The Most Beautiful Silk Road Youth Series Interviews and Dissemination • Youth Power Construction Silk Road Achievements
The author | Liang Wei, a reporter for "Sons and Daughters of China"
Edit | Zhao Hanqi
How many 14 years can a person have? In the life history of Chen Kunlong, the Angolan country representative of the international engineering company of China Power Construction Group Co., Ltd., he spent 14 years in a foreign country far from home. As one of the first enterprises to carry out international business in Africa, PowerChina has implemented many large-scale infrastructure construction and project investments, making positive contributions to africa's development and improving the lives of local people. In 2008, 24-year-old Chen Kunlong was sent to Angola by the company, and he walked into the African continent, in this country with extraordinary potential on the "Belt and Road", for 14 years, leaving the footprints of China's power construction people along the way.
Chen Kunlong (center) attends the local carnival in Lubango in 2009
On July 2, 2021, Chen Kunlong returned to China, and due to the epidemic, this became his longest "vacation" in 14 years. After the end of the quarantine, he helped the child complete the formalities for going to primary school, took his father to Beijing for a comprehensive physical examination, and accompanied his wife and children to watch a movie "Chinese Doctor"... The guilt of not being able to spend time with your family for a long time eases slightly. Because of the needs of work, he will soon return to Angola, and the New Year is destined to be unable to spend time with his family, which makes him inevitably have mixed feelings, "There is a reluctance to the family, and there is also a deep attachment to the land of Angola", Chen Kunlong said.
In Angola, the bits and pieces of work and life gathered in the heart, Chen Kunlong clearly remembers that in the past 14 years, the footprints of China Power Construction personnel have spread all over Angola, and the high-rise buildings have been flattened, whether it is stadiums, schools, hospitals or roads and water supply projects, these infrastructure projects personally participated in by electric power construction personnel have really improved the living conditions of local people. Because of this, even if he misses his relatives and cherishes his hometown, Chen Kunlong still chooses to return to the land he fought for, he said: "Because it is meaningful, it is also worth it." ”
"The first time I went abroad was Angola"
In 2007, Chen Kunlong, who had just graduated from the Department of Building Environment and Equipment Engineering, did not hesitate to come to Beijing and walked into the predecessor of the power construction company, the Second Bureau of Hydropower. The reason is simple, he loves Beijing and wants to find his own piece of the sky here. Just after working, he was arranged to work as a technician in the Huilongguan relocation housing project, although he got up early and was greedy and dirty, but Chen Kunlong was happy to do it, because here, he finally understood the difference between the construction site and the books, and he knew how the wall was built and how the ash was wiped. In just ten months, he benefited a lot.
At the end of the project, Chen Kunlong, who was practical and diligent, was recognized by the leadership, and the opportunity to realize his dream followed. "The company undertook the construction of the Lubango Stadium in Angola in Africa, where there is a shortage of project personnel, are you interested?" The leader's words made the young Chen Kunlong's blood boil, even if Angola was just a strange country on the map for him at that time, and he also knew that the conditions in Africa were difficult, but he was still quite moved, because he grew up so big, let alone go abroad, that is, he had never taken a plane. He searched for "Angola" online with great interest, and the results stunned him. Angola, located in southwest Africa, has a history of ill-fatedness and frequent wars, and in February 2002, Angola achieved comprehensive peace and entered a period of post-war recovery and reconstruction.
Chen Kunlong wondered, such a complex social environment, why should the company do projects there? When listening to the leader tell the history of the development of China's power construction, a confused Chen Kunlong found the answer. "As an early central enterprise involved in industrial and civil building construction, the company has rich experience in construction management, actively practices the national 'going out' strategy, and contributes chinese wisdom that conforms to the historical trend to the development of other countries while seeking its own development." What's more, as a large country and a central enterprise, it is natural to dare to meet challenges, take the initiative, and fulfill political and social responsibilities. These words ignited the spark in Chen Kunlong's heart.
On June 24, 2008, Beijing, which was about to host the Summer Olympics, opened its doors to the world. Chen Kunlong left Beijing and, along with the interpreter and 30 workers, flew 20 hours to Angola. After the plane landed, the locals cheered and clapped each other to celebrate the safe landing, and Chen Kunlong, who walked out of the cabin, was full of curiosity about this strange country.
