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【Peiyang Figure】Wang Jing-kang: A Respectable Teacher and Dedicated Researcher

 Arts and Culture

 

Professor Wang Jing-kang,an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, is a well-known celebrity scholar at Tianjin University. As the nation’s leading scientist in industrial crystallization, Prof.Wang, at the age of 82, still boasts of endless energy and is as keen as ever to devote herself wholeheartedly to science and education.

 

Wang Jing-kang at work

Being a dedicated researcher

As a chemical refining technology with efficient energy saving and emission reducing capacity, industrial crystallization is widely applied to pesticide, petrochemical engineering, food and medicine. It also provides key technological support to emerging industries like biochemical engineering, energy materials and so on.

As a pioneer and founder of China’s industrial crystallization technology of chemical engineering, Wang Jing-kang has devoted her life to the innovation and development of theories and new technologies. From thenation’s 6th Five-Year Plan (1981-1085) period to the 12th Five-Year Plan (2011-2015) period , Wang Jing-kang and her team accomplished many national key science and technology industrial engineering projects, provincial and ministerial-level projects and natural science funded projects, won a number of invention patents, and successfully completed the industrial transformation of their scientific achievements.

Potash fertilizer, now cheap and ubiquitous, was once a scarce resource in China. In the 1970s, about 70% of China’s potashfertilizer relied on imports. Although the Salt Lake in Qinghai Province is rich in potash resources, technology insufficiency made it impossible to develop and use the resources, and it cost too much to purchase relevant technologies from foreign companies.

In 1981, Tianjin University undertook No.1 national key scientific and technological research project – to do systematic engineering research on potash production of Qinghai Salt Lake. Wang Jing-kang joined the research team led by Prof. Zhang Yuanmou, an outstanding chemical engineering expert, and soon became one of the principal researchers.

The raw materials were transported from Qinghai to Tianjin University, and a pilot production workshop was built next to the laboratory. Professor Zhang Yuan-mou, who had returned from the United States, tried every means to buy an HP-1000 minicomputer and started the earliest computer-aided designs. Several teachers and graduate students took responsibility for both scientific research and production.

Humble and shabby as their workshop seemed to be at that time, it nurtured and witnessed the independent development of China’s industrial crystallization technology. After five years of hard work round the clock as well as tough lab and pilot experiments, this young research team finally developed the technology to extracted potash fertilizer from carnallite of Qinghai Salt Lake. Related technologies had reached the international advanced level, and laid the foundation for China to establish potash fertilizer industry independently.

From then on, potash fertilizer is no longer a scarce resource for China.

During the 7th Five-Year Plan (1986-1990) period, Wang Jing-kang began to preside over her first and the most challenging national key project, as she put it.

“We were expected to separate odorous p-dichlorobenzene from a mixture of m-dichlorobenzene, o-dichlorobenzene and dichlorobenzene, and to prepare odorless moth-proofing products. The standard for a successful pilot scale test was to extract more than 99.8% of dichlorobenzene from the mixed dichlorobenzene. Melt crystallization technology was essential for the test, but it was once a patent monopolized by foreign companies”. Wang recalled.

Basing on existing foreign technologies, Wang Jing-kang had tried three different types of tower melting crystallizers in three years but none of them worked out. As the five-year deadline drew close, Wang was torn with anxiety.

Then a talk with her father enlightened her. “He told me not to be disheartened by the failures but to look into them, find out the mistakes that have caused them and try to avoid the mistakes next time.”

She overthrew all previous plan and started all over again. She made it one year ahead of schedule. During the pilot scale test, the purity of p-dichlorobenzene reached 99.9%, and the trial run succeeded in the first round. After industrialization, the new technology was able to produce an annual output of 4000-ton odorous p-dichlorobenzene.

Due to the successful project, Tianjin University’s Systematic Engineering Research Laboratory was authorized as the Industrial Crystallization Research Center” by the Ministry of Chemical Industry, and has since been the leading figure in China’ crystallization research.

Wang and her team then accomplished a couple of more national key science and technology projects related to “industrial crystallization” and created a record of a successful industrialization trial run at the first attempt for all the projects.

Some deemed their record a miracle, but what underlies is Wang Jing-kang’s perseverance and unremitting efforts day after day.

Wang Jing-kang has set such a rule for both herself and her team that no experiment data is valid unless it has been proved more than 20 times. “Experimenting is a testing process. Only when the data of this process is valid can enterprises achieve success when doing practical projects.” Wang patiently but resolutely stuck to her rule whenever there was a question about its strictness.

