Wuhan Steel Giant Gets Set

October 1, China's National Day, is target day for the workers and engineers of the new iron and steel works at Wuhan. By that date its No. 1 blast furnace will go into operation and No. 1 coking oven will be ready by September 1, it has just been announced. A 10 per cent increase in the works' total investments has been allocated to guarantee this.

The construction site is humming with preparations to step up the production schedule. Workers, engineers and administrators have pledged to do their utmost during the next seven months to put blast furnace No. 1 into operation and to complete the entire project in three years.

The No. 1 blast furnace of the Wuhan Iron and Steel Works, one of China's major metallurgical bases, will produce enough pig iron to make 100,000 wheeled double-share ploughs a day, or the complete equipment for a steam power plant. Wuhan Steel will be the main source from which China plans to increase her output of iron and steel during the Second Five-Year Plan. As the country has set out to catch up with Britain and overtake it in the output of iron and steel and other major industrial products in 15 years the commissioning of even part of the Wuhan Iron and Steel Works brings China's great expectations a step nearer to fruition.