The textile industry has once again delivered an impressive report card on the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. At the ceremony held on July 1, multiple collectives and individuals from the textile sector received national honors. This is not merely a list of awards but a microcosm of the industry's shift from scale expansion to innovation-driven growth, from OEM dependence to self-reliance.
Transformation Directions Reflected in the Award List
Among the honorees, Zhang Bo, chairman of Shandong Weiqiao Pioneering Group, and Mi Xuemei of Zhongshan Xiahushijia Garments were named "National Outstanding Communist Party Members." Seven Party organizations related to textiles, including the Party Committee of Hengli Petrochemical (Dalian) Co., Ltd., the Party Committee of Jilin Carbon Valley Carbon Fiber Co., Ltd., and the Party Committee of Changzhou Hualida Garment Group Co., Ltd., were awarded "National Advanced Primary Party Organizations."
Notably, the award-winning companies span from traditional cotton spinning and chemical fibers to carbon fiber, industrial automation, and garment manufacturing. This diversity reflects the multiple paths of transformation in the textile industry: from Weiqiao, a global cotton spinning giant, to Jilin Carbon Valley, the world's largest carbon fiber precursor producer, and Inovance Technology, a key upstream supplier of controllers for textile equipment.
How Party Building Translates into Industrial Competitiveness
The case of Hengli Petrochemical is most compelling. At its Dalian Changxingdao Industrial Park, it completed a 20-million-ton/year refining and chemical integration project in 19 months, built the world's largest 1.5-million-ton/year ethylene project in 13 months, and simultaneously built the world's largest PTA base. Behind this "Hengli speed" lies the deep integration of the "Silk Road Pioneer" Party brand with project breakthroughs. The company's senior management is 83.3% Party members, with 208 employee "golden ideas" adopted in the past three years, and 75% of patent inventions led by Party members and activists. For the textile and chemical fiber industry, this means Party building is not empty rhetoric but an organizational guarantee for reducing decision-making costs and accelerating technological breakthroughs.
The transformation of Changzhou Hualida further confirms this. This traditional garment company shifted from relying on imported fabrics to building an integrated chain of weaving, coating, and sewing. Its airbag production line now produces 130,000 finished products daily, and its miniaturized, lightweight products are winning orders from domestic new energy vehicle makers. Hualida has five factories in Vietnam with 15,000 employees and is targeting sales of 10 billion yuan. This globalization strategy of "headquarters economy plus Belt and Road" reflects the strategic stability enabled by Party building.
Dual Breakthroughs in Technology Autonomy and Green Transformation
The inclusion of Jilin Carbon Valley is particularly noteworthy. With a precursor production capacity of 190,000 tons, it is now the world's largest carbon fiber precursor producer. Carbon fiber, as a strategic emerging industry, was long constrained by foreign technology blockades. By integrating Party building with independent innovation, Jilin Carbon Valley has pushed domestic carbon fiber into the global first tier. For the textile industry, this means that the domestic substitution of high-end fiber materials is accelerating, and supply chain security for downstream sectors such as aerospace and wind power blades will be strengthened.
In green manufacturing, Hengli Petrochemical pioneered an "embedded wastewater treatment" technology that stabilizes COD levels below 15 mg/L and achieves full reclaimed water reuse, earning it a national "green factory" designation. For the energy-intensive and high-emission textile printing and dyeing industry, this technology path could serve as a replicable benchmark.
The Demonstration Effect of Grassroots Party Members
The case of Mi Xuemei illustrates the role of grassroots Party members as "lubricants" in industrial transformation. As a customer service director at Zhongshan Xiahushijia Garments, she organized skills training to help workers cope with the wave of automation, delivering over 100 lectures. This suggests that technology upgrades must be accompanied by human capital upgrades; otherwise, automation may exacerbate frontline workers' anxiety and turnover.