Changes in Household Electrical Appliances in the 30 Years of Reform and Opening Up

In January 1978, the State Council decided to separate the Ministry of Light Industry from the Ministry of Textile Industry. In order to develop the household appliance industry, the Hardware and Electrical Appliances Industry Bureau was established in terms of organizational structure. In the same year, the Planning Commission of the State Planning Commission (hereinafter referred to as the Planning Commission) decided that the Ministry of Light Industry would be responsible for the unified management of the household appliance industry in all systems and regions across the country, and would include washing machines, refrigerators, electric fans, room air conditioners, vacuum cleaners, electric irons, etc. Each product is included in the national and ministry management plan. At the same time, household appliance spare parts and raw materials that cannot be produced domestically (such as refrigerator compressors, washing machine timers, ABS engineering plastics, etc.) are included in the import plan by the state and distributed uniformly by the Ministry of Light Industry. , solved the problem of supporting important parts and components, which played a positive role in promoting the local authorities to attach importance to the development of the household appliance industry. In the same year, the state also approved the introduction of the first color TV production line, which was located in the former Shanghai TV Factory, now the Shanghai Radio and Television Group.

From April to May 1979, a Chinese light industry delegation headed by Liang Lingguang, Minister of Light Industry, visited Japan. During the inspection period, we negotiated with a famous Japanese home appliance company to introduce the compressor project, the heart of the refrigerator. This project was officially listed as a national key project in 1984. In July, the Hardware and Electrical Appliances Industry Bureau of the Ministry of Light Industry held a national symposium on household appliances development planning in Suzhou. This meeting was called the "Household Appliances Development Pledge Conference." At the meeting, it was planned to convert machinery repair factories, hardware factories, and tool factories owned by Erqing System Group in key provinces and cities into fixed-point production of household appliances such as washing machines, refrigerators, electric fans, and rice cookers, and use collective economic funds to develop household appliance production, and The cost of supply, production, marketing and infrastructure investment and technological transformation measures for the converted household appliances production were included in the national and local plans for comprehensive balance and proper arrangement; at the same time, a three-year development plan from 1979 to 1981 was formulated at the meeting. In order to strengthen product quality testing and formulate unified standards, the China Daily Electrical Appliances Industry Standardization Quality Inspection Center was established in Guangzhou in 1979.

In 1981, the China Household Appliances Industry Standard Quality Inspection Center was established in Beijing.

In 1982, the Household Electrical Appliances Industry Bureau was independent from the Hardware and Electrical Appliances Industry Bureau and was mainly responsible for the production and management of six products, including washing machines, refrigerators, electric fans, room air conditioners, vacuum cleaners, and electric irons. In October, the first domestic color tube factory, Xianyang Rainbow Factory, was established. During this period, China's color TV industry heated up rapidly and quickly formed a scale. More than 100 large and small color TV production lines were introduced across the country, and a large number of domestic brands such as Panda, Venus, Peony, and Feiyue emerged.

In 1983, the Ministry of Light Industry conducted a survey of 421 household appliance companies, 192 stores (shopping malls) and 20,196 urban employee and farmer households across the country in accordance with the State Council’s instructions on forecasting changes in market demand. This is China's first large-scale household appliance production and sales survey and forecast. In this year, the output of washing machines increased from 400 units in 1978 to 3.65 million units. Since then, a large-scale technology introduction boom has been launched across the country. About 40 manufacturers have successively started from countries with advanced washing machine technology—Japan, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Australia and other countries have introduced more than 60 technologies. Since 1983, China has begun to introduce production technology and equipment for refrigerator compressors.

In February 1984, the Ministry of Electronics Industry made a decision to accelerate the localization of color TVs and began to implement a "one-stop" project for the localization of color TVs.

