The science and technology community is moved by Hou Xianglin s five kinds of spirit

The leading Party groups of the CAE, CAS, China Natural Petroleum Corporation, and China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation have jointly adopted a resolution on learning from Comrade Hou Xianglin. The resolution notes that Hou is a world-renowned scientist in the petrochemical field, one of the pioneers of China s petrochemical technology, and a founder of China s oil refining technology. Under his leadership, China successfully developed U-235 separator and serial products of oil and grease for high-precision missile instruments in the atomic energy industry. He took charge of finding a Chinese solution to the problem of ablation by jet fuel on the chromel combustor liner of jet engines and guided the successful research on and industrial application of five major technologies (FCC, catalytic reforming, decoking, urea de-waxing, and catalysts and additives). In addition, he participated in the formation, coordination and implementation of all the state and ministry-level science and technology development programs. In 2003, at the age of 91, he presided over the research on an important project Strategic Research on China s Sustainable Development of Oil and Gas Resources. In a word, Comrade Hou Xianglin has made outstanding contributions to China s science and technology, especially to the development of China s petroleum and petrochemical undertakings. The resolution reads: We should learn from Comrade Hou Xianglin s firm faith in and life-long selfless devotion to the Party and people. In his youth, Hou linked his own destiny with that of the country and its people. As a teenager, he, together with some progressive teachers and students, took to the streets to demonstrate against the British and Japanese imperialists who bullied and oppressed the Chinese people. When he was a student at Yenching University in Peiping, he actively participated in the movement to present a petition to the Nanjing Government and collected donations for officers and soldiers fighting on the front lines. After graduation, he worked at the Institute of Chemistry of the Central Academy in Shanghai, where he read a large number of works by Marx and Lenin in their English editions. After Shanghai was occupied by the Japanese invaders, he went to Changsha, where he threw himself into the anti-Japanese national salvation movement. In the spring of 1938, he secretly joined the Communist Party of China. During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he was sent by the underground Party organization to southwestern China to participate in the work of refining liquid fuel from coal and vegetable oil. In 1944, on the eve of victory in the war, he was sent to the United States by the CPC for further study. There, he participated in and organized patriotic activities, and mobilized a number of Chinese students to return to the motherland to take part in the construction of New China. During the Cultural Revolution, he suffered countless hardships, but he remained firm politically. Since the initiation of reform and opening to the outside world, he has always acted in concert with the Party Central Committee because he always remembers the oath he took when he joined the Party. We should learn from Hou s scrupulous and pragmatic scientific attitude. Hou is a prudent person with a down-to-earth spirit. In the early 1970s, he adhered to the principle of seeking truth from facts, put stress on the management of scientific research, and took charge of the development of many new techniques, technologies and products, such as multi-metal reforming, riser FCC, residue catalytic cracking, viscosity breaking, solvent deasphalting, two-step fermentation of vitamins, BR, and high-quality lubricants. As a result, he made a number of achievements in these areas. In the late 1970s, he organized experts to undertake research on how to make good use of 100 million tons of petroleum. Then he submitted a report entitled Suggestions for Making Full Use of 100 Million Tons of Petroleum to the Party Central Committee. We should learn from Hou s spirit of breaking new ground independently. In all his life, Hou has been diligent and dedicated to his work. In the late 1950s and mid 1960s, he organized a research group to tackle key scientific problems, and solved a key problem after painstaking efforts the ablation by jet fuel on the chromel combustor liner of jet engines. To meet China s demands for the development of A-bombs, missiles, satellites and new-type jet planes, a research group under his leadership developed various types of special lubricants. The successful development of five new refining technologies, (fluid catalytic cracking, catalytic reforming, decoking, urea de-waxing and relevant catalysts and additives) brought China s oil refining technology up to world-class level in the early 1960s. In the 1980s, the Research Institute of Petroleum worked hard to develop a new catalyst; using a vacuum distillate, they