Beijing, at the station of the delegation from Guangxi to the National People's Congress (NPC), a Go board on the laptop screen came into view.

At the sight of me, Yan Ping, an NPC deputy and chairman of Yuchai Group, said, "Sorry, I'm a Go fan and I just played a ten-minute fast game while taking a break." During the conversation, I found him fond of drawing analogies with Go terms.

Yan Ping visits the technician achievement exhibition

Yan Ping (M, front) attends the igniting ceremony of the new prototype

Referring to his proposal this year, Yan suggested that emission control should primarily target commercial vehicles, "There is a saying about Go: he who is skilled in Go takes an overall view and he who is not cares pieces only, an entrepreneur with strategic vision must take an overall view and map out a medium & long-term plan. Though the number of commercial vehicles is only one third of that of passenger vehicles, the emission and travelled distance of a single commercial vehicle are much higher than that of a single passenger vehicle, registering a high proportion of emission. Thus, formulating regulations and policies specific to commercial vehicle discharges should be placed high on the agenda of motor vehicle discharge control.

During the five-year tenure as an NPC deputy over the past five years, Yan's proposals have basically centered on the development of the internal combustion engine industry and the dream of environmental protection. He has always been a constructor of "beautiful China". As the leader of a large-sized enterprise with annual sales of over 40 billion yuan, he does not smoke or drink, shows greatest interest in walking and sticks to low-carbon life. At the same time, he has brought the green dream to his work.

Be the controller of the largest mobile pollution source

Despite at a corner of southwest China, Yuchai has always been concerned about national development and consciously linked its fate to the pace of the nation and the pulse of the times. At the time when the Party Central Committee and the government was stepping up efforts to advance the transformation and upgrading of economic development, intensifying energy conservation and emission reduction, and honoring their commitments on carbon emission reduction to the world. A sonorous voice was uttered in Yulin, Guangxi, "Be the controller of the largest mobile pollution source."

A view of Yan's is simple but touching, he said, "Yuchai supplies millions of thousands of engines annually to the society, a total of over 2 million Yuchai-powered vehicles are galloping across the country, what a big lineup! If engine emission is problematic, the damage to environment will be inestimable.

"Even though our products are best, they will be lifeless if they cause pollution to the society." In Yan's heart, it is Yuchai's goal and duty to be committed to environmental protection and be the controller of the largest mobile pollution source.

Building green engines is a trump card for Yuchai. Yuchai has kept ahead in China in terms of emission control technologies. From National I emission standards in 1998 to Euro VI emission standards in 2011, Yuchai met the requirements of national emission regulations in advance. While marching into the marine engine market, Yuchai has implanted its green concept into the hearts of ships. Currently, the single-unit energy consumption of Yuchais all series of engines has dropped by 23 percent, thus effectively avoiding secondary pollution, accomplishing real green emission, making remarkable contributions to Chinas air treatment and environmental protection and making Yuchai Chinas green power leader.

"Engines' recycling value is very high," Yan said, adding, "Engine remanufacturing can conserve energy by 60 percent and materials by 70 percent, hardly produce solid waste and reduce air pollutant emissions by over 80 percent, thus significantly reducing the negative impact on environment."

In 2008, Yuchai was listed among the countrys first group of pilot enterprises for auto parts remanufacturing, and undertook the 30,000-unit engine remanufacturing project, thus embarking upon the road of reducing social cost, developing the cyclic economy and manufacturing green engines.

Being fond of Go, Yan has developed a habit of "calculation", thus Yuchai's products has kept to the principles of "developing a generation, developing a generation, contriving a generation". Supported by high technologies such as electronic control, charge inter-cooling, CAE, OBD, lightweight, hybrid power, energy conservation and low carbon, high power density, exhaust energy recovery and Euro VI emission, as well as world leading technologies such as combustion development, low-emission development and mechanical development, Yuchai has been actively developing clean and energy-conserving power, and has successfully developed advanced power such as the world's first renewable pneumatic hybrid engine and new energy engine, low-carbon, energy-conserving and high-efficiency engine, and engine recovering waste heat.

