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Aviation History
1986
1986 - 1462.PDF
China: rebuilding Xian, the ancient walled city, was once China's capital. Here the emperor who gave his name to this vast country decreed that a 6,000-strong terracotta army be created to guard his tomb for eternity. Every day 50,000 visitors file past this statue army as it emerges from the dust of 22 centuries. Every year, thousands of foreign tourists fly into Xian to see this eighth wonder of the world and the region's other historical sites. Not on their tour agenda, although impressive in its own right, is the vast aircraft factory at Yan Liang, 90km outside Xian. If they were to visit the Xian Aircraft Company (XAC), foreign tourists would discover how the demand for air travel that their presence creates is revitalising an industry which has a key role to play in China's economic devel opment. Set up in 1958 to build large bomber and transport aircraft under Soviet licence, the Xian factory is perhaps the largest of its kind in China—certainly the largest visited by Flight—with its 400,000m2 of buildings housing 1,000-plus machines. But, typically of the factories visited by Flight, less than one-third of the Xian workforce is directly involved From Xian to Shanghai, China's aircraft industry is gearing up to meet the country's expected demand for airliners. Graham Warwick reports from China, with photographs by Janice Lowe. in aircraft production. At first glance diving boards, washing machines, aluminium-frame doors and windows, satellite dishes, and, of all things, fairground Ferris wheels may not have much in common, but they are all products of the Xian aircraft factory. To compensate for the reduction in military work which followed the Cultural Revolution, China's aircraft factories turned to the production of domestic goods. While going some way towards meeting China's new consumerism, this move has cushioned the industry in its transition from wholly military to predominantly civil aircraft production, with an ultimate goal of a 60:40 civil- military balance. Between 1981 and 1985 China built 135 civil aircraft, mainly at three factories; 28 Harbin in the north, and Xian and Hanzhong in central China. "Hundreds" of civil aircraft are to be produced during the next five-year plan, 1986 to 1990, with Shanghai emerging as a major manu facturing centre assembling McDonnell Douglas MD-82s under licence. Flight's tour of China's civil aircraft industry took in the Harbin, Xian, and Shanghai factories. Known locally as "Aeroplane Town", Yan Liang is a long drive from Xian through a sea of wheatfields dotted with village "islands". China's new rural pros perity is evident in the rash of new brick- built houses springing up everywhere. Yan Liang, a town of some 60,000, is made memorable by its beautiful tree-lined streets. The aircraft factory employs some 10,000, and is large even by Western standards, but is typically Chinese in its organisation. "The company is equal to a small society," says Yi Zhibin, XAC vice- president and chief engineer. "Besides the factory there are the public services— nursery, primary, and middle schools, col lege, canteens, shops, and a hospital. We have to take care of an employee from his birth to his death, providing his education, his work, and his home," he adds. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL, 28 June 1986
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