2019 will witness the 100th anniversary of Shougang.

Over the past 100 years, the dream chaser Shougang has participated in and witnessed the great course of China’s iron and steel industry from scratch, from small to large, from big to strong. Shougang shoulders the mission of building and leading a strong Chinese iron and steel industry.

In the past 100 years, striving ahead and advancing bravely, Shougang has always cherished the dream of serving the country with iron and steel, and insisted on raising the national backbone in the era of meritorious service.

Sun rises and sun sets. Time flies. Recalling the past hundred years, we can see clearly how Shougang shows its strongness and firmness:

In 1919, the Beiyang government approved the establishment of “Longyan Iron Mine Co., Ltd. jointly run by officials and businessmen”, “Shijingshan Refinery”  for short (the predecessor of Shougang). In 1948, the No. 1 blast furnace of Shijingshan Refinery was opened, becoming the only large blast furnace in China to resume production after the victory of the Anti-Japanese War.

In 1949, it took Shijingshan Iron and Steel Plant only three and a half months to resume production, making it become the earliest iron and steel enterprise to resume production in the liberated areas of China. In 1952, Shijingshan Iron and Steel Plant achieved pig iron output of more than 342,000 tonnes, ranking second in the country. In 1955, the first McGee-based rotary top distributor, designed, manufactured and installed independently in China, was used for No. 1 blast furnace. In 1958, Shijingshan Iron and Steel Plant completed the first 3-tonne alkaline side-blown converter in only 14 days, ending the 39-year history of iron without steel since the founding of Shijingshan Iron and Steel Plant. In 1959, a 400 mm rolling mill and three 250 mm rolling mills designed and manufactured by Shijingshan Iron and Steel Company’s experimental plant were put into operation, which ended the history of steel without materials in Shijingshan Iron and Steel Company.

In September 1960, Dashihe Mining Field and Dressing Plant, two dressing series, of Qianluan Iron Mine were put into practice, which concluded the history of iron without ore in Shijingshan Iron and Steel Company.

In April 1964, the pulverized coal injection device of No. 1 blast furnace of Shougang was successfully commissioned, and became the third enterprise in the world to possess this advanced technology after Armco Company of the United States and Doneckij Company of the Soviet Union, filling a gap in China’s iron and steel industry. In December 1964, Shijingshan Iron and Steel Company built and put into operation the first 30 tonnes oxygen top blowing converter in China. On September 28, 1969, the blooming plant of Shougang was completed and started to operate. The first piece of billet steel was produced by the 850 blooming mill, which brought the production of Shougang to a new stage.

On October 15, 1972, No. 4 blast furnace of Shougang was completed and went into operation. No. 4 blast furnace was in service for 35 years, producing 42.59 million tonnes of pig iron in total, setting 18 new records. It was the meritorious blast furnace of Shougang. On December 15, 1979, the ground relocation overhaul and reconstruction project of Shougang’s No. 2 blast furnace was completed and started to work. No. 2 blast furnace adopted 37 new technologies at home and abroad. It was the first time for the company to use programmable control feeding system. It became the first modern blast furnace in China and won the first prize of national scientific and technological progress. Among them, bell-less top developed independently by Shougang enabled China to be one of the few countries in the world that mastered this technology. On October 23, 1980, Shougang top-fired hot stove technology was exported to Luxembourg, which was the first technology export agreement signed with a foreign country in Chinese history of metallurgy.

In January 1985, Shougang purchased the Belgian Selan Steel Plant and Walfer Wire Plant at the price of scrap steel. It took only 7 months and 22 days to land all the equipment and plant structures of Selan Steel Plant. All the equipment arrived in China in October 1986. In August 1987, the Selan Steel Plant, endowed with new life by Shougang, was built and put into operation in Shougang, China, with the brand-new appearance of “No. 2 Steelmaking Plant”.

On June 22, 1989, Shougang was upgraded to be China’s “state-level enterprise”, which was the first time that China granted the state-level title to the enterprises, which symbolized the highest honor in China’s business community.

