Research On The Production Of Fire Nitrate In Taihang District During The War Of Liberation

Potassium nitrate,also named KNO₃,is a kind of crude material in producing propellant powders and ammonium nitrate explosives,which are main fillers of the bullets and various calibers of shells.During the War of Resistance against Japan,with the improvement of the producing technologies of the military industry in Taihang area,especially the origin of the ammonium nitrate explosives and the breakthrough in toughening technology of the white pig iron,the variety and the quantity of the military production greatly increased.When the War of Liberation broke out,the production of the military industry in Taihang area abandoned the complicated gun producing and turned to manufacture the shells with various calibers,which led to the increasing demand of the potassium nitrate.However,it was far from meeting the demands only relying on the purchasing potassium nitrate in the market.Under this background,a“nitrate-boiling”mass movement started in Taihang area and lasted for three year and nine months,successfully bringing the spontaneously folk nitrate-boiling actions into military industry producing system and greatly improving the potassium nitrate producing abilities in Taihang area,which effectively ensured the supply of the military industry materials.This thesis includes five parts.The first part introduces the reasons of this topic,the review of the academic history,the research methods and other related materials.The second part focuses on the causes and backgrounds of the potassium nitrate production in Taihang area during the period of the War of Liberation.In this period,the variety and the quantity of military production in Taihang area got a massive promotion due to the collecting professionals and the breakthrough of military production technologies.And the mass movement of the potassium nitrate production in some areas during the later period of the War of Resistance against Japan accumulated lots of experience for the War of Liberation.Then,this part analyses the characteristics of military production in Taihang area and explains the reasons why the CPC aroused a massive mass movement aiming at potassium nitrate production in this area.The third part introduces the beginning and development of the potassium nitrate production.Different levels of Niter and Sulphur Administrations founded in Taihang area used methods containing political publicity and profits stimulating to raise the mass movement of nitrate-boiling,and transformed the household potassium nitrate production into mass movement potassium nitrate production in workshops by sharing out bonus,which greatly improved the output of potassium nitrate.The fourth part discusses the recovery and adjustment of the potassium nitrate production in Taihang area.The potassium nitrate production was effected seriously by the land reform and the organizational consolidation.For the purposes of military production supply in the strategic counterattack and out of consideration to cut the cost,the administrations began to recover and adjust the potassium nitrate production in Taihang area,consisting of adjusting the price,establishing the institution,and transforming the organization.The fifth part mainly introduces the phase of reducing and ending of the potassium nitrate production in Taihang area.The military production in Taihang area gradually reduced with the development of the war.Thus,methods including the political publicity,potassium nitrate purchasing and storing,and clearing and settling accounts were used in this phase to fully reduce the production.At the same time,the CPC certainly considered the development of the potassium nitrate industry,potassium nitrate workers and people in Niter and Sulphur Administrations in the future.In order to show the original history of potassium nitrate production,the thesis tried to use only data from work report and meeting minutes of governments of different levels and Bureau of Potassium Nitrate and Sulfur.As for propagandistic reports on newspapers such as Xinhua Daily（Taihang version）and People’s Daily,the thesis only quoted its publicity means after screening but not its data.However,due to limited capability of the author,there are still many flaws concerning collection of historical data and the screening and analysis of them.Hence the thesis is merely a tentative research.The thesis may not be able to provide an overall analysis of the potassium nitrate production during the period.