In 1990, Wang Jing-kang and her team accepted the national key scientific and technological research project of the 8th Five-Year Plan period and began to study about the developing process and equipment for penicillin crystallization in production.

Before the project was finished, Wang Jing-kang suffered a recurrence of thyroid disease which caused atrial fibrillation and required a surgical procedure. However, Wang put off the operation again and again, and didn’t get hospitalized until the construction work for the project kicked off and necessary equipment was installed. What’s more, during her recovery period, she came to the site seven times to inspect and guide the installation of equipment, instruments and pipes.

Finally, the new penicillin preparation technology successfully passed the first test run carried out in the North China pharmaceutical factory, ending the project two years ahead of the schedule. The technology was rapidly promoted, applied to 90% of the penicillin industries in China, and even sold out abroad. Nowadays, China’s penicillin industry has occupied more than 80% of the international market.

From the 6th Five-Year Plan period to the 12th Five-Year Plan period, Wang Jing-kang and her team developed the key technology in industrial crystallization, designed the tower liquid membrane crystallizer to obtain high purity p-dichlorobenzene, improved the purity of penicillin that occupied 80% of the international market, explored the coupling of crystallization technology,developed the theory of chemical crystallization process system engineering, established an industrial crystallization basic database and an expert system that can amplify the crystallization, process and took the lead in applying information technology to all of the industrialized projects…Their works pushed China’s industrial crystallization technology to the forefront of the world, and changed the pattern of the global crystallization industry again and again.

Being an honorable teacher

On September 10, 2019, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee celebrated the Teachers’ Day with representatives of the National Teaching and Education Model at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing together. Wang Jing-kang was among the representatives and stood in the first row. The picture of her shaking hands with the general secretary was hung up on the wall by her students in the lab.

Wang Jing-kang with students

For Wang Jing-kang, of all her achievements, she is proudest to be a teacher.

For her students, they are most honored to have Prof. Wang as their supervisor and bear her signature on their dissertation papers. “We learnt not only professional knowledge from Prof. Wang, but also her dedication to work, her passion for scientific research and her love for the country,” said one of her students.

What Prof. Wang most wants to convey to her student is that “Faith is the power to overcome difficulties”. “Strengthening the nation through scientific and technological development is our generation’s pursuit and we hold fast to it our whole life. I also want to pass the belief on to my students as I inherit it from my father.” Wang noted.

In 1938, Wang Jing-kang was born into an intellectual family. Her father was Wang Enming, an expert in chemical metallurgy. He was once a patriotic scientist representative who returned from abroad to attend the founding ceremony of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, and also among the first group of first-class registered engineers in China.

Because of his outstanding academic performance, Wang Enming was immediately hired as an engineer by Carnegie Steel Company in Pittsburgh, the largest steel company in the United States at that time after he graduated from Purdue University. He returned to his motherland in 1926, and worked as a deputy chief engineer at Yaohua glass factory located in Qinhuangdao. Then the Anti-Japanese War broke out and the Japanese took over the factory. Wang Enming resolutely refused to work for the Japanese and immediately offered to resign.

The invading Japanese did not want to let go of this talented engineer and tried to keep him by all means. They first imprisoned him and promised him with high positions and matched salary. Once he refused, they turned to torturing and intimidating him. Wang Enming was beaten badly and got hospitalized, but he didn’t give in.

Just as the old saying goes, every man has a share of responsibility for the fate of his country, and Wang Enming has put this saying into actions. Though Wang Jing-kang was still a little girl at that time, she saw what happened and followed in her father’s footstep and tried all her life to take her share of responsibility for the fate of the country.

Wang Jing-kang’s mother, who graduated from a normal school, is a book lover. No matter how hard life was, she always tried to buy new books for her family and all the spare parts of the room were used to place bookshelves. She encouraged boys to learn from Yue Fei and Wen Tian-xiang both of whom are famous patriotic personage in Chinese history, and girls to learn from Hua Mu-lan and Madame Curie. A roomful of books and inspiring patriotic stories constituted Wang Jing-kang’s indelible childhood memories.

