Jinxi Chemical Machinery Factory has a magnificent development history, and it can be called the cradle of China’s chemical machinery manufacturing.
In the spring of 1939, in order to meet the fuel needs of the invading army, the Japanese Ministry of War selected a fuel factory near the Wuli River, 7 miles west of Jinxi Station in Liaoning, to follow the example of Germany in using coal as raw material to refine artificial petroleum.
The factory was named the Army Fuel Plant Second Manufacturing Plant and was under the direct jurisdiction of the Army Ministry and Army Fuel Headquarters in Tokyo.
After the site was determined, Japan forcibly enclosed the land, forced local residents to relocate, and expropriated large tracts of land.
The initial project started in September 1939, and the main project officially broke ground in May 1941. The entire project implemented a military management system.
The construction workers include more than 20,000 people of three nationalities: China, North Korea, and Japan. Among them, Chinese workers are mainly recruited from Northeast China, North China, and Shandong. They have no wages and poor living conditions.
However, the project suffered a heavy blow due to the deterioration of the Pacific War situation in the later stages of construction.
By the time Japan surrendered in 1945, Jinxi Manufacturing Plant had built major facilities such as a crude oil refinery and pyrolysis plant, and the machinery workshop had certain equipment and personnel.
But on the eve of the Japanese surrender, they severely damaged the factory.
In October 1945, the Eighth Route Army and the Soviet Red Army entered the factory, and later the factory went through periods such as the Kuomintang administration.
Under the rule of the Kuomintang, the factory had difficulty in production and was destroyed by the Kuomintang army and reduced to ruins.
In November 1948, Jinxi was liberated, and the Ministry of Industry of the Northeast People’s Government took over the factory.
At the beginning of 1949, the Northeast Chemical Industry Bureau decided to restore the chemical production system, and the employees of the machinery factory devoted themselves to equipment repair work under difficult conditions.
In February 1949, some equipment restored production capacity and produced the first batch of civilian products after liberation.
Since then, the machinery workshop has continued to complete national tasks, achieved a series of technical achievements, and also received help from the Soviet Union.
In 1950, Jinxi Refinery was renamed Jinxi Chemical Plant, and the mechanical part was called the Third Plant.
On January 1, 1954, the Machinery Branch officially operated independently and became the first professional factory in China to produce chemical equipment.
In 1956, it was directly affiliated to the Ministry of Chemical Industry. In 1957, the factory name was changed to Jinxi Chemical Machinery Factory, and it began to independently design and manufacture chemical machinery and equipment.
After the 1990s, with the establishment of the market economic system and the development of manufacturing in coastal areas, Jinxi Chemical Machinery Factory faced institutional and structural contradictions.
In 2000, it was restructured into a group limited liability company.
In 2009, it was reorganized with AVIC Liming. However, due to industry differences and environmental issues, its operating conditions have deteriorated year by year.
It entered bankruptcy and reorganization procedures in 2018. After the reorganization, Huludao State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission became the actual controlling party. The company’s main business lines were basically retained, relying on four major product structures including turbine machinery.
From a military factory built by Japanese militarists for the war of aggression to the first professional chemical machinery factory in New China, the identity transformation of Jinxi Chemical Machinery Factory has profound historical symbolic significance. It has witnessed the development of China’s chemical machinery manufacturing industry from scratch.
