During the three years of economic difficulties in the early 1960s, the Daqing Oilfield in the Songliao Basin in the northeast, represented by Wang Jinxi, carried forward the revolutionary spirit of "not fearing hardship and sacrifice", overcame the foreign blockade, and built a first-class domestic and world-leading large oilfield in less than three years, shaking off the "oil-poor country" hat imposed on China by Western countries, and making a significant contribution to the development of socialist construction.

In 1964, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China called on the national industrial front to "learn from Daqing in industry". The movement of learning from Daqing in industry was mainly to learn from Daqing's spirit of self-reliance and hard work, so as to promote the development of industrial and mining enterprises and socialist construction across the country.

Propaganda poster of learning from Daqing in industry in the 1960s

After several years of hard work, the Chenggong Table Tennis Factory at this time had a firm foothold and production had developed. In 1963 alone, this small factory with only about 100 people had paid more than 130,000 yuan in profits to the state.

In 1964, the superior allocated 240,000 yuan for capital construction investment and decided to move the factory from the eastern suburbs of Boluo Temple to the southern suburbs of Paolougang①. The workers' mood also changed from the original ups and downs to full of expectations and pride. They are about to move into the new factory building located in the city's industrial center, Industrial Avenue.

① Nanjiao Paolougang is near No. 28 Yanzigang Road, Haizhu District. The land where Chenggong Table Tennis Factory moved to was originally a ceramic factory, which already had basic factory facilities, which provided convenience for expanding production.

At this time, someone suggested taking advantage of this opportunity to greatly improve the appearance of the factory. "This is a good opportunity. You can ask for more things and make the factory look good. If you miss this opportunity, you will never find it again." Some people in the factory were eager to hear this and said, "We have worked hard for several years and finally made it. This time we have to move to a new factory and look good!" At that time, the party branch realized that the discussion was biased. What is "look good"? Is it to adhere to the principle of self-reliance and hard work and make the factory look like a socialist enterprise, or to take the opportunity to "make a fortune" from the state and make the factory look more foreign and bigger?

Late at night, Li Chao, then the party branch secretary, repeatedly thought: Is our rapid development contrary to Chairman Mao's teaching of "always remain modest, cautious, not arrogant, not impatient, and continue to maintain the style of hard work"? He began to worry that if this development continued, would it lead everyone astray and forget the hard-core spirit of the successful table tennis factory - "self-reliance and hard work", the tenacity that can persist even in the most difficult times.

Secretary Li Chao and the leadership of Chenggong Factory clearly realized that even after the material conditions were significantly improved, maintaining and promoting the spirit of hard work was still the key to the stable development of the enterprise. Guided by this spirit, Chenggong Factory, together with workers from all over the city, launched the "Learn from Daqing" activity, taking this as an opportunity to stimulate the enthusiasm for work and the motivation for self-improvement of all factory staff.

One night, six or seven people including veteran workers Yang Bing, Li Tian, party branch secretary Li Chao, and deputy factory director Huang Cheng sat under the peach tree transplanted from Polo Temple to learn from Chairman Mao's great call to the whole country to "learn from Daqing in industry." Everyone was talking about how hardship and contribution they had with the Daqing workers:

"In terms of hardship, the Daqing workers had the sky above their heads, the grasslands under their feet, and the ice and snow. It was much harder than when we were in the early days of building the factory in Boluo Temple and were 'making a revolution with three tools'."

"In terms of contribution, the Daqing workers drilled one oil well after another for the country, which helped our country get rid of the crutch of relying on kerosene to survive, and blazed a path of independence, self-reliance, and self-reliance to develop our country's oil industry. Their contribution was much greater than ours."

"However, the Daqing workers were not proud of their achievements and always maintained the revolutionary tradition of self-reliance and hard work. When we moved from Boluo Temple to the current place, the country gave us some investment to develop production. Some people said, 'After years of hard work, we finally made it. Now that we have moved the factory, we don't have to be pioneers anymore?...

