally promoted at the Third Plenary Session of the Twelfth Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, so that the automobile industry became one of the pillar industries of the country, creating a good policy environment for the vigorous development of China's automobile industry. ”
In November 2015, Li Gang participated in the Old Auto people's association
"Comrade Li Gang is an outstanding representative of our Auto people, and his spiritual strength will inspire us Auto people to move forward bravely." Fu Yuwu remembered the road.
The deceased is like this, but he has not tasted it. With the death of Comrade Li Gang, China's automobile industry has lost a spiritual wealth, but when the merits are gone, its spirit shines on a new journey. We have sorted out some of the intersections between Li Gang and China Automobile News over the years, and with this article, we jointly remember the founder of China's automobile industry and are willing to go all the way.
▶ Oral car history || Li Gang: Four past events of my relationship with liberation
▶ China Automotive News, June 6, 1983, No. S0002
Li Gang: "We must quickly embark on the track of relying on technological progress"
▶ China Automotive News, November 28, 2011, No. 03252
Li Gang: "Vigorously strengthen the development of independent brand vehicles"
▶ China Automotive News, May 20, 2013, Issue 03327
Interview with Li Gang - "Realizing the Dream of An Automobile Power" Cannot Be Lost"
▶ China Automotive News, February 22, 2016, Issue 03468
Li Gang: "A Model for Practicing the "Three Stricts and Three Truths""
Text: Ma Xin Editor: Qi Meng Typography: Li Peiyang