"When I first joined the company in 1994, I knew the story of Tie Girl. At that time, Sister Sun Qi was our idol." On Women's Day in 2022, Sun Qi, a retired female worker, was invited to participate in a lecture on the theme of women's meritorious deeds, and once again felt Tie Girl up close. The spiritual strength, Guo Jie, the female squad leader, the quality leader of the inspection center of the second company of the First Aviation Bureau, said excitedly.

Sun Qi's "Iron Girl" class was a business card team during the "Three Years of Hong Kong Construction" in China in the 1970s. During the construction of Qingdao Red Star Dock, the first large-scale dock in China, the "Iron Girl" class carried forward the revolutionary spirit of "one is not afraid of hardship, and the other is not afraid of death", and took on huge physical labor. Completed the pouring tasks of more than 40,000 cubic meters of reinforced concrete such as the first dock pump room, dock floor, dock walls and corridors. Through continuous optimization of the rubber bucket layered vibrating process, the construction problems were solved and the pouring quality was ensured. Created a construction miracle belonging to that era.

They are also dealing with concrete, and they are also female worker teams. Creating the "Iron Girl" class in the new era has always been the goal of the inspection center of the First Aviation Bureau and the Second Company's inspection center for the female class. Guo Jie introduced: "The women's class was established in 2003. Those years were when the testing center was developing rapidly. The testing qualifications were continuously upgraded, and the workload and technical difficulty increased. The spirit of 'Iron Girl' became the magic weapon for the women's class to overcome difficulties."

In 2005, the construction of the Jiaozhou Bay Bridge in Qingdao, the concrete mix ratio test task fell on the female team. "The construction can only be started when the optimal mix ratio is found, and the pressure is very high," recalled Guo Yunxia, the tester. However, at that time, the test equipment could only produce 1 set of results in 3 days, and it took nearly 1 year to complete hundreds of data. Guo Jie, who refused to admit defeat, led everyone into the laboratory, and the wheels were rotated 24 hours a day. In the process, the parallel method was used, and the efficiency was successfully improved to 3 sets of results in 3 days. The test was completed in just over 3 months. "We seldom went home during that time, and everyone in the family said we were hard-hearted." Guo Jie said with a smile, "This is the spirit of the older generation of Hong Kong builders."

Not afraid of hardships and unwilling to admit defeat are the spiritual characteristics of the "Iron Girl"; diligent thinking and daring to innovate are the magic weapon for the "Iron Girl" class in difficult times, and it has also become the spiritual driving force for the detection girl class to make breakthroughs.

After completing the test task of Jiaozhou Bay Bridge, the women's class received a concrete durability test that had never been carried out in Qingdao at that time. "The national standard has just been introduced, and the entire industry is not even complete with machinery and equipment, so we can only find ways to innovate by ourselves." Guo Jie said. At that time, the equipment market for testing electric flux was scarce, and there were only three thick piles of national standards. According to the machine instructions, the female class purchased instruments, meters, voltmeters and other components from the market and tried to assemble them independently. With this passion for research and continuous innovation and experimentation, the female class gradually mastered the core methods of concrete durability testing, and the testing center once became a base for many testing institutions to learn from.

Spirit needs to be carried forward and inherited. In Guo Jie's view, teaching skills is the foundation, and leading by example is the key. Since joining the job, the apprentice Yang Haiying has always been fascinated by Master's love and focus on work, and independently completed the pile foundation bearing capacity test in Jamaica that no local institution can complete.

Today, the female team in the testing center is fighting in the front line of the demonstration project of Shandong Huaneng Shidaowan Nuclear Power Plant, the world's first fourth-generation nuclear power unit. An experimental actress like Yang Haiying who came out of the women's class is also in key projects such as the Puqing Expressway in Guangxi and the Changchun Ring Expressway, showing the elegance of testing the women's class with superb skills. "50 years ago, there was Tie Girl's fiery youth here. Now, we must pass on Tie Girl's spiritual culture." Guo Jie said. Editor/He Yuting