Persistence Starting from Where You Cannot Hold On

Liu Guoqiang

Liu Guoqiang is a member of the China Writers Association. He has won a host of awards， including the Liaoning Literature Prize， the Beijing Literature Prize and the Steed Prize at the 12th National Contest of Ethnic Minority Literary Creation.

An Ode to Lop Nor

Written by Liu Guoqiang

Translated by Liu Shinan

China Intercontinental Press

February 2023

119.00 （CNY）

This book presents the tenacious struggles waged by pioneers in the Lop Nor “uninhabited zone” to look for sylvite and develop China’s potash industry. In the waterless， electric-free and lifeless desert， Li Shouliang and his team overcame unimaginable difficulties to successfully locate potassium ore and produce potash fertilizer. Their tireless work created multiple industrial records that shocked foreign colleagues.

It was too early to claim success. Lop Nor was a place of nothing — no water， no electricity， no highways， no railways， and no suitable environment; and yet there had to be workers’ dormitories， workshops and production equipment.

That was the reality. If these “no’s” were likened to mountains， then at least seven big mountains stood in the developers’ way. Every attempt to surmount the mountains would call for a huge amount of investment. The reality， however， was that they couldn’t even clear the first hurdle — the industrial-scale experiment.

Even a foreign expert was invited to assess the project. The Foreign Affairs Management Bureau of Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region invited a potash fertilizer expert from Germany to Lop Nor for an investigation. The conclusion given by him was： “You cannot produce potash fertilizer here， for the brine in Lop Nor contains too little potassium and too high a sulphuric acid ratio. If you want to produce potash fertilizer here， you need to import potassium

chloride.”

Now the Lop Nor builders were faced with three formidable barriers — huge investment， long productive cycles， and high risks.

Every evening， Li Shoujiang engrossed himself in writing. He was drafting a report for raising funds. He knew he had to make his words very touching so that those who read the report would be moved. He wanted every word to be stirring， warming， and enlightening.

In the report he cited four reasons. First， China’s agriculture needs potassium， like a bent man who needs calcium tablets to make up the deficiency. Second， the project to produce potash fertilizer in Lop Nor was approved by the central government and thus is an action of the State. Third， small-scale and medium-scale experiments had been completed and the first sack of potassium sulfate had been produced， which indicated that large-scale production would generate fat profits. Fourth， the Luobupo Potash Company had gathered a group of young and middle-aged specialists who were not only technologically savvy but also good at management and who were tough and brave in front of challenges and had a strong feeling for their families and nation.

He printed the report in many copies and sent them to Urumqi， the capital of Xinjiang， to Beijing， and to many financially strong organizations which had promised to give a deliberation on his request.

He looked forward to replies from the organizations he thought were likely to join the project， but none of them replied.

In the doldrums， the balance in the company’s account was only a little more than 100，000 yuan， which was not enough to pay the employees’ salaries. Members of the company’s top management made a secret decision： suspend paying all the senior managers but guarantee three expenses—that for buying diesel for power generation， that for transporting products out of Lop Nor for sales， and paying the employees on the grassroots level.

One month passed， then three months， and then six months. Li and his aides negotiated with more than 30 companies. It often happened that the other side agreed to the proposal， but the next day they went back on their words. Li even couldn’t remember how many times he had talked with potential cooperators.

On the most difficult days， Li and his fellow workers often sat on the side of the salt field or the roof of a semi-subterranean cellar in the evening， talking about Lop Nor’s future while scanning stars in the sky. The night was still except for a few sharp cracks produced by salt crusts. The builders encouraged each other.

Just as the project was on the verge of collapse， a savior came. The State Development and Investment Corporation decided to be part of the project.

The State Development and Investment Corporation transferred 20 million yuan to the Luobupo Potash Company’s account. The life-saving money immediately brought vitality to the dried-up hinterland of Lop Nor.

Li and his team reached a consensus： thriftiness must be practiced in the use of money， but high standards should be applied when it comes to equipment， technology and product quality. Their standards should be raised from “domestically advanced” to “internationally advanced.”

They designed the company’s productive capacity as making 1.2 million tons of potassium sulfate a year. That was way ahead of the time. It ensured that many years later， when foreign counterparts tried to catch up， Li’s company remained one of" the world’s number one producers of potassium sulfate. The leadership of the company moved quickly to invite tenders. Five top-ranking design and research institutes in the industry submitted bids to design and build the Luobupo Potash Company’s brine mining project， salt field project， processing plant construction project， power plant project， external water supply project， railway transport project， and ore mining project.

Just as they went full steam ahead with the construction， another problem cropped up — salt harvesters were not available in China.

There was nowhere to buy the machine domestically and no producer in China at all. High standard harvesters could only be bought in other countries. Regrettably， however， they didn’t have a wet harvester either.

A small potato can hold up the sky.

As dismay shrouded the company， Tan Changjing， an engineer of short stature， stood up and volunteered with a pledge： “We can make it by ourselves.”

