CCTV News, Lu'an, March 8 (Reporter Xu Qiuyun) Recently, the All-China Women's Federation held a commemoration and commendation conference to commemorate the International Women's Day in Beijing. Wang Xingfang, deputy manager and senior engineer of the technical department of Anhui Yingliu Hangyuan Power Technology Co., Ltd. from Huoshan County, Lu'an, was awarded the honorary title of “National March 8th Red Flag Bearer” in 2025.
In the casting workshop of key aero-engine parts, she is a skilled casting engineer; in major scientific research tasks, she is a “vanguard” in overcoming difficulties. Over the past 30 years, Wang Xingfang has been deeply involved in the front line of the enterprise, writing the story of “skills make talents, skills serve the country” in every inch of precision casting.
In 1996, Wang Xingfang joined Anhui Yingliu Group after graduating from technical secondary school. At that time, she cherished an “engineer dream”, but she was also clearly aware of the gap between herself and her dream. “A low starting point does not mean everything. As long as you work hard, everything is possible.” This is what she often says, and it is also her most true portrayal in the past thirty years. In order to make up for her lack of theoretical knowledge, she almost never missed a training session. She worked on the production line during the day to “learn by doing” and stayed up late at night to “learn by doing”.
In 2002, Yingliu Group and Hefei University of Technology jointly founded Yingliu Staff University. Wang Xingfang faced an important choice in her life: on one side was her infant daughter who needed to be taken care of, and on the other was the coveted opportunity for further study. “With the support of my family, I still signed up.” For the next three years, she worked during the day and attended classes at night. It is this almost stubborn persistence that allowed her to grow step by step from a front-line operator to a technician and engineer, and gradually took on the important task of research and development of the company's core technologies.
In Wang Xingfang's career, conquering the “impossible” seems to have become a norm.
In 2015, the company received a research and development task for gas turbine parts from a Fortune 500 company, and Wang Xingfang was appointed as the project lead engineer. When the customer saw that a female engineer had taken over the project, he questioned in person: “Can you do it?” The dimensional accuracy of this product has reached the highest level of international precision casting, and the thickness of the blade trailing edge is only 0.5 mm. The customer has been looking for qualified suppliers in China for many years, but has not been successful in research and development. Faced with doubts, Wang Xingfang did not argue and just led the team into the workshop. She and her team members were producing, testing, and summarizing, and ultimately all 15 products were delivered on schedule.
In 2017, a race against time quietly began. The company received the task of developing engine blades for a certain type of equipment in my country's aerospace field. As a cutting-edge equipment project, the structure and material properties of this product are extremely complex, and the process is unprecedentedly difficult. Faced with the challenge, Wang Xingfang and his team repeatedly optimized the design process and technology, closely calculated every detail of the production process, and spent countless nights in front of the drawings and experimental benches. She followed up every process and provided on-site guidance on every detail. It was this spirit of “nailing” that allowed the team to finally overcome difficulties such as blade size deformation and internal defects. From drawing design to sample delivery, it only took three and a half months, and mass production was achieved more than a year ahead of schedule. The product quality not only fully meets the requirements of aerospace standards, but also has won unanimous praise from aerospace system experts.
Wang Xingfang’s master, Vice President of Technology of Yingliu Group and Chief Engineer of Hangyuan Company, Shi Changkun, summed up Wang Xingfang in three words: capable, responsible and warm. “She is the kind of technical backbone who can see through things at ordinary times, stand up at critical moments, and be brave in critical moments.”
Over the years, Wang Xingfang has led the team to crack down one “hard nut” after another. The integral casting of key components of the domestic turbofan engine has become the first domestic technology and won the second prize of the National Science and Technology Progress Award; the large-size directional blades of heavy-duty gas turbines have been mass-produced, making our country no longer dependent on imports in this field…
“I know very well that the honor I receive does not belong to me personally, but rather to the company that trained me, to the leaders and colleagues at all levels who have supported and helped me, and to this great era that respects labor, advocates skills, and encourages innovation.” During the interview, Wang Xingfang said that her story is just a microcosm of the positivity of thousands of female science and technology workers struggling on the front lines of the industry.“People often ask me, is it hard or difficult to do this? Of course it is difficult. But as a grassroots scientific and technological worker, I think it is worth it if I can contribute to the national aerospace industry.”
Thirty years of hard work has kept the original intention unchanged. Today, she is still working on the front line of technology research and development. Wang Xingfang said that the next goal is to challenge the production and manufacturing of key components of oversized aero-engines and continue to contribute to the country to the best of her ability. She will also continue to lead the team to climb the peak of science and technology and write a new chapter in the journey of “industry serving the country”. (Credit: Huoshan County Media Center)