It was not savings, nor a one-time purchase, but money she set aside in her youth, gradually exchanged for gold and accumulated over decades. On the eve of Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics' anniversary celebration, 91-year-old Grandma Gu Xianjue donated 1,440 grams of gold she had saved her entire life to her alma mater, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics. She said, "Better to give these things to where they are needed more than to keep them by my side!"
On the eve of the 2010 anniversary celebration, Gu Xianjue returned to her alma mater for