Taking her father’s advice, Wang Jing-kang was admitted to the Department of chemical Engineering of Tianjin University in 1955. After graduating from the college, she continued her postgraduate study supervised by Prof. Zhang Jian-hou. Prof. Zhang was very strict with his students and required that no experimental data should be valid unless it was tested three times at least. In his class, only those whose test scores reached 70 points could pass. He also told his graduate students that there were no break for scientific researches. Even during the Spring Festival and the winter and summer holidays, Prof. Zhang would come to the laboratory every morning and afternoon for guidance and inspection. Wang Jing-kang dared not even ask for a half-day’s leave to attend her brother’s wedding.

Wang Jing-kang fully understands her supervisor’s eagerness to spend every minute in scientific research. “Our nation and our people were in great need of science and technology development”, Wang followed suit and for her, there is no spare day for holiday in her calendar. “We are working on industry-education-research projects. Once started, machines would not stop functioning on holidays and festivals.”

In the eyes of her students, Wang Jing-kang is like a “perpetual motion machine” that never rests. She is either at work or on her way to work. Her colleagues often feel that they can’t keep up with her. “We cannot keep pace with her especially when going on business trips together. She never takes a break at noon and often works until one or two o 'clock at night.” “She is always at the forefront of this field, and has an extremely wide range of knowledge. She may come up with new ideas from time to time, and we always have to try to catch up with her.”

Wang Jing-kang thinks that only by achieving industrialization can scientific research create true value. It is a matter of happiness and luck to see the scientific achievements being transferred into real productivity. She always says to her colleagues, “We should base our research on the need of the country and the people.”

Wang Jing-kang and her team drew close attention from their foreign counterparts for their outstanding ability to solve the most pressing practical problems of the production front. Many large foreign companies came to seek technical cooperation on favorable terms, but all of them were declined politely by her.

When working with the manufacturer on the penicillin project, several experiments showed unstable results. Wang Jing-kang inspected the experiment backward step by step and found that it was the crystallizer that went wrong. The manufacturer didn’t agree with her, because the crystallizer they introduced was the most advanced version in the world at that time. But Wang insisted that the manufacturer should ask the foreign chief engineer to come. The manufacture was reluctant to do so since at that time, inviting foreign experts to China would cost a large amount of money. Then Wang Jing-kang offered to cover the cost.

The chief engineer was finally invited to the experimental site and after seeing Wang Jing-kang’s live demonstration and consulting some papers, he admitted that there was something wrong with the crystallizer, and promised to replace it. Thanks to Wang, the nation avoided a possible loss of tens of millions of money.

The National Engineering Research Center for Industrial Crystallization Technology founded by Wang Jing-kang is the only national-level research center of industrial crystallization, committed to research and development of the system engineering of industrial crystallization process of many industries and the new industrial crystallization technology and equipment. Its research covers many fields like pharmacy, fine chemicals, marine chemicals, material science, energy, food, and many other industries, and has carried out a wide range of “industry-university-institute” cooperation in all provinces throughout the country.

In 2015, the center together with Shenzhen Jiuxin Pharmaceutical co., LTD., won the second prize of national science and technology award for their achievement in “R&D and industrialization of refined crystallization technology of high-end pharmaceutical products”. This achievement revealed the supramolecular assembly mechanism of drug crystal, developed the environmental friendly refined crystal complete set process, integrated and created the refined crystal production line of high-end pharmaceutical products, and realized the breakthrough of new crystallization technology, new process and new equipment. After industrialization, the sample inspection pass rate of cefazolin sodium drugs produced by the company has been increased from 70% to nearly 100%, and a number of enterprises on the verge of bankruptcy have been rescued by this technology. Moreover, the company has also applied for foreign invention patents. In three years, the sale revenue of the company accumulated to 2.86 billion Yuan, with a newly increased profit of 770 million Yuan and increased tax of 350 million Yuan.

“Teachers have to impart knowledge and teach students how to do researches indeed, but the most important thing is to help students establish a correct world view, as well as a correct outlook on life and its value. We should teach both by words and deeds. In other words, we set up examples for students to follow,” for Wang Jing-kang, being a teacher is always a noble cause.

Career comes first

In the preface of Wang Jing-kang’s essay book, there is such a passage: “My husband Xu Xien and I were both tutored by Professor Zhang Jianhou. I became a graduate student in 1960. My husband, who graduated in 1961, was selected as an assistant to Professor Zhang Jianhou and started to work in Tianjin University. In my eyes, my husband has something in common with both my father and our tutor. He is a talented man who loves teaching and scientific research, and most dedicated to work with no distractions. We two held a common belief that we should spare no efforts in scientific research that is beneficial to the country and people. For our whole research life, we have abided by and carried out our tutor’s instruction that only by independent innovation, hard work, objectivity and rigorous and practical atttitude can one succeed.”