Departing from the airport and bumping all night on the bus, Chen Kunlong finally arrived at the project department. When he saw himself in the mirror in the room, he was happy, his eyebrows were yellow, and his hair was full of dirt, which was very vicissitudes. After a short rest, Chen Kunlong ate his first meal in Angola, and colleagues in the project department told him that pork and chicken here are cheaper, vegetables are only tomatoes, potatoes, onions, carrots, there are no green leafy vegetables in the local area, if you want to eat, you have to run nearly 1,000 kilometers to the capital to buy Chinese, the price is not cheap. At that moment, Chen Kunlong finally had some specific understanding of the country, the road ahead was long, the road was long and obstructive.
"I built stadiums in Africa"
The Lubango Stadium was one of the four home venues to host the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations, the first appearance of the post-war Angolan government on the international stage. The stadium engineering structure is complex, the project strictly implements FIFA (International Football Federation) standards, the construction requirements are extremely high, but the construction period is only 18 months, in the environment of extreme lack of materials and machinery, the construction pressure can be imagined. At the time, a number of European construction companies said they could not complete the construction work in such a short period of time and gave up competition.
When he first arrived, Chen Kunlong was enthusiastic and devoted to his work. After entering the production department, the first task assigned to him by the leader was to build a gate for the camp and print slogans. In just two days, the project manager was impressed by this serious and persistent young man. After learning that he was majoring in HVAC, he was assigned to the technical department to be responsible for ventilation and air conditioning work, and at that moment, Chen Kunlong knew that such work was quite difficult for a young man who had just come out of the university campus for only one year, but it was a test that had to be overcome.
"The leader put me in charge of the technical and production of ventilation and air conditioning, and I had no construction experience at all, so I started by being familiar with the drawings and specifications." At that time, the most difficult and urgent thing was to do the procurement plan, because all materials and equipment can only be purchased from the country, material procurement plan preparation approval, procurement bidding and calibration, manufacturers to prepare goods, sent to the port, shipping customs clearance and transportation, this series of work to at least four months, once the plan is not well planned, the material into the field delay, it will lead to 'no rice under the pot' situation. Fortunately, I was able to calculate accurately, and in less than four months all the supplies were in place. Chen Kunlong said with a smile.
During the construction of the project, Chen Kunlong, as a technician, has been working hard and studying hard, and his ability and work results have been greatly improved. The heat of the Summer in Angola is incomparable, he is dedicated to the construction site, from the beginning to learn from the leadership, from the teacher Fu, to learn from the experienced workers of the foreign cooperation team, to later lead the team as a foreman to overcome difficulties and solve problems, he has walked through every corner of the construction site, and he is familiar with every process of construction. In the evening, he threw himself into the collation of materials and the study of construction standards and specifications, Chen Kunlong, who had just arrived in Angola, did not understand Portuguese at all, and it was extremely difficult to communicate with the owner, supervisor, and local personnel at work, and language became the first difficulty in work. While consulting the translator, he taught himself Portuguese every night, and in a few months he mastered some daily Portuguese, as well as professional Portuguese related to his own work, which greatly facilitated the work. During that time, Chen Kunlong lost more than ten pounds.
In this kind of learning and practice, he found that the design of the project air conditioning system is very conservative, and the air conditioners in all rooms are densely packed, and he uses his professional theoretical knowledge to review and calculate the air conditioning system and confirm his conjecture. After repeated communication and verification with the design engineer, his optimization plan was finally adopted, and after reducing nearly half of the air conditioning equipment, the initial effect was also achieved, saving a lot of procurement costs for the project. Equipment installation is completed, need to debug, the manufacturer's professional and technical personnel due to visa problems can not enter the scene, but the time is not waiting for people, Chen Kunlong personally on the battlefield, in-depth study of the installation and debugging instructions, daytime to the scene of debugging, found the fault and eliminate the fault, encountered can not be ruled out, wait until one o'clock in the morning local time (Beijing time at 8:00 a.m.) and the manufacturer's technical staff to communicate, and then go to the scene to debug. After more than a month of uninterrupted "debugging - fault discovery - troubleshooting - re-commissioning", the trial operation of all ventilation and air conditioning in the stadium project was successfully completed.
