GLORIOUS HISTORY OF PANXI

Thirty-two years has passed, in a twinkling of the eye. From the "Nongnong Ping", a small village of 7 households, miraculously rose up a miniature of a steel city. Today, it is the largest iron and steel production base in West China.

Mao Zedong's words still ring clearly in our ears. "The decision to build Panzhihua City is not an issue concerning only one particular steel plant, but is a strategic consideration." Looking back into the past and forward into the future, we cannot help marveling at the profound foresight of our great leader.

"History will reveal everything clearly to the future. " Standing on the very spot where the construction of Panzhihua started, we can see a picture unfolding before us a picture of man conquering nature. A modern iron and steel base with an annual production capacity of 3 million tons of iron and 3 million tons of steel would be born in an area of less than 3 sq.km, with an average slope of 6.5 degrees. This was inconceivable in the metallurgical history.

But there came 100 thousand workers. They settled down on this hostile land with their simple daily necessities. They lived in extremely difficult conditions. "The pot on three stones is our kitchen; the tent in the open is our bedroom." Yet, inside the mosquito nets, the daring pioneers were drawing the blueprints of their most beautiful future. Along the winding mountain roads, over 2,000 trucks were busy carrying construction materials and equipment from thousands of miles away. With their intelligence and hard work, these pioneers created a miracle, which enabled Chinese people to hold their heads high in pride and which made the world gasp in awe.

On July, 1, 1970, Pan Gang(Panzhihua Iron and Steel Plant) turned out the first furnace of molten iron. The following year saw the appearance of the first furnace of molten steel. By 1989, all the investment money was retrieved.

In Jan. 1986, the second stage construction of Pan Gang began, the total investment money amounting to 10 billion. It took the advantage of foreign capital and integrated with the advanced foreign technologies. At the end of 1986, when the first cold-rolled ordinary steel plates were delivered, Pan Gang has realized an annual production capacity of 3 million tons of iron, 3 million tons of steel, 1 million tons of continuous cast blanks, 1 million tons of hot-rolled plates, and 0.5 million tons of cold-rolled plates. The products have a ready market in more than 20 countries and districts including the European Economic Community, Japan and India. During the Eighth Five Year Plan period, the annual sales reached 7.5 billion, and a profit tax of over billion.

Thus it became the largest and the most important iron and steel base in the southwest China and the largest production base for railway steel materials and vanadium and titanium in China.

Back in 1958, the lonely banks of Yalong River welcomed several special visitors. They set up a small hydrologic station--Xiao De Wen Hydrologic Station of Chengdu Surveying Institute. which will never be forgotten in the history of water resource exploration in the west of Panzhihua.

Day in and day out, they worked quietly and diligently for over 30 years. Finally, the shocking roar of explosions heralded teh birth of the largest hydroelectric power station in China Ertan Power Station. When the whole project is completed, it will have a giant embankment 240 meters high, the first highest dam in China, 2nd in Asia and 3rd in the world. The reservoir will have a storage capacity of 5.8 billion cubic meters and a storage water level of 1,200 meters, a power station with an installed capacity of 3.3 million kilowatts and an annual electric energy production of 17 billion kilowatts. The World Bank has granted a loan of $ 1. 2 billion to the construction of Ertan Power Station, which is the biggest loan ever granted to a single project in the history of the World Bank. At present, Chinese constructors, together with hydraulic experts and administrative personnel from 40 countries, are now striving for a brilliant future of Ertan Power Station.

In Oct. 1998, the first units in the power station will start generating power. By 1999, all the units will be ready to produce electricity, enabling an annual energy production of 17 billion kilowatts. By then the utilization rate of water resources in the west of Panzhihua area will jump from 1% in the past to 10%. This no doubt signifies a new and brilliant chapter in China's hydraulic power history.

Crops are green and lush on the fertile Anning River Plain, which will be developed into several production bases of tobacco, fresh vegetables of high quality, silk, commodity cattle and flock, etc. Millions of Jian Chang Ducks are enjoying the nourishment of Liangshan's rivers and lakes. Yan Yuan apples, Panzhihua mangos, Huili pomegranates, Leibo oranges have a nationwide reputation. The rich plateau grassland provides the most favorable conditions and solid foundations for animal husbandry development. Thirty years' hard work has given Panxi a brand new look. The Yi people who used to be serfs in the old days have now been emancipated in the socialist new China. They have made one great achievement after another. The five pillar industries are light textile and food, nonferrous metal industry, power industry, forest product industry and construction material industry.

Xichang Qing Shan Airport receives guests from all over the world as well as from all parts of China. A 100-million-gate program-controlled telephone system has been successfully installed at Puge County in Liangshan Prefecture. All the 17 cities and counties in the prefecture have adapted the modern communications system, eleven of which have used optical fiber cables. From No. 108 National Highway, a road transport network reachesout to almost every corner in the prefecture, covering 12,000 km. When Daqiao Reservoir is completed, it will cover an irrigation area of 870,000 mu (about 5,794, 000
acres).

The soaring TV towers, radio and TV stations and transmission stations, well- facilitated libraries, museums, theatres, stadiums, and swimming pools dot Liangshan Prefecture and the City of Panzhihua, making people's life rich and colorful.

China's space city of Xichang is well-known throughout the world. It is the largest modern space center in China and Asia with advanced technical facilities for launching synchronous earth satellites. It is the capital of Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, also known as "Moon City". The space exploration conducted here allows the city to radiate its vigor of fresh vitality.

The Golden City of Panzhihua. This is where the two rivers Jinsha River and Yalong River meet. Favored by the sub tropical monsoon climate, the city is forever in spring. After the three stages of development the primitive pioneering stage (1965-1974), the comprehensive development stage (1975-1985), the overall construction stage (1985-1992) Panzhihua City has become a modern industrial city in the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. A number of industries have ever since developed here, of which metallurgic industry is the most important sector; iron mining, coal mining, electric power production, transportation, construction, and forest industry also take important placesin Panxi's economy. Some corporations have ranked among the top 500 enterprises in the whole nation. These include Panzhihua Steel and Iron Corporation, Panzhihua Metallurgic and Mining Corporation, Panzhihua Mining Administration Deparment, No. 19 Construction Corporation of the Metallurgical Industry.

Scientific and technological innovation serves as the powerful driving force behind the economic development in panxi. Owing to the precursory development in science and technology, Pan Gang managed to turn out iron in only 5 years and steel in one more year's time during the first stage construction. For the same reason, it was able to reach and exceed the designed capacity within a short period of only 15 years. It was when iron was successfully produced in Pan Gang that the Railway from Chengdu to Kunming was open to traffic. Again thanks to the development in science and technology, the radio between input and output in Panxi is 2.5 times higher than the average ratio of the whole country, while the ratio in Pan Cang is even more impressive--4.5 times higher than that of the whole country.

Those who are strangers of Panxi may think of it as remote and mysterious. But to those who have been here, Panzhihua is a city which has undergone such dramatic changes that no other city, except Shenzhen and Zhuhai, can ever match.