The carbon dioxide emissions of Yuchai engines have decreased for over 20 years in a row, the sales volume of Yuchai engines is eight times that in 1994, but the total emissions remain unchanged, making Yuchai the nucleus of mobile pollution source control.

Call for Chinese green power during five-year tenure

Over the five years as, Yan has paid special attention to green emissions of engines and invested heavily in engine emission upgrading. He said, "beautiful China" is not empty talk but needs to be supported by many things. Heavy traffic shall not be against environment and vehicles need to have "green hearts" to improve environment.

Yan attended the NPC and CPPCC for the first time In 2008. He paid close attention to the R & D and improvement of vehicle engines and core technologies in the country.

We face extreme challenges: firstly, we directly face the competition from multinationals in such aspects as technology and fund; secondly, control and negative control of core technologies, such as the key technologies of electronic injection system, vehicle exhaust after treatment system and car diesel engine, he said, making a proposal that efforts should be made to pool resources to resolve key technical problems as soon as possible in order to invigorate China's national industry. Enterprises should, in association with institutions of higher education and research institutes, strive to make breakthroughs in core genetic technologies.

"As far as the engine industry is concerned, we have not mastered two core technologies in the engine system: one is electronic injection system and the other is after treatment system. The two technologies have not been monopolized by foreign enterprises. If these technical problems are not tackled, China will be at a disadvantage in the new wave of competition set off by multinationals when China becomes the world's largest auto-consuming country around 2015," Yan voiced his deep anxiety for China's manufacturing.

In 2009, Yan continued to call for using the principles of chemistry and combustion to turn every engine into an air cleaner. As China's leading engine manufacturer, Yuchai was endeavoring to keep pace with world leading enterprises in terms of combustion development, low-emission development and mechanical development.

In 2010, Yan Ping paid attention to engine parts remanufacturing and offered much good advice on engine remanufacturing.

In 2011, referring to promoting the continuous and healthy development of China's internal combustion engine industry, Yan suggested that relevant state departments should examine and approve some new engine investment projects from the perspective of overall industrial development to reduce redundant investment and construction; attention, support and guidance to the internal combustion engine industry should be further increased and core parts R & D should be included in national strategies to break the monopoly by Western countries as soon as possible; effective measures should be taken to reduce enterprises' burden; the state should continue taking effective measures to ease enterprises burdens; the state should preferentially approve industrial distribution and project initiation in the western region and regions of ethnic minorities in order to narrow the gap between the eastern and western regions and promote the harmonious development of Chinas economy and society.

At the call of Yan and with the unremitting efforts of Yuchai, upon approval by the National Development and Reform Commission, the national engineering laboratory of high-efficiency, energy-conserving and environment-friendly internal combustion engines, representing the highest level of Chinas internal combustion engine industry, settled in Yuchai in November 2011. The laboratory will develop generic and key industrial technologies in such aspects as energy conservation and emission reduction, noise reduction, light weight and control, will form and popularize innovative achievements with independent intellectual property right, will be built into an open industrial technical R & D platform and R & D achievement transformation platform, will play a critical role in boosting Chinas capacity for technical innovation of internal combustion engines and sharpening the core competitiveness of relevant industries, and has filled a domestic gap in such laboratories.

Additionally, Yan also voiced his opinions on some issues of social management with a strong sense of responsibility and the high awareness of administration and discussion of state affairs. He thought the nation should pay attention to the continuity of the policies for machinery industry operation and development and the development of basic equipment technologies, increase the accountability of major safety problem, intensify environmental protection including river, lake and sea treatment and water loss and soil erosion control, and pay attention to undesirable phenomena such as the grass-roots level value official achievements above solid work.

(Source: Pang Geping/Li Chunmei, Peoples Daily Overseas Edition)