Those who are familiar with Wang Jing-kang know that she always speaks and writes objectively, and adjectives are rarely used in her articles. However, when talking about her husband, Wang yet used such emotional descriptions as “talented man” and “dedicated worker”, showing her admiration and attachment to her husband between the lines. What is hidden in this thick collection of papers is the simple and deep love of the older generation of scientists.

Although they spent more time apart than together, they shared the same goal and supported each other. In 1998, when Wang Jing-kang was preparing to organize an international crystal conference, Xu Xien was in a coma due to gastric cancer. When he woke up and saw her, the first thing he did was to ask her about the date. After being told that the international conference was only two days away, he pressed her urgently: “Go and return to your post. I will take care of myself. It is your responsibility to hold the international conference well.” In this way, he obstinately drove his wife away to the work.

Even in the hospital ward, Xu Xien still insisted on revising students’ dissertations and entrusted Wang Jing-kang to supervise his students’ thesis defense. Before he died, he left words to Wang, encouraging her to push forward her scientific research.

In 1999, Xu Xien passed away at the age of 61, leaving Wang Jing-kang endless painful memories and the solemn agreement between the two – Career comes first. From then on, Wang Jing-kang no longer loved flowers as they will remind her of the roomful flowers of that day when her husband passed away.

“Career comes first.” Wang Jing-kang faithfully lives up to this common belief with her husband. She is especially strict in enrolling graduate students, and telling them frankly beforehand what it means to be supervised by her in scientific research. “As my graduates, you will probably have very little time for vacation since our team is always busy with some key industrial projects that are influential to the development of the country. Think clearly whether you are OK with this kind of arrangements before you apply to be my students”, Wang told the graduate candidates.

Wang Jing-kang is wholeheartedly devoted to her work and research with exceptional courage and perseverance.

At the age of 82, Wang Jing-kang is still vigorous in her work. For her research, she has led her team and visited more than 100 factories in over 20 provinces in China. She could be a researcher, an engineer, a technician and also an operator at the same time. She often stays in the workshop for more than ten hours a day until the research result was tested positive for industrialization.

When designing equipment, Wang Jing-kang knows the most reasonable place for the instrumentation and replacement parts, which can effectively avoid the trouble of subsequent disassembly; when installing equipment, she is familiar with the installation and maintenance of valve instruments; even during the technical debugging, she would spend ten or more hours in the workshop observing the equipment and solving various problems that may occur.

As her students put it, “pickles, salted eggs and instant noodles” comprise the most common work meal for Wang Jing-kang. “Sometimes, she was completely absorbed in her work and forget to eat or drink anything for a whole day”.

“Staying with young people is relaxing.” Wang Jing-kang insists giving classes to undergraduate students. She integrates her team’s basic research, technological innovation, industrialization achievements as well as the rules and lessons of research practice into her teaching. She has opened a course named “Introduction to Modern Chemical Design” for undergraduate students where a large number of cases were used and combined with the introduction of national major policies to help students develop independent thinking. She prefers open-book examinations, and students are encouraged to read a wide range of reference books, think openly and creatively.

“A lot of kids go to college and study chemistry, but they don’t necessarily know what to do or what they can do with these courses. By introducing the team’s latest scientific research achievements and the urgently needed chemical technology of the current and future industries, they can feel the sense of mission and honor, and they will believe what they have learned is useful and needed.”

Perhaps the ward bed is the only place where she can rest for a while. On the eve of the Spring Festival in 2019, Liu Qian, a reporter from Guangming Daily, went to the ward to interview her. Seeing the reporter, what she said first was still relevant to work: “You come at a good time, I have two things to turn to the media. One is to publish a new book of three volumes. The title of the book isStudy on the Development Strategy of China's Eco Industrial System and Circular Economy, which is our team’s latest achievements. The other thing is that we hope to establish new disciplines in the field of energy and chemical industry that will promote researches in the field of traditional fossil energy and related new energy through innovation. We will appreciate it if the media can help us push the above work forward by enhancing public awareness and consensus.”

Wang Jing-kang has fully devoted all her life to the country’s scientific research work and deemed as her most important responsibility to strengthen the country through technology and industry development.

One is never too old to pursue his dream. This year, Wang Jing-kang is still at her desk, preparing to apply for new scientific research project.

She is ever young and beautiful with her wisdom and intelligence.

Translated by Luo Yumeng

Editor: Eva Yin