Spring Breeze Twenty Years

Chapter 603 Chang'an Factory

In the afternoon, the four of them arrived at Chang'an Factory.

The Chang'an factory is located in Liyuchi, north of the Yangtze River in Chongqing. The shape of the entire factory area is somewhat like a hand with its thumb raised.

Jiangbei was undeveloped in 91; it was all farmland and dams.

Nowadays, when people talk about Chang'an Factory, they think of Chang'an bread, Chang'an Suzuki, Ford, and CS, but you probably don't know the illustrious history of Chang'an Factory. According to the factory's registration information, it was established in 1862.

The year the Chang'an Factory was established, Empress Dowager Cixi had only recently taken power.

Shortly after the Second Opium War, Feng Guifen, a disciple of Lin Zexu and a Jinshi (successful candidate in the highest imperial examination) of the 20th year of the Daoguang Emperor's reign, wrote a book called "Jiaobinlu Protest," proposing the idea of ​​learning from the barbarians' superior techniques to control them. In 1861, Prince Gong Yixin of the Qing Dynasty, together with Guiliang and Wenxiang, submitted a memorial entitled "Six Articles for the Overall Planning of Barbarian Affairs," thus beginning the Self-Strengthening Movement.

At that time, Empress Dowager Cixi had just gained power and had deep conflicts with conservative officials. In order to resist and balance her position and secure her throne, she supported a group of capable Westernizers who were at odds with conservative officials. Among the more famous ones were Zeng Guofan, Li Hongzhang, Zhang Zhidong, and Zuo Zongtang.

In Hubei, Zhang Zhidong established the Hanyang Ironworks and the Hubei Textile Bureau. Many people have likely heard of the Hanyang Ironworks; in the early days of the Kuomintang, most of the firearms used were made in Hanyang. Later, the Hanyang Ironworks was taken over by the Chang'an Ironworks.

Zeng Guofan established the Anqing Arsenal, which was China's first military factory.

Zuo Zongtang established the Fuzhou Shipyard and the Lanzhou Woolen Mill. The Fuzhou Shipyard can be considered the birthplace of the modern navy, and the famous Beiyang Fleet originated from here.

We mainly want to talk about Li Hongzhang.

He established the Tianjing Telegraph Bureau, the predecessor of China Post. He also established the Shanghai Machine Weaving Bureau, the predecessor of the Shanghai Textile Factory.

He established the Kaiping Mining Bureau and the Kaiping Railway Bureau in Luan County, Hebei Province. The Kailuan Mining Bureau is still in operation today, and QHD Port was also built by the Kaiping Mining Bureau. The Kaiping Railway Bureau became the ancestor of railway locomotive manufacturing in China.

He established the Shanghai Steamship Merchants Bureau in Shanghai, which is now the China People's Shipping Corporation and the China Steamship Hong Kong Island Merchants Bureau. One of the subsidiaries of the Hong Kong Island Merchants Bureau is the well-known China Merchants Bank.

Besides his remarkable achievements, Li Hongzhang also owned a business: the Shanghai Naval Arsenal. Sound unfamiliar? In 1865, Li Hongzhang was promoted, and the Shanghai Naval Arsenal was moved to Nanjing and renamed the Nanjing Jinling Arsenal. Does that ring a bell? The Nanjing Jinling Arsenal was, at the time, China's largest and most advanced arsenal, producing Browning and Maxim heavy machine guns.

In 1937, Japan occupied Shanghai and bombed Nanjing. The Jinling Arsenal was relocated to Chongqing. It resumed production in 1938 and provided more than 3000 tons of ammunition, more than 300,000 hand grenades, and more than 500,000 firearms of various types during the War of Resistance against Japan. It was the largest arms manufacturing enterprise during the entire war.

In 1951, the 21st Ordnance Factory was renamed State-owned Factory No. 456, and in 1957 it was renamed Chang'an Machinery Manufacturing Plant.

This is the history of Chang'an Factory.

In 58, Chang'an Factory successfully manufactured the Type 46 Jeep, which was China's first domestically produced Jeep and participated in the 59 National Day military parade.