On 18 December 2009, Angola's Minister of Public Works, Governor of Villa, Minister of Transport and representatives of all sectors of society witnessed the completion ceremony at the Lubango Stadium. The big screens on both sides of the stadium stand played slides of the project introduction, the lights in the stadium were all lit up, the local music in the public broadcast system slowly sounded, and everyone applauded in unison... At that moment, Chen Kunlong was excited inside. On January 10, 2010, the Africa Cup of Nations was held as scheduled, and all the technical personnel of the project needed to ensure the normal operation of the system at any time on site, and they could freely come and go in the stadium, so they also had the opportunity to watch the Africa Cup of Nations on site. When people knew that the stadium was built and run, they all gave them a thumbs up, and Cameroonian star Samuel Eto'o pulled them along for a group photo. The project has been carried out for more than a year, Chen Kunlong only went home once, and in the instant of affirmation, all the hard work turned into luscious fruits, inspiring him to continue to move forward.
"Gnaw down the hardest bones"
The success of the Lubango Stadium project has established a good corporate brand and reputation for the group company in Angola, and in 2010, Chen Kunlong was responsible for the preparation of commercial bids in the bidding work of the Calaa Stadium project of Wanbo, and successfully won the bid. The project includes the restoration of the main stadium, the construction of the training ground and the restoration of the club. Due to his familiarity with the technical solutions and business quotations of the project, Chen Kunlong was appointed as the project business manager and production manager by the company, and he flexibly used his experience to successfully complete the tasks delivered by the company. In the following years, Chen Kunlong went from commercial manager to project manager, and successively took charge of many projects such as stadiums, hospitals, schools, municipal roads, water supply and power supply in Angola, sending precious gifts from China to Angola with backward infrastructure.
In May 2016, Power Construction Company undertook the municipal road project in SAMBIZANGA District, Luanda, Angola. Located in the slum of the capital Luanda and the main street of the birthplace of then-President José Eduardo dos Santos, the project includes nearly a thousand demolition work in addition to road construction, with a wide variety of houses, great coordination difficulties, and a construction period of only 10 months, even for the "battle-hardened" power construction company, it is also a difficult "hard bone".
Who is responsible? The company's leaders set their sights on Chen Kunlong, but at this time he was a little hesitant.
What makes Chen Kunlong hesitate is the complexity of the project itself. The Municipal Road Project in sambizanga district of Luanda, Angola is a political project that has been of great concern to the Angolan President and senior government officials. In addition, there are many uncontrollable factors in the project, a slight difference in the pool, the work can not be promoted, and as the project leader, you must be responsible for the team and the company, in case of problems, it will damage the brand image established by the company in Angola for more than ten years... Such an idea made Chen Kunlong doubly stressed. At this time, the company's leaders gave him a "reassuring pill", "Challenges and opportunities have always coexisted, the hard-core responsibility of state-owned enterprises is reflected in the fearless challenge, the company will always be your strongest backing, we work together, we can definitely do a good job in the project!" ”
Team poses for a group photo at Lubango Stadium (Chen Kunlong in the front row, second from right)
In this way, Chen Kunlong took over the task and officially took up his post. The project is located in a downtown area, the flow of personnel and vehicles is very large, and the environment in the construction area is dirty and chaotic, which brings many inconveniences to the construction. Chen Kunlong and his team collected a lot of information on the professional construction technology and specification requirements of municipal roads, and in addition to self-study, they often organized centralized study and research discussions. While learning the theory, they got in touch with the personnel of the brother units and external units with municipal construction experience, humbly consulted the construction management experience, and finally formulated a set of practical and cost-saving construction plans - half-width, segmented construction methods, under the premise of ensuring the normal passage of residents, they can work for 10 hours a day.
Because the demolition was delayed and the progress of the project was slow, Chen Kunlong communicated with the owner, supervisor, design and district government for many times, and led the project staff to do a good job in publicizing and communicating with nearby residents, and finally the problem was highly concerned by the then President José Eduardo dos Santos, at the end of 2016, President Dos Santos led a number of ministers to the scene to coordinate the demolition and relocation, and the demolition work was carried out smoothly. When relocating, Chen Kunlong also let the project provide a large number of mechanical equipment for residents, which effectively guaranteed the smooth progress of the demolition work.
During the construction of the project, Chen Kunlong personally led the team to construct, and he could be seen in every link of the earthwork excavation and concrete pouring construction. Poor sanitary conditions at the site of the project, more mosquitoes, infectious diseases have become a major risk to the project, considering everyone's health, Chen Kunlong invited a well-known local doctor to the scene to conduct a physical examination for the Chinese and foreign employees of the project. Impressed by his sincerity, the doctor took the initiative to regularly go to the construction site for physical examination for the staff, and carried out sanitary sterilization and disinfection of the camp, which provided health protection for the smooth implementation of the project.