In March and September 1985, the Planning Commission, the State Economic and Trade Commission (hereinafter referred to as the Economic and Trade Commission), and the Ministry of Light Industry jointly held national professional conferences on refrigerators and washing machines in Beijing. This is an important meeting for the country's macroeconomic regulation and control of the development of the household appliance industry. The meeting finally formed the State Council's document No. 77 [1985], which approved and forwarded the "Report on Strengthening the Management of the Refrigerator Industry and Controlling Blind Introduction" by the Planning Commission, the Economic and Trade Commission, and the Ministry of Light Industry, and identified 42 projects during the "Seventh Five-Year Plan" period. Designated factory with an introduction scale of 8.42 million units. In September, all 23 satellite TV receiving stations built by the Ministry of Electronic Industry were put into operation, with good results. At the end of the year, the first batch of refrigerator compressors produced using foreign technical equipment were put on the market.

In 1986, Guangzhou built a refrigerator compressor factory imported from Japan's Panasonic Electric Co., Ltd. with an annual output of one million units. At the same time, Beijing also built a refrigerator compressor factory with an annual output of one million units imported from Philips' "Irui" company in Italy.

These two refrigerator compressor factories have played an important role in ensuring the development of localization of refrigerators. On July 30, eight ministries and commissions including the Economic and Trade Commission jointly issued the "Notice on Earnest Implementation of the Three Guarantees", which regulates six categories of household appliances (including imported retail products): refrigerators, washing machines, electric fans, color TVs, black and white TVs and radio cassette players. The three-guarantee policy for household appliances assembled from components has been unified, and the guarantee of repair, guarantee of return and guarantee of replacement has been implemented since October 1, 1986. In October, the state decided to include the localization of color TVs in the "Seventh Five-Year Plan" as a major project. At the end of December, a conference to issue a washing machine production license was held in Shanghai. The production license system was first introduced. At that time, a total of 43 companies and 43 products received production qualification certificates.

In March 1987, the work policy for the localization of color TVs was determined to be "introduction, digestion, development and innovation". In July, China's color TV (Beijing brand 8308 PS47cm color TV) won the international gold award for the first time. At the same time, in recognition of its significant contribution in promoting scientific and technological progress, the national standard "Household Electric Washing Machine and Its Safety Requirements" won the third prize of the National Scientific and Technological Progress Award. This is the first time that China's home appliance industry has won a major national award. This year, the first "National Household Appliances Exhibition" was held in Beijing, with a total exhibition area of ??14,000 square meters. More than 300 home appliance manufacturing companies from 17 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities across the country participated in the exhibition. It kicked off the exhibition culture and exhibition economy of China's home appliance industry.

In 1988, the first domestic split wall-mounted air conditioner - KF-19G1A "Snow Lotus" was born in Huabao Air Conditioning Factory, ushering in a new era of China's household air conditioning industry. This was a milestone event. It marks that the development of China's air conditioning industry has reached its first peak in history. In the same year, Qindao-Liebherr four-star BCD-212-liter double-door refrigerator and Shanling four-star BCD-180-liter double-door refrigerator won the National Quality Product Gold Award. This was the first time that the home appliance industry won the highest national quality honorary award. In October, the results of the second national color TV quality evaluation were announced. 58 models of 18-inch color TVs including Panda, Venus, and Peony, and 3 models of 22-inch color TVs from Haiyan, Venus, and Yuhang won the first prize. The results of this evaluation show that China's own color TVs have approached or reached the world's advanced level in the 1980s in terms of overall performance and reliability. In 1988, national institutions were reformed, and the China Household Electrical Appliances Association was officially established in Beijing on December 13; on December 19, the Home Appliances Branch of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Machinery and Electrical Products was also officially established in Beijing.

In January 1989, the State Council issued a notice deciding to implement exclusive management of color TVs from February 1 of that year, and began to collect special consumption taxes and localization development funds for color TVs. In August, the Ministry of Machinery and Electronics Industry and the State Bureau of Technical Supervision released the "Comprehensive Standards for Color TVs" in Beijing. The total includes 344 standards, including 173 national standards and 171 industry standards. Its implementation marks the quality of Chinese home appliances. And its reliability has reached the advanced level of similar international products. In November, Beijing Panasonic Color Picture Tube Company, the largest joint venture established with foreign investment in Beijing, held a groundbreaking ceremony. The company is China's first picture tube manufacturer certified to export to the United States.