obtained a 40 percent yield of olefin, half of which is propylene. Through his great efforts, the new technique of catalytic cracking was successfully developed, and has already been industrialized and exported abroad. We should learn from Hou s strategic, farsighted vision. Hou is a strategic scientist, and was among the first group of academic members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1955. As a leader of the Ministry of the Petroleum Industry, he took infinite pains to work for the progress in China s petroleum and petrochemical industries. Hou and five other scientists: Shi Changxu, Zhang Wei, Zhang Guangdou, Wang Daheng and Luo Peilin, who fully understood the important role of engineering and technological sciences and the significance and urgency of founding an advisory academic institution of engineering and technological sciences at the highest level, submitted a report to the Party Central Committee and the State Council suggesting the Chinese Academy of Engineering be established. In 1994, the CAE was formally founded. Owing to his sponsorship, the Chinese Petroleum Society was established. In August 1983, he led a Chinese delegation to attend the 11th World Petroleum Congress in London, UK. It was the first time a Chinese delegation participated in the Congress. Due to his great efforts, China won the bid to host the 15th World Petroleum Congress. In addition, he pays great attention to the training of young scientists and technicians. At present, he is the director numerous funds: including China Science & Technology Museum Fund, and the Hou Xianglin Fund.
We should learn from Hou s lofty character trait of selfless dedication. In May 2003, Hou was appointed by Premier Wen Jiabao of the State Council to take charge of the Strategic Research on China s Sustainable Development of Oil and Gas Resources. In April 2004, his wife Li Xiuzhen became gravely ill. Her condition turned from bad to worse, and by June 25, she was on the verge of death. On that morning, Premier Wen Jiabao held a meeting to listen to the report on the strategic research project. Hou attended the meeting and made the keynote speech. That afternoon, Li who had worked and lived with Hou for nearly half a century, departed from the world forever. Everyone who heard the news was visibly moved.
The leading Party groups of the CAE, CAS, China Natural Petroleum Corporation, and China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation urge everyone working in the scientific and technological fields and the petrochemical industry to learn from Comrade Hou Xianglin s five kinds of spirit : seeking truth and being pragmatic, keeping pace with the times, doing one s own job well, working in a down-to-earth way, and trying to taking one s work to a new level.
Caption:
Hou Xianglin examines a high-temperature furnace at the SINO Shanghai Petrochemical Company Limited in September 2000.
Resume of Hou Xianglin
Hou Xianglin, 93, is a member of the Communist Party of China, senior advisor of the China Natural Petroleum Corporation, senior advisor of the China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation, honorary council chairman of the Chinese Petroleum Society, honorary chairman of the China National Committee for the World Petroleum Congress, and a member of both CAS and CAE.
Hou Xianglin graduated from the Department of Chemistry of the Yenching University in 1935, and joined the Communist Party of China in 1938. In December 1944, he went to the United States to study at his own expense, and got the doctor s degree in 1948. Since his return to China in 1950, he has successively served as professor of the Department of Chemistry and concurrently research fellow of the Fuel Research Office of Tsinghua University; research fellow and acting section director of the Dalian Petroleum Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; chief engineer of the Oil Refining Department of the Petroleum Administration; deputy director of the Production and Technology Division of the Ministry of Petroleum Industry; vice-president and president of the Research Institute of Petroleum; vice-president, acting president and acting secretary of the Party Committee of the Research Institute of Petroleum Processing; vice-minister of Petroleum Industry and concurrently president of the Research Institute of Petroleum Processing; chairman of the council of the Chinese Petroleum Society; chief advisor and vice-chairman of the Technology and Economy Advisory Committee of the China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation; vice-chairman and senior advisor of the Technology Committee of the China Natural Petroleum Corporation; chairman of the China National Committee for the World Petroleum Congress; standing member of the fifth, sixth and seventh CPPCC National Committee; member of the Academic Degree Committee of the State Council; vice-chairman of the Invention Selection Committee of the State Science and Technology Commission; and member of the National Natural Science Foundation of China.