Fan Xudong 范旭東

 

Fan Xudong (1883-1945), dubbed as "King of Salt and Sodium Carbonate", was the founder of China's heavy chemical industry. After graduating from Japan's Kyodo University, Fan returned to China in 1911, and three years later, he founded Tianjin Jiuda Refined Salt Company with the aim to improve the techniques for the domestic production of quality salt. In 1917, he established Yongli Alkali Industries, the first company in Asia to specialize in the production of Sodium Carbonate. Later in 1933, Fan opened the Yongli Ammonia Factory, the first to produce synthetic ammonia in China. Fan, a far-sighted entrepreneur, also set up the Yellow Sea Chemical Industry Research Institute, the first of its kind in China.

The Jiuda-Yongli-Yellow Sea conglomerate, under the meticulous operation of Fan, was able to compete with its foreign peers. During the anti-Japanese invasion war period, the patriotic and upright entrepreneur moved to Sichuan Province and greatly supported China's fight against the Japanese invasion.