In January 1990, China's first self-designed and built video recorder production line was put into trial production at Nanjing Radio Factory. At the end of May, the "Second National Home Appliances Exhibition" was held in Beijing. This was the most grand exhibition in the home appliance industry in the 1990s. It displayed many famous and high-quality new products, with an absolute advantage in the number of small home appliances. In July, the air-conditioning compressors produced by Guangdong Zhuhai Compressor Factory were successfully exported. This was the first time that China's compressor industry entered the international market. Huafei Color Display System Co., Ltd. was established in Nanjing in November. So far, the four projects planned during China's "Seventh Five-Year Plan" period in Shaanxi Xianyang, Beijing Panasonic, Shanghai Yongxin, and Nanjing Huafei have been fully put into production. China's color TV production supporting capabilities have been greatly improved. . In November, the "National Electronics Industry Introduction, Digestion, Absorption and Localization Work Conference" and the "National Fifth National Color TV Localization Work Conference" were held in Beijing.

In 1991, many home appliance companies actively developed new products. Hangzhou Refrigerator Factory took the lead in successfully developing the new refrigerator refrigerant R500 to replace Freon, and launched a refrigerator with a "deodorization and preservation" function. As of 1991, 24 products of 23 companies had obtained safety certification in compliance with international standards. At the end of October, the Ministry of Light Industry held the "Eighth Five-Year Development Plan Symposium on Room Air Conditioning".

The meeting discussed and compiled China's first room air conditioning development plan. Since then, especially after the breakthrough of designated production in the early 1990s, China's home appliance industry has entered a period of comprehensive and rapid growth. At the end of the year, news of corporate adjustments appeared in the newspapers from time to time. Bailan and Baiju Electrical Appliances companies in Beijing merged to form Lanju Electrical Appliances Co., Ltd.; in the same month, Qindao Haier Group Co., Ltd. was established.

In January 1992, the integrated circuit CAD Panda system researched and developed by Beijing Integrated Circuit Design Center and other units passed the national technical appraisal. Its successful development has a great impact on the development of China's integrated circuit technology, especially integrated circuit CAD technology. It has important strategic significance. In February, the China Household Electrical Appliances Association and China Trust and Investment Corporation jointly organized a group to participate in the "Cologne Household Appliances and Appliances Exhibition in Germany". This was the first time that the Chinese home appliance industry participated in the Cologne Exhibition in Germany. Only 10 companies participated. The Chinese exhibition area attracted attention. . In April, Qingdao Refrigerator Factory was the first in the industry to pass ISO9001 certification after strict audit by DNV international experts. In May, the "National Integrated Circuit Design (ICCAD) Working Conference" was held in Beijing. The meeting studied the development ideas and planning layout of China's integrated circuit design industry, and determined the basic conditions for designated integrated circuit design units. In June, Qingdao Refrigerator General Factory exported 80,000 refrigerators in the first half of the year, becoming a world-class supplier and the manufacturer exporting the most refrigerators to the German market in Asia. An air-conditioning factory jointly built by Tianjin Air Conditioning Company and Turkey was built in Turkey. The plant's technical equipment is all provided by Tianjin Air Conditioning Company. This is the first time a Chinese air conditioning manufacturer has built a factory overseas.

In 1993, the Ministry of Electronics Industry proposed the implementation of the "Large Company Strategy", which accelerated the concentration of production in the color TV industry to large companies and groups, and improved the ability of color TV companies to participate in international competition. This year, China developed CFC-11, a Freon substitute, which solved the problem of foaming agent substitution in the refrigerator industry. The development of home appliances also highlights the leading role of science and technology. Many companies have made active efforts in developing low-fluorine products and strengthening the application of computer technology. With the support of international organizations, companies such as Wanbao, Haier, Changling, and Huayi have launched low-fluorine refrigerator products. Qindao Haier Group launches inverter air conditioner. In early November, the "Beijing International Household Electrical Appliances Products and Technical Equipment Exhibition" was successfully held. This was the first international home appliance industry exhibition hosted by the China Household Electrical Appliances Association. In early December, the "National Home Refrigeration CFC Substitution Work Conference" was held in Xinxiang, Henan Province. The meeting determined the overall ideas and strategies for CFC replacement in China's household refrigeration industry.

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