On October 1, 1992, No. 3 converter, a large modern steelmaking plant designed, manufactured and constructed by Shougang, was completed and put into operation. The other two converters were put into use on November 9, 1992 and May 15, 1993 respectively. At that time, Shougang basically completed the modernization of the old steelmaking equipment, proving Shougang’s capacity to produce 10 million tonnes of steel annually.

In 1992, Shougang Group successfully purchased Hierro Peru (including the company’s permanent exploration and mining operation rights for mining, dressing, ports and other assets and resources).

In December 1992, the opening ceremony of the Huaxia Bank, founded by Shougang, marked the opening of China’s first national commercial bank run by an industrial enterprise.

In December 2006, the hot test of 2,160 mm hot continuous rolling mill of Shougang Qian’an Iron and Steel Company was successful. The first hot-rolled coil was successfully produced on the line, ending the history of Shougang without hot-rolled sheet and marked a historic change in the product structure of Shougang.

On May 21, 2009, the No. 1 5,500-cubic-meter blast furnace of Shougang Jingtang United Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. was ignited by air supply, and the blast furnace successfully discharged iron. Then, steelmaking, hot rolling and cold rolling were put into operation one after another, and the first phase of one-step project was completed through the whole line. In June 2010, the No. 2 blast furnace was successfully opened and put into operation, and the first phase of the project of Jingtang Company was completed and put into operation through the whole line. The coking A and B coke ovens of Jingtang Company won the “Luban Award” in 2009; the coking C and D coke ovens, the No. 1 and No. 2 5,500-cubic-meter blast furnaces of iron-making, and five 300-tonne converters of steelmaking won the “Luban Award” in 2010, which was the most awarded project in the history of China’s metallurgical engineering and construction industry. This was the largest blast furnace in China at that time. The seawater desalination technology, solid waste treatment technology and saline-alkali land green planting technology of Jingtang Company reached the world advanced levels.

In March 2012, the first volume of high magnetic induction-oriented silicon steel in Shougang’s history was successfully produced on the line. It indicates that the main production process of oriented silicon steel in Shougang ran through the whole line, and the silicon steel products were improved greatly.

In May 2016, the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Winter Olympic Games (BOCOG) was stationed in Shougang Park, making it the first stationed unit in Beijing Shougang Park.

In June 2016, Shougang and the C40 Cities Climate Leadership Group signed the certificate. Shougang’s positive climate development project was formally incorporated into the development plan of the C40 positive climate project, becoming the first positive climate project in China and the 19th worldwide.

On February 28, 2017, the General Administration of Sport of China and Shougang signed the “Framework Agreement on Cooperation between Preparing for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games and Building the National Sports Industry Demonstration Zone” to jointly promote the preparation for the Winter Olympic Games and the construction of the National Sports Industry Demonstration Zone.

In August 2018, Shougang Group was successfully selected as the national “Double Hundred Enterprises” list.

In the past century, Shougang has been flourishing from mountain to sea and from fire to ice. Today, Shougang steel products aim at high-end plates and long quality steel. Cold-rolled sheet is widely used in six major car systems in such countries as Germany, the United States, South Korea, France, and Japan; silicon steel products occupy the second place in the domestic market; marine steel is used in the “Blue Whale 1” drilling platform; tin-plated sheet realizes full coverage of high-end customers; bridge plate is used in China’s longest span bridge. In addition, Shougang has made great progress in energy-saving and environmental protection industry, health care industry, cultural and sports industry, financial service industry and urban service industry.

On July 7, 2011 when “Fortune” Magazine of the  United States published its ranking of the world’s top 500 in 2011, Shougang Group was on the list for the first time, ranking 325th. Since then, Shougang was among the top 500 in the world for six consecutive years: 295th in 2012, 322nd in 2013, 348th in 2014, 402nd in 2015 and 489th in 2016. It was re-listed in 2018, and ranked 431st.

Shougang people will take as a guide Xi Jinping’s socialist thought with Chinese characteristics in the new era to realize the “China dream” of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, making every effort to build a new landmark of the capital city’s rejuvenation in the new era, promoting the steel industry to become better and stronger, and building a comprehensive large-scale enterprise group with world influence.

The century-old Shougang is to create new legends with 100 years of accumulation and strength, and bring about new fascinating development!