The more we compared, the brighter our hearts became. The old workers said, "The longer we stretch our hands, the shorter our ambitions become. We must use the energy of 'making a revolution with three tools' to move the factory. "Some old workers said earnestly: "If we lose the fine tradition of hard work and self-reliance, we will go astray!" ②

② This paragraph was originally published in the Guangzhou Daily on April 23, 1975.

The Party Branch of Chenggong Table Tennis Factory carried out the Daqing Learning Activity

The vigorous fighting spirit of the old workers inspired the employees in the factory and educated those who wanted to "make a fortune". Everyone took out the fighting spirit of the year when they started their business, while insisting on production, relocating and building the factory. During the relocation process, Chenggong Factory did not stop production for a day.

Chenggong Table Tennis Factory relocated to Yanzigang, Haizhu District

Paolougang next to Industrial Avenue used to have only a shabby small ceramic factory here, with a deserted environment and weeds all around. However, through the joint efforts of Chenggong Factory people, this scene has completely changed. Employees not only repaired roads and leveled land after work, but also built A new factory building of more than 2,000 square meters was built. Significant transportation costs were saved, and the relocation was completed during the Spring Festival holiday to ensure that production was not affected.

At that time, the production of table tennis balls required a lot of water resources. Faced with the high cost of tap water and unstable supply, the factory leaders and employees found an idea that was both cost-saving and environmentally friendly. Yang Bing and several other experienced old workers proposed to build a 400-square-meter return water pool and water tower in a low-lying area of the factory, so that the used water could be reused through cooling and filtration. The initial estimate was that it would cost 13,000 yuan, but the successful factory people who insisted on "self-reliance and hard work" believed that this cost could be lowered.

One day, old worker Yang Bing asked the factory leader: "Has the return water pool been contracted to the infrastructure unit?"

"Not yet. The construction team has been estimated to cost more than 10,000 yuan."

"We volunteered to do it ourselves! "

This proposal made Secretary Li Chao think for a long time. He thought, "Under difficult conditions, it is not easy to adhere to the principle of self-reliance and hard work, and to start a business relying on the "three treasures"; now that the family business is big and the conditions are good, it is key to continue to maintain that entrepreneurial spirit. So the next day at the staff meeting, Li Chao actively supported the initiative put forward by the old workers: carry forward the tradition of hard work of "three tools to make revolution" and build the return water pool by ourselves!

In the cold winter, the cadres and workers of Chenggong Factory, including Party Branch Secretary Li Chao, Deputy Factory Director Huang Cheng and the workers, jointly participated in this arduous task. They stood barefoot in the muddy water, not afraid of the severe cold, and insisted on working for an hour every day after work. Digging soil, pounding concrete and building pool walls. After more than three months of hard work, they not only successfully built the return water pool and water tower, but also saved the country more than 4,800 yuan in infrastructure investment. In this way, after three months of voluntary labor after work, a return pool of 20 meters long, 2 meters wide and 2 meters deep, like a small swimming pool, was built at a cost of only more than 6,000 yuan.

Return pool of Chenggong table tennis factory

Soon after the relocation, in order to expand the production of table tennis balls to meet the growing market demand, the state decided to invest in Chenggong Factory and add necessary machinery and factory buildings. However, in the face of this foreign investment, the employees and leadership of Chenggong Factory showed an unusually cautious attitude. In a party branch meeting, they discussed how to reasonably use the state investment. During the discussion, the cadres and workers of Chenggong Factory showed remarkable self-discipline. They carefully reviewed the state investment plan one by one, striving to streamline every expense and resolutely eliminating those projects that could be completed by the factory itself. In the end, except for the steamer, the remaining 16 of the 17 special equipment originally planned to be updated were manufactured by themselves. The amount of state funding requested by Chenggong Factory was reduced from the original 240,000 yuan to 167,500 yuan. Through careful calculation, it saved the country 80,000 yuan in investment.

A series of major events during the relocation process demonstrated Chenggong Factory's determination to adhere to and promote the spirit of diligence and thrift. As some workers said, "The spirit of 'self-reliance and hard work' in Polo Temple has blossomed and borne fruit in Paolougang."