China's large-scale industrialization began after the founding of the People's Republic of China. Its symbol is the economic construction centered on "156 project" stipulated in the first five-year plan. It is the cornerstone and milestone of China's industrialization.
1953- 1957, new China implemented the first five-year plan. This is an important period for China people to lay a preliminary foundation for industrialization. Under the blockade and embargo of most capitalist countries in the world, New China accepted the capital, technology and equipment assistance from the Soviet Union and eastern European countries through equivalent exchange of foreign trade. Nearly a thousand industrial projects with "156 project" as the core have been built, which has made China's heavy industry with energy, machinery and raw materials take a big step on the road of modernization. With the "156 Project" as the core and more than 900 large and medium-sized projects (above designated size) as the focus, China has initially formed an independent industrial system. It took 19 years from the first project in 1950 to the actual implementation of 1969 150 projects. The climax of construction was during the first five-year plan period. By the end of 1957, more than half of the "156 project" had been completed or put into production on schedule, which played an important role in socialist construction.
The newly-increased industrial production capacity during the First Five-Year Plan period is unprecedented in the history of China. Taking the steel industry as an example, the newly-increased steelmaking capacity in 1956 reached1422,000 tons, far exceeding the old steelmaking capacity in China (the highest annual output was1943,923,700 tons). The development speed has also surpassed that of capitalist countries in history. It took only five years for China steel output to increase from10.35 million tons in 1952 to 5.35 million tons in 1957. The steel output in the United States increased from 1.880/.27 million tons to 1.892' s 50 1 10,000 tons, and it took 12 years. It took 23 years for Britain to increase from 13 10000 tons in 1880 to10000 tons. France spent 26 years from 1897 to1340,000 tons to 1923 to 5.3 million tons. That is to say, during the "First Five-Year Plan" period, the five-year journey of China's iron and steel industry is equivalent to that of the United States 12 years, 23 years in Britain and 26 years in France. The huge growth of industrial production capacity has created a material foundation for the further rapid development of China's industry. "156" key construction projects and nearly 1,000 industrial construction projects above designated size have also initially changed the unreasonable industrial layout in old China and promoted the balanced development of regional economy. In old China, 70% of industrial facilities were concentrated in coastal areas, and limited inland industries were mainly concentrated in a few big cities. In northwest China, which accounts for13 of the national land area, the industrial output value of 1949 only accounts for 2% of the national total, and there is no industrial base in the past hundred years. Weak industries are too concentrated in the corner of the eastern coast, which is not only unfavorable to the rational allocation of resources, but also extremely unfavorable to the economic security of the country. In order to change this situation, during the first five-year plan period, the China government put a considerable part of the 156 project and other projects above designated size aided by the Soviet Union in the mainland with relatively weak industrial base. Considering resources and other factors, iron and steel enterprises, non-ferrous metal smelting enterprises, chemical enterprises, etc. Choose the central and western regions with rich mineral resources and sufficient energy supply; Mechanical processing enterprises will be located near the raw material production base. Among the 150 projects put into construction, there are 6 private enterprises 106, except 50 in the northeast, and most of them are in the central and western regions, that is, 29 in the middle and 2 1 in the west; Of the 44 national defense enterprises, 35 are located in the central and western regions, except for some shipyards located by the sea. The actual investment of 150 project 196 1 100 million yuan, of which the northeast region accounts for 44.3% of the actual investment, and most of the rest funds are invested in the central and western regions, with the central region accounting for 32.9%; The western region accounts for 20%. In the 2 1 project undertaken by private enterprises in the western region 106, the energy projects include: Tongchuan Wangshiao shaft, Xi 'an thermal power station, Urumqi thermal power station, Lingxian thermal power station, Lanzhou thermal power station, Chengdu thermal power station, Chongqing thermal power station and Gejiu thermal power station; Non-ferrous metal projects include: Yunnan Tin Company, Baiyin Nonferrous Metal Company, Dongchuan Copper Management Bureau and Huize Lead-zinc Mine; Petrochemical enterprises include: Lanzhou Refinery, Lanzhou Synthetic Rubber Plant and Lanzhou Nitrogen Fertilizer Plant; Machinery manufacturing enterprises include: Lanzhou Petroleum Machinery Factory, Lanzhou Petrochemical Machinery Factory, Xi 'an High Voltage Electric Porcelain Factory, Xi 'an Switch Rectifier Factory, Xi 'an Insulation Material Factory, Xi 'an Electric Window Container Factory, etc. Because each key construction project needs to arrange supporting projects, the first large-scale investment in the western region during the "First Five-Year Plan" period has greatly changed the backward face of the western region and promoted the economic development and urbanization process in the western region. Key construction projects such as "156" have also created conditions for the growth of engineering design, technology, construction personnel and industrial workers in China.
The construction process of "156" key project has gone through two stages: Soviet aid and independent construction. The whole 1950s was the first stage, and the project was built under the guidance of Soviet experts. 1 960 July 16, the Soviet government suddenly sent a note to the government of China, and decided to withdraw all Soviet experts in China from July 28th to September1and unilaterally tear up the aid contract to China. This makes "item 156" enter the stage of independent construction. By the end of 1960, 156 projects had been completed and 17 projects were under construction. Our people carried forward the spirit of "independence and self-reliance", overcame the technical problems encountered in the construction process and successfully completed the construction of the remaining projects.
After the completion of "156 Project", newly built, rebuilt and expanded enterprises have made great contributions to China's industrialization. The energy, raw materials and mechanical equipment it produces are continuously transported to all parts of the country; The technicians and skilled workers they trained have become the seeds and backbone of the new industrial base, and they have made the spark of China industry gradually form a prairie fire. Under the traditional planned economy system, in order to concentrate financial and material resources to expand the industrial scale, these enterprises turned over all profits to the state, and the depreciation rate of fixed assets was very low, and the upgrading was very slow. When they turn over the profits equivalent to ten times or dozens of times of the state's investment to the state, they have no right and ability to renew and transform themselves, so that they will soon become old. Especially under the guiding ideology of class struggle and rigid understanding of economic system, China missed many opportunities for reform in 1956, 1965 and 1970s. Since 1980s, these large and medium-sized state-owned enterprises established in 1950s and 1960s are facing challenges, and it is necessary to establish a dynamic mechanism to meet the requirements of developing socialist market economy in the process of economic system reform. Since 1980s, these enterprises have become the focus of the reform of state-owned enterprises in China. In the face of fierce competition in the market economy, most of them have re-emerged through hard struggle such as reorganization, reorganization, production conversion and structural adjustment.
With the progress of industrialization, by the end of the first five-year plan period (1957), the economic structure of China has undergone major changes. It is obviously reflected in the industrial structure and the industry composition of social workers.