Zhang Hongxia, Party chief of Shandong Weiqiao Pioneering Group Co [Photo/Dazhong News]

Zhang Hongxia, Party chief of Shandong Weiqiao Pioneering Group Co, has been arriving at the company and starting her routine work early ever since she was first employed as an apprentice in a spinning factory of the company in 1990.

She grasped every opportunity to learn and practice. It took her only one year to master vocational skills and just several more years of hard work to better understand the industry and the market, which helped Weiqiao get out of a tight corner.

Zhang still remembers the year 1997, when the Asian financial crisis broke out and China's cotton manufacturing industry fell into a low ebb. Weiqiao was not an exception.

She made new strategies for production and marketing, adjusted the product structure, determined output according to market demand, and successfully reduced inventory and cost.

She also stressed the development and quality control of new products and focused on processing imported materials while increasing exports to Japan and South Korea and expanding the domestic market.

In 1998, Weiqiao's products were sold to more than 20 countries and regions. Its cotton products accounted for 70 percent of Japan's total imports from China at peak times.

The enterprise's sales revenue soon exceeded 1 billion yuan ($139.22 million). With a total of 280,000 spindles, it has become the largest cotton manufacturer in China.

With Zhang's great effort, the enterprise has grown into an industrial leader after ups and downs over the past decades. She herself has been elected a delegate to the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.