On the day of the opening of the road, the president personally went to the scene to cut the ribbon and fully affirmed the ability of China Power Construction to fulfill the contract. At that moment, Chen Kunlong was relieved.
"I have a crush on this land"
In May 2017, Chen Kunlong officially served as the angolan representative of the international engineering company of the power construction company, mainly responsible for market development. Angola is the best overseas market for power construction companies, the company has always attached importance to and paid attention to Angola, "to tell the truth, the burden is very heavy", Chen Kunlong said, it is also this burden that gives him the motivation to keep moving forward.
In 2018, Chen Kunlong traveled around in the land of Angola, leading the team to visit more than ten projects in North Ronda Province, which were quite scattered and brought a lot of trouble to the team. "We went on a seven- or eight-day expedition that time, because of the remoteness of the place, the conditions were limited, the basic food and accommodation were in the car, hungry bread, squeezed vegetables and water to make up a meal, tired four or five people slept in the car." In addition to Ronda Norte, the team also visited Ronda Sul and Vera provinces.
2020 is approaching the Spring Festival, Chen Kunlong, who just participated in the company's year-end work meeting, thought that he could finally spend a reunion year in China, just when Angola had a project to bid, and he returned immediately. Just returned to Angola, the outbreak of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, learned that the domestic epidemic is serious, epidemic prevention supplies are tight, he went to the local supermarket and pharmacy for the first time to seek epidemic prevention materials, in just one week, raised tens of thousands of masks to send back to China. As the domestic epidemic situation gradually improves, but the foreign situation is gradually grim, under the dual problems of ensuring the progress of the project and doing a good job in epidemic prevention and control, Chen Kunlong has always stood at the forefront of the front line and bravely charged forward, sparing no effort. He arranged for all employees to learn the transmission routes and protection knowledge of the new crown virus, and also took the lead in carrying out normal communication and negotiation with the owner and design under the premise of protection. Even though the development of overseas markets seems to be becoming more and more difficult, in the crisis, Chen Kunlong has seen the opportunity. He led the team to conduct in-depth analysis and research on the Angolan market and proactively communicated with a number of local owners. Through the team's unremitting efforts, in 2020 and 2021, Chen Kunlong led the team to swim against the current and undertook nearly ten projects. These projects are currently under construction or are in the process of being prepared to start.
In his 14 years in Angola, Chen Kunlong has traveled to major cities in Angola. During the work of the Wanbo Stadium project and the Shaolimu Maternity Hospital project, due to the small number of project managers, Chen Kunlong was sometimes responsible for buying vegetables, and from work to life, he established a deep connection with the land. "Over the years, I can feel the changes brought by the hard work and fighting spirit of the Chinese to the locals. Ten years ago, a local worker on a weekend site couldn't be seen, even if you paid double wages. But now, most locals can stay at the site even on days off. In the past, the construction team was all workers brought in by China, but now it is two or three Chinese workers working with dozens of locals. ”
Working and living in a foreign country is not all smooth sailing, Chen Kunlong and his colleagues have also encountered gangsters chasing the brakes and running tens of kilometers, and gunmen riding motorcycles to threaten them dangerous moments. But instead of this, he is more willing to share with people the good memories of visiting local friends' homes and drinking beer and chatting in the sun.
Over the years, Chen Kunlong feels that what he owes most is his family, and the time spent with his parents is limited. After his wife became pregnant and returned to China alone to give birth, his son was born, and Chen Kunlong, who was far away in a foreign country, could only listen to his son's crisp cries on the phone intermittently. When the son was more than two years old, he was taken to Angola by his wife, and the family was finally reunited.
Over the past 14 years, as one of the many overseas builders who have contributed to the national "Belt and Road", he has completed one arduous task after another, making important contributions to the development of local people's livelihood in Angola and the overseas market development of power construction companies, enhancing the national image and lighting up the power construction brand. In 2019, Chen Kunlong won the title of "Beijing Youth Model - Striving for Good Youth" and in 2021, he won the honorary title of "Beijing Model Worker".
As for when to leave Angola, Chen Kunlong has not yet thought, "For that land, I have long had a crush, I hope that more locals can drink clean water, the family can use electricity, when sick, there can be a hospital to go to, and the child has a school to go to when he is old." He said.
[ This article was published in China Children magazine, No. 6, 2022 ]