The Type 46 Jeep? Never heard of it? In 63, Chang'an Factory was ordered to cease Jeep production and transfer all technical data to Beijing Automobile Factory. This was the green-skinned, soft-top Beijing Jeep that was produced the most widely, used the longest, and had the most extensive service life in the history of the People's Republic of China. It's fair to say that without this order, Beijing Automobile Factory would have disappeared long ago, and there wouldn't be any Cherokee 212s later on.

There are really no flat areas in the Bashu region; it feels like everywhere is a slope, either uphill or downhill.

When Xiao Wei and his three companions arrived at the gate of Chang'an Factory, the light rain had stopped, but the sky was still overcast, and a cool breeze carrying a hint of dampness brushed against their faces. This area was more open, and the wind felt considerably stronger than on the side near Jiefangbei.

After registering at the gate, I entered the factory and went to the sales department.

The Chang'an factory was much larger than the Xiali factory at this time, and it felt more formal in many ways. However, the factory buildings and area looked much more dilapidated compared to Xiali, which was understandable given its age. At that time, it wasn't common practice for state-owned enterprises in China to spend money to make their factory areas look high-end.

The person who received the group was a section chief from the sales department, surnamed Yang. He was wearing a blue work uniform and had dirt marks on his face; he had just come from the workshop.

"Hello. What can I do for you?" This Section Chief Yang must be from the north, because he didn't have a local accent.

Xiao Wei said, "We're from Northeast China, specifically Fengtian in Liaodong. We run an industrial and trading company and want to sell cars. We just happened to be passing through Chongqing, so we came to take a look. There are quite a few Changan cars in our area, and I wanted to ask if we could sell them."

Section Chief Yang asked, "Which department do you belong to?"

Xiao Wei said, "It's a personal company. We are the first privately-owned group company in Liaodong."

Section Chief Yang was taken aback. Back in 91, the general perception of private enterprises among most people in inland areas was that they were individual business owners, middlemen, peddlers, and speculators. They would rather hold onto the broken bowl of a state-owned enterprise than the gold brick of an individual business, thinking that there was no future or money to be made. Back then, they would scold their children, saying, "If you don't study hard, you'll have to become an individual business owner in the future."

Perhaps due to the Chinese people's habit of being reserved, Section Chief Yang said, "I don't know if you've dealt with cars before, but these things cost fifty or sixty thousand yuan each. We don't offer credit, and we usually buy dozens at a time, understand? Besides, we have sales in Northeast China. Don't you know that the materials company sells cars? Go back and ask your local materials company. There should be a market that specializes in selling cars. Go there and you'll understand."

Xiao Wei said, "I know, I'm not asking for an exclusive agency. They can sell theirs, I'll sell mine. Isn't it good that you guys produce more cars?"

Section Chief Yang frowned, glanced at his watch, and said, "I'm a bit busy right now, so I won't keep you company. Xiao Huang, Xiao Huang, come here and stay with these guests for a while, explain things to them. I have something to attend to." He waved for a young woman to come over, then got up and left. The woman looked like she had just started working.

Xiao Huang walked over, smiled somewhat awkwardly at the four of them, sat down, and said, "Hello, what can I do for you?"

Xiao Wei sat up straight, licked his lips, and said, "We want to sell your car, but it seems Section Chief Yang isn't too keen on it."

Xiao Huang said, "Buy a car? If you want to buy one, go ahead, the price is the same."

Xiao Wei said, "Selling, not buying."

A tall, thin man with graying hair walked in, and Xiao Huang stood up and greeted him, "Good morning, Director Jing."

The section chief nodded and said, "Where's Xiao Yang? Didn't he say he was coming to this room?"

Xiao Huang said, "I don't know. Section Chief Yang told me to stay with these guests because he had something to do."

The section chief gave Xiao Huang a strange look, then turned to Xiao Wei and the others, asking, "What are you doing here?"

Xiao Wei said, "Hello, Director Jing. I'm from Fengtian. I'd like to sell your cars in Northeast China. Section Chief Yang didn't seem too keen on it. He left after only a few words, leaving this girl with us."

The section chief paused for a moment, then said, "Selling cars? You want to sell our cars?"

(End of this chapter)