"Tracing the Red Mark of Jiangdu" Chengchang Iron Factory: Pioneer of Jiangdu Machinery Industry

In the 1940s and 1950s, there were no better machinery maintenance enterprises in Jiangdu County, and the machinery industry was blank. In the early days of liberation, Chen Shunwu, a member of the county's industrial section, learned during an industrial investigation that Shao Bo's privately opened power plant often had machines to go to the Taizhou Chengchang Iron Factory for repairs. The owner of the factory, named Zhu Chengyuan, is a huadang person in Jiangdu and has a lot of feelings for his hometown, and he once expressed to the relevant people that he was willing to move his enterprise to Jiangdu and make some contributions to the industrial development of his hometown.

Taizhou Chengchang Iron Factory, founded in March 1948, is located at No. 69, North Street, Evolution Bridge, Taizhou City. The boss Zhu Chengyuan went from Jiangdu to Taizhou Xingyi Iron Factory as an apprentice when he was young, and after several years of accumulation, he bought the Yongshun Xing Iron Factory, which was on the verge of closure, and renamed it Taizhou Chengchang Iron Factory. At that time, the factory mainly repaired machines, and also engaged in small production and sheet metal processing. There are 8 workers, 1 clerk, plus 11 wives and children.

After Chen Shunwu learned of this information, he promptly reported to the responsible comrades of the Jiangdu County People's Government and the Industrial Section. After discussion and study, the county people's government expressed its approval and instructed the county industrial section to conduct an in-depth investigation of the actual situation of the Taizhou Chengchang Iron Factory and did meticulous ideological work on Zhu Chengyuan.

In 1954, the Central Committee approved the Report of the Central Finance Commission on the Conference on The Expansion of the Public-Private Partnership Industrial Plan and the Opinion of the Central Finance Commission on the Systematic Transformation of Capitalist Industries with More Than Ten Workers into Public-Private Joint Ventures, and decided to "actively and steadily bring the private factories of more than ten workers needed by the state and with the conditions for transformation into the track of public-private partnerships in the next few years (the period of the two Five-Year Plans, or possibly shorter), basically (but not everything) into the track of public-private partnerships, and then when the conditions are ripe, Transform public-private partnerships into socialist enterprises".

In accordance with the central policy, the county people's government and the industrial section assigned special personnel to Taizhou several times to talk with Zhu Chengyuan, and together with relevant personnel to carry out repeated consultations and demonstrations on the relocation of the factory. Later, with the approval of the provincial government, the Jiangdu County People's Government and the Taizhou Municipal People's Government negotiated and decided to relocate the Taizhou Chengchang Iron Factory to Jiangdu. In the winter of 1955, the factory was officially relocated to Shaobo Town. At that time, there were 8 workers who moved with them, and the boss Zhu Chengyuan and his wife and son counted 11 people. The equipment is an 8-foot belt lathe, a 4.5 lathe, a boring machine, a drilling machine, and a hand-cranked dog head planer. Taizhou Chengchang Iron Factory relocated back to his hometown, filling the gap in Jiangdu machinery maintenance industry and realizing Zhu Chengyuan's long-cherished wish of returning to his hometown to set up a factory.

In the vigorous movement of socialist transformation of private industry and commerce, Zhu Chengyuan soberly felt the wisdom and warmth of the party's policies and realized that private enterprises can develop healthily only under the transformation of socialism. Soon after he arrived in Shaobo, he immediately sent a report to the Jiangdu County People's Committee and expressed his willingness to accept socialist transformation. On January 21, 1956, the county people's committee approved the approval of Jiang Gongzi No. 30 document, agreeing to the implementation of a separate joint venture at the Chengchang Iron And Steel Factory, and appointed a public representative to be specifically responsible for the work of the public-private partnership.

The county people's committee respected the due rights of private entrepreneurs, retained the word "Chengchang" on the name of the factory, named it the public-private partnership Shaobo Chengchang Iron Factory, and appointed Chen Shunwu as the acting director of the public side and Zhu Chengyuan, the former owner of the private enterprise, as the deputy director of the factory.

After the establishment of the public-private partnership Shaobo Chengchang Iron Factory, the enterprise has developed by leaps and bounds, and the industrial and agricultural machinery installation and maintenance in Jiangdu generally no longer need to go out for help. According to the data of "Jiangdu County National Economic Data Compilation 1956", the enterprise has 28 employees (including 13 workers, 2 engineering and technical personnel, and 13 administrative personnel), with an annual total output value of 25,000 yuan, fixed assets of 90,000 yuan, and total profits of 8,000 yuan.

In 1957, in accordance with the state's policy of private transformation, the county people's committee once again rectified the Jiangdu Shaobo Chengchang Iron Factory, and on this basis, the local state-owned Jiangdu Iron Factory was established.

In October 1958, the county people's committee took the Jiangdu Iron Factory as a model for the development of Jiangdu machinery industry, and decided to relocate the factory to the former site of the East Wine and Pharmaceutical Factory in Fairy Town, Jiangdu County, and changed the name of the factory to Jiangdu First Machinery Factory. After that, the factory gradually developed into Jiangdu Machine Tool General Factory and Jiangsu Yawei Machine Tool (Group) Company.

Source: Rong Media Center, Jiangdu District, Yangzhou City

Contributed by: Zhou Zhengliang, Party History Office of Jiangdu District CPC Committee