Do you know? How much steel capacity Tangshan actually has is currently impossible to say clearly. According to the latest document issued by the state, Tangshan's target for compressing steel capacity is to net reduce ironmaking capacity by 28 million tons and crude steel capacity by 40 million tons by 2017. The steel capacity Tangshan needs to compress accounts for half of the total capacity that needs to be compressed nationwide, but it is not easy to calculate exactly how much steel capacity Tangshan has, because the vast majority of Tangshan's steelmaking blast furnaces have long been outside regulation.

　　As a Tangshan native, I think this is the most suitable place in the world to develop the steel industry; it has almost all the raw materials needed for steelmaking. Whether it's coal, iron ore, or limestone, Tangshan has it locally. Tangshan is also close to the capital and has a port, giving it exceptional logistics conditions.

　　In addition, Tangshan has the technical reserves to develop the steel industry. In Tangshan, building a blast furnace is not difficult; the technology for building blast furnaces is very mature, all components are well and adequately supplied, and years of steel industry development have accumulated enough technical talent. As long as there is funding, a blast furnace can be built. Last year, Tangshan's crude steel output was 81.07 million tons, accounting for 9% of the national total and 5% of the global total. This is the figure published by the Tangshan Statistics Bureau; I think the actual number is larger.

　　The rapid development of private steel plants in Tangshan in recent years has a lot to do with market demand. If the competent authorities had not restricted large state-owned steel mills from producing construction steel, Tangshan's private steel plants' products would not have sold so well in previous years. The products of large state-owned steel mills are mainly high-end plates and strips, mostly used in automobiles, ships, home appliances, and other fields, while private steel mills mainly produce wire rod, mostly used in the construction industry. In recent years, the real estate industry has been booming, and what the market needed most was exactly construction steel, whose price once exceeded that of high-end plates and strips. When we saw the opportunity to make money, it was hard to avoid the idea of 'going full speed ahead.' In fact, we did make money in previous years.

　　Driven by profit, Tangshan, where private lending is not well developed, once saw villagers pooling funds to build steelmaking blast furnaces. A few years ago, some villages mobilized the entire village to build blast furnaces. Among them, private steel enterprise owners played the role of 'leaders,' and some 'leaders' contributed no more than 10% of their own funds. The then-booming steel market brought considerable returns to the villagers who invested shares. Thus, capacity compression was mentioned every year, yet Tangshan's steel capacity increased every year.

　　The outside world has 'demonized' us, and I feel a bit wronged. When the steel industry was making money, it wasn't just us steel company bosses who got rich; local villagers benefited too, even though they breathed polluted air and endured roaring noise. They are participants in this industry—who doesn't have a few family members working in a steel plant? Now, the steel industry is facing widespread losses, and many private steel enterprise owners are still struggling to hold on, partly to maintain workers' livelihoods. In Tangshan, private steel plants provide employment for hundreds of thousands of people.

　　Now Tangshan's steel industry has encountered a major hurdle, and I don't know if it can get over it this time. This is not the first time the Tangshan steel industry has faced a crisis of capacity compression; every previous time it was ultimately resolved. But this time, strict government regulation plus a prolonged downturn in the steel market has made me increasingly uncertain.

　　Many steel company owners are now struggling to hold on. Thanks to accumulation in previous years, everyone can last a while longer; those small blast furnaces that have been dismantled were already shut down.

　　Now the pressure to cut excess steel capacity is growing, and many of my friends around me have received notices to dismantle blast furnaces. As a party involved, I believe the government can handle this issue fairly and openly. For some private steel enterprise owners who entered this industry a few years ago, the costs invested at the time have long been recovered, and most steel plants are now semi-shut down. I am considering environmental upgrades to my existing blast furnaces; of course, this requires considerable investment. Between cost and benefit, between dismantling and upgrading, I still need further thought and choice.