Research On Nantong Coal Mine (1938-1945)

After the July 7th Incident of 1937,the Japanese Army attacked on a large scale and captured North and Central China.The traditional energy industrial bases in the northern,eastern and central plains regions of China have all fallen under Japanese control.National Government was forced to move west and moved its capital to the provisional capital chongqing.Especially after the withdrawal of the National Army in Wuhan,all the important universities,factories and financial institutions also moved westward one after another,converging into a trend and scattered in various provinces in the southwest region.At the same time some important industrial facilities of factories in the coastal areas are also moved to Chongqing along the Yangtze River.As wartime provisional capital,the National Government planned to build a wartime industrial system from steel to weapons in Chongqing and was ready to wage a protracted war with Japan.Steel is the industrial foundation during the war.If the production of steel and arsenal is insufficient,the front-line war will be seriously affected.The iron and steel industry is based on iron ore and coal.With the continuous development of iron ore in Xichang and Qijiang areas,Chongqing iron and steel ore had assured source.As an important fuel and strategic raw material,coal,especially high-quality coking coal,became an urgent need in wartime.Moreover,the situation became even worse after major coal-producing areas such as North and Central China were successively occupied by Japanese Army.In addition to the abnormal energy industry pattern before the outbreak of the war,the urgent need of the front-line war in wartime,the large influx of eastern population to Chongqing and other factors,in a short period of time,the demand for coal energy in Chongqing region is increasing day by day,and the energy supply in Chongqing is in serious crisis.The National Government was deeply aware of the huge constraints brought by the lack of energy and raw materials.In order to solve the "coal mine" emergency,it was imperative to give priority to the support and development of the coal mine industry.From the early days when the capital was moved to Chongqing,the National Government immediately ordered the Relocation and Construction Committee of the Iron and Steel Plant to start organizing production enterprises of various kinds of mineral raw materials.After detailed investigation,the Bureau of Ordnance of the Military and Political Department of the National Government,and the Relocation and Construction Committee of the Iron and Steel Plant of the Economic Department,decided to carry out large-scale mining because they believed that the Nantong Coal Mine at the junction of Qijiang,Nanchuan and Tongzi was close to Chongqing and close to Qijiang Iron Mine,with the convenience of water transportation and surrounded by mountains,which was very conducive to war preparedness.Open up a pioneer work regardless of hardships.In March 1938,the Bureau of Ordnance of the Military and Political Department of the National Government,the Resources Committee of Economic Department,and the Relocation and Construction Committee of the Iron and Steel Plant of the Economic Department,jointly set up the Nantong Coal Mine Preparatory Office in Hankou,invested 19.73 million legal tender to open the Nantong Coal Mine,and appointed Hou Dejun,a well-known miner and former manager of Jingxing Coal Mine,as the director of the preparatory office.On July 8 of that year,Hou Dejun led 13 technicians and a large number of equipment dismantled from the two steel mills of Hanyang and Daye in Hubei Province to enter Sichuan through the Three Gorges and then to Taozidang in Wansheng via the Sichuan-Hunan Highway to formally carry out the mining work.They also built 35 American beehive coke oven in the Gukouhe region on the advice of Clay,an American consultant from the wartime production bureau.In the following year,Nantong Coal Mine was completed and put into production.All the coal char produced was supplied to Chongqing Iron and Steel Plant for the purpose of forging steel.Meanwhile,with the support of the famous industrialist Lu Zuofu's Minsheng company,Liu Siying,Kang Xinzhi and others in Nanchuan area have raised funds to set up Donglin Coal Mine,which has 6 coal factories,namely,Li,Lin,Yuan,Heng,Guo and Fu.Their products are mainly supplied to various military factories and cement factories in Chongqing.Soon,Jingcheng,Tianfu and Qingnian coal mines were also invested and opened by local gentry merchants,and their products were supplied for civil use in Chongqing.The two coal mines,Nantong and Donglin,had a maximum staff of more than 5,000 and a production of about 100,000 tons.At that time,they were one of the largest mines in China.To solve the problem of coal transportation,the National Government spent a huge sum of money to build the Qijiang railway,and also to renovate the navigation channels of Qijiang and Puhe rivers.On July 15,1939,Chiang Kai-shek,Chairman of the Military Affairs Commission of the National Government,personally visited the Daren Gate Dam(Dachangtan)in Qijiang and Puhe Rivers.Later,senior Kuomintang Officials Chen Guofu,Weng Wenhao and others also came to inspect the transportation of Nantong coal.Lu Zuofu,Vice Minister of the Ministry of Communications of the National Government,went to Nantong,Donglin and other coal mines for inspection many times.By 1942,Nantong Coal Mine had reached an annual production capacity of 120,000 tons of raw coal.At the beginning of its construction in 1938,Donglin Coal Mine was a secondary enterprise under "Donglin Coal Mine Co.,Ltd." later,Donglin Coal Mine collected 2.55 million legal bidder and successively acquired and built eight small coal mines and refined plants.By 1948,Donglin Coal Mine had an annual production capacity of 60,000 tons of raw coal.According to statistics,from 1938 to 1945,Nantong and Donglin mines produced 785,000 tons of raw coal and 240,000 tons of coke,all of which were used for industrial and civil use in Chongqing.Especially for the production of steel,military and electric power,it greatly supported the great cause of the Chinese nation's anti-Japanese war and was praised as "Anti-Japanese Coal" by the people at that time."Nantong Coal Char" was also famous throughout the country.In 1945,we finally won the Anti-Japanese War.The National Government moved the capital back to Nanjing,the industrial center of the whole country shifted to the east,and Nantong Mine entered a period of relatively slow development.However,its great contribution to the great cause of the Chinese nation's Anti-Japanese War would go down in history forever.