Stories Behind the Treasure

Guangzhou - To celebrate the 100th Anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission and the China Media Group are pleased to announce the launch of a new documentary project, entitled Treasure in a Century.

It is comprised of short documentaries in which leaders of 100 state-owned enterprises narrate the legendary stories behind the company treasures and history.

In the special of China Southern Power Grid, The Script of “Women Power Line Workers”, Meng Zhenping, Board Chairman of CSG, recalled one specific and touching story in Ccompany history.

Tan Huixia, team leader of the women power line workers, worked on a pylon in the 1970s. (file photo)

Women power line workers wade through a river when performing tasks in Qingyuan county, Guangdong during the 1970s. (file photo)

The Kunliulong DC Project, the first VSC-HVDC project globally, began operations in Year 2020, setting 19 world records. (file photo)

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During Year 1974, invited dignitaries and heads of states watched a Chinese documentary film in the screening hall of the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. The color film entitled, Women Power Line Workers, lasted only a mere 20 minutes and ended to many tears and thunderous applause. Its original script was presented as the treasure of China Southern Power Grid in the film “Treasure in a Century.”

“The film that screened at the United Nations General Assembly in 1974 was based on the script. It is about the story of a team of women power line workers from the Guangdong Power Supply Company who strived to bring electricity to thousands of homes and businesses, which required them to climb massive pylons to maintain and repair electrical cables and wires.”

What is the film about?

What’s the untold story behind it?

Let’s hear what Mr. Meng said …

Women Hold up Half the World - The First Team of Women Power Line Workers Gather

In June 1970, a group of women electricians were learning how to work at live lines on a training ground in the eastern suburb of Guangzhou.

This is a normal yet uncommon scene. It is normal because such training today happens on a regular basis. However, it is uncommon because these workers are all women and encompassed an elite group from the Guangdong Power Supply Company … later known as the Women Power Line Workers.

Their job was (and still is) to maintain and repair high-voltage wires and cables, often along live lines to keep the power supplies flowing uninterrupted. Despite the protective clothing and gear they wear to armor them against harm from the super high-voltage electric current, there is still such tingling pain caused by strong electrostatic charges when insulated and the constant buzzing sound due to vibrations to the eardrum when the electric currents are too strong.

During the period of the Fourth Five-Year Plan, line workers were (and are to date) urgently needed as the electrical technology developed rapidly in Guangzhou. Rising up to the challenge, a group of women line workers came forward and gradually started to work in different sectors and made their meaningful contributions.

Women do hold up half the world!

Not before long, the first team of women power line workers in China was gathered.

Women Are No Less Capable than Men - Later Generations Seek Inspiration from the Women Power Line Workers

“It is not a surprise that women have played such an important role,” says Mr. Meng, adding that, “as the founder of Guangzhou Power Supply Company Zeng Zhi is also a great woman”.

He explained that as a revolutionist, she once fought in the Huangyangjie Defense War and attended the Gutian Conference. Ms. Zeng demonstrated that women are no less capable than men and her courage and determination are among the attributes that we always something we pursue.”

The ending line of the script is an excerpt from a song and the impassioned lyrics have described how women line workers break through any physical limitations and challenge themselves to success.

Throughout the 1970s, this renown women team has completed various tasks and operations with other colleagues of the Guangdong Power Supply Company. Their “footprints of success” can still be found wherever a high voltage power line or an equipment needs repair.

With their important efforts, the Company began to gain its momentum. Over the three decades, before Year 2002, the China Southern Power Grid service area had expanded from 60 square kilometers to more than 7,000 square kilometers, with overhead transmission lines extending from three circuits to 270 circuits, or 3,437.7 kilometers long.

And power supply had surged from 1,316 GWh to 25.56 TWh.

During Year 1987, CSG put into operation its first 220 kV transformer substation in the Guangzhou urban area and by Year 1993, it launched the first modern pumped storage power plant with large capacity in Guangzhou.

Till now, the spirit demonstrated by women line workers continues to remain a source of strength and pride.

During Year 2002, CSG was established as a “test field” of China’s power system reforms. Committed to “building that power grid of the people and for the people”, it has deployed and run a safe and reliable network of power lines that serve 254 million people in the five southern provinces with an area of one million square kilometers as China Southern Power Grid has taken the industrial lead for its technological progress.

At the end of the documentary, Mr. Meng highlight the story of the women power line workers which demonstrate the spirit of CSG people.

Since the introduction of the reform and opening up policies, China has made rapid progress in developing independent power systems. The highest voltage level of power grid has risen from 220 kV to 500 kV. The 800 kV VSC-HVDC project is also pressing forward as an unprecedented success.

The super-high voltage and ultra-high voltage power lines can transmit clean hydropower from the Yunnan-Guizhou plateau all the way eastward to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, powering its ambition of gaining competitiveness throughout the international community.

As times change and technology progresses, generations of CSG senior managers, engineers and employees have never forgotten the commitment to “building that power grid of the people and for the people”.

As a responsible global partner, China Southern Power Grid is pledged to step up efforts to build digital power grid and explore the best approach to support the new power system with the unremitting aim to build up the construction of a clean, low-carbon, safe and efficient energy system … and contribute to carbon peak and carbon neutral electrical supplies.