The “Rise from Adversity” of Older Adult College Students | An Interview with Bai Qinglong of Shanxi Pengfei Group

From an ordinary worker to a process‑specialist, and from a junior high school education to a university degree, Bai Qinglong of Pengfei Coking Plant has embarked on a “comeback journey” that many would find hard to believe.

Today’s conversation is with Bai Qinglong from Shanxi Pengfei Coking Plant.

Pengfei Coking Plant

Coking Workshop Process Specialist Bai Qinglong

Bai Qinglong is 49 years old this year. Since joining Pengfei Group, he has now spent 13 years working through the changing seasons. Diligent and dedicated in his role, he has steadily advanced, serving as both a workshop director and a coking engineer.

In March 2022, he was appointed as the process engineer in the coking workshop of Pengfei Coking Plant. He is a technically skilled professional who sets high standards for his work and patiently guides his colleagues with patience and wisdom.

Bai Qinglong: After joining Pengfei Company, I had only a junior high school education. In my work, I relied mainly on experience and sheer effort. While I could handle some issues, I often struggled to articulate the underlying causes clearly. I’ve come to recognize that I indeed lack theoretical knowledge and am also weak in verbal communication, so I need to improve myself and pursue further learning.

Reporter Interviews Bai Qinglong

Reporter: May I ask, since taking on the role of process specialist in the coking workshop, what are your impressions?

Bai Qinglong: Now that I’ve been transferred to the coking workshop as a process specialist, I feel much closer to my field. I’ve been in the coking industry for over 20 years—throughout that time, I’ve been on the front lines, from furnace construction and sealing to commissioning—and I’m thoroughly familiar with coke ovens. Moving forward, I aim to achieve even greater progress in process engineering. My next steps will be to carefully identify and document the existing process‑related issues in the workshop, then systematically address them one by one.

In the course of my work, the coke oven requires extensive technical upgrades—such as recovering waste heat from the production process and implementing automated underground temperature monitoring and heating. All these tasks demand automation. At present, only by continuously enhancing my skills can I better fulfill my responsibilities.

Reporter: What determination led you to…?

At the age of 48, should one pick up a book again and start learning?

Bai Qinglong: To enhance my professional expertise and academic qualifications, I enrolled in the correspondence program for Mechatronics Technology at the School of Continuing Education of Taiyuan University of Technology. Although I am no longer at the peak of my learning journey, automation is becoming increasingly prevalent in manufacturing. Only by continuously improving myself and staying committed to lifelong learning can I avoid being left behind; without ongoing study, I would surely be overtaken.

Reporter: Did you encounter any difficulties during your studies?

Bai Qinglong: During my studies, the exams focused primarily on Chinese, math, and English, since learning a foreign language at my age would certainly be challenging. I concentrated on math and Chinese, studying through online courses and independently researching materials, steadily improving along the way. I passed all my exams on the first attempt, and I’ve now received my associate-degree acceptance letter, which will enable me to delve deeper into automation. Armed with this knowledge, I can draw on my practical experience at work to more effectively address automation-related challenges in production processes, resolving issues promptly and efficiently.

After obtaining my associate’s degree, I will continue to study and strive diligently, aiming to earn a bachelor’s degree and embrace the greater challenges that lie ahead.

Chairman Zheng Peng: Look at how you’ve progressed—from a simple operator and manager to a skilled technician. In your technical work, you must continue to embody that tenacious spirit of hard work and perseverance—though this kind of striving is different from the past. Back then, it was all about relying on your two hands and sheer grit; today, it’s about mastering technology.

Chairman Zheng Peng: You see, these days we have to rely on intelligence to get things done. If you don’t know something, learn it right away—make sure to turn every manual and semi‑automatic process into an intelligent one.

Bai Qinglong: Our understanding used to be different, too—back then, features like automatic heating and automatic temperature measurement were already available. But we hesitated to implement them, worried about the costs. Now, as we plan to roll them out in the next phase, we’ve upgraded to meet the first‑class standards required by our counterparts.

Chairman Zheng Peng: One is that we’ve met the requirements, and the other is that you see how automated operations save manpower, energy, and money—doesn’t that sound great? You’re back on the front lines again. Today, seeing you once more, I’m truly impressed—really impressed. You need to turn every worker at the shop floor into someone with a bachelor’s or associate’s degree; for those who haven’t been to school, help them learn in their spare time, and for those who have, ensure they can fully apply what they’ve learned here.

Bai Qinglong is a highly responsible person who can endure hardship, bear hardships, and isn’t afraid of dirt or fatigue. In the past, the group led by Lao Chenming was truly a cohort of hardworking, resilient veterans at Pengfei. So why, then, did they fail to perform effectively in such a modern enterprise? In fact, you all bear responsibility—especially the management, whose role is even more critical. They didn’t provide proper guidance; instead, when someone assumed that a malfunctioning smart device could be fixed simply by disassembling it and manually operating the parts, it seemed straightforward and convenient. Even the leadership agreed with this approach. As a result, this piecemeal, ad‑hoc mindset ended up reducing what should have been state‑of‑the‑art equipment to a bare minimum.

Over the course of 13 years, Bai Qinglong has transformed into an outstanding technical expert. From him, we see a spirit of unwavering perseverance and a profound sense of responsibility and commitment befitting a Pengfei employee. With his actions, he has embodied the true meaning of striving: staying steadfast at his post, working diligently and conscientiously, approaching every task with dedication, braving hardship and fatigue, and daring to take on the impossible. As the saying goes, “When one reaches the summit, all other mountains seem small.”