Tan was not totally unknown.

When he sat for the national college entrance exam in 1978， Tan was already famous in his hometown — Wuchuan County of Guizhou Province — for his excellent performance in senior high school. He was good at math， physics， and chemistry and won the championship in every math contest. When he received the admission notice from Chongqing University， the news created a sensation throughout the county. He said， however， “I did not perform well in the exam; otherwise， I would have been enrolled by a Beijing university.”

His class adviser in high school revealed the secret behind the student’s conceited remark — he had accidentally left some of the questions unanswered in the exam. He was so confident that he uttered， “it’s so easy” every time he received the exam paper and was always the first to finish the answers.

In the chemistry test， he was again the first to finish it. After he handed in the answering sheet and ran away， the invigilator was shocked to find that the student had failed to answer the questions on the back of the exam paper. The teacher called out， trying to remind the careless boy， but the small figure was running so fast that he instantly disappeared from sight.

At Chongqing University， Tan was quite well-known. He not only finished his “graduation design” but also submitted a thesis — A Mathematical Analysis on Improving the Screw-seal of Pump — in which he corrected an error in the formula calculating liquid flow in the slit. The breakthrough revealed the cause of water seeping after the screw seal stopped. Tan invented a new sealing device that combined screw and rubber seals to settle the problem perfectly. He didn’t expect that the new formula he put forward in the thesis would prove to be useful years later in Lop Nor. When the seal in a wet harvester was found not working properly， he proposed his solution but was told by a national-level expert that “you’ve chosen the wrong type of pump.”

Tan said with confidence： “Let’s do it my way. If it fails， I’ll take the blame.” Sure enough， the problem was solved.

Tan took a fancy to a German-made water pump but was scared off by the price tag — 2 million yuan.

He designed a pump on his own and asked a manufacturer to make it according to his design. The manufacturer did it at the cost of only 180，000 yuan.

The light slurry dryer pump invented by Tan became a new product and sold well in the market.

There are two ways to mine salt from a salt field： dry harvesting and wet harvesting. For picromerite， there was no precedent in the world that the wet approach was used at that time.

Using the heaping dry harvester method in industrial-scale production is tantamount to mining a second time. It will generate more difficulties.

After being excavated from the salt lake， the piled-up wet salt lumps easily got stuck together in heaps as hard as rocks. The only way to crush the heaps was detonation. But detonation was too dangerous and would generate specks of dusts that pollute the environment. The ground shake thus caused would also cause damage to the plant buildings. Moreover， heavily loaded trucks trundling to and fro would ruin even the hardest road. And there were hidden safety hazards.

The consequence is acceptable if the production is carried out on a small scale. But what about scaling up to 100，000 tons？ In that case， the raw salt lumps would be piled up to become hills， which would need excavators and forklift trucks working day and night. And then， what if the production scale reached 1.2 million tons？

Picromerite is an indispensable raw material for producing potassium sulfate， but it has a high hardness level and easily gets crusted. If the crusted material needs to be dug by excavators and transported by a considerable number of trucks， it would result in mineral materials piled up in numerous heaps， crowded roads and damaged ground surface. If a belt conveyor is adopted for transport， additional consideration has to be given to the function of wind resistance. If pipelines are used， the mineral material needs to be turned into slurry and dehydrated after transportation. None of these methods are cheaper than wet harvesting and wet transportation.

The technology of wet harvesting is highly reliable and less costly. The cost of dry harvesting is 15 yuan per ton， while that of wet harvesting is 9 yuan per ton.

However， the headache for Li Shoujiang was that if they could not make a wet harvester on their own， they would have to resort to dry harvesting.

Kashemeter， the vice president of Raccho， flew all the way to Urumqi to talk with Li and his team.

Tan proffered his plan. On the basis of the small sample machine he had made， Tan offered to design an amphibious wet harvester with two caterpillar belts. After the slurry went through the dehydration screen on the vehicle， the solid substance would be left onshore while the fluid went back to the salt field.

Kashemeter said in an authoritative tone： “We can design and make a four-caterpillar-belt harvester.”

Tan replied： “A four-belt vehicle would be too heavy and would find it difficult to navigate road bends. We need two-belt wet harvesters， which can operate in water as well as on land.”

The American expert retorted： “Your idea is wrong. The two-belt vehicle is not stable. We cannot make it. Drive onshore？ That’s even more impossible.”

Even the globally leading company from the U.S. admitted it could not manufacture a wet harvester as designed by Tan. The innovative plan seemed to be aborted.

The leadership of the Luobupo Potash Company met once again for discussion. As most participants were inclined to adopt the dry approach， Tan presented a new design of the wet harvester boat， which he had revised the previous night.

In early 2010， an amphibious salt harvester boat and its coordinating system developed by the State-invested Luobupo Potash Company succeeded in mining picromerite with high work efficiency and stable conveyance. The harvester was an unprecedented invention in the world’s manufacturing of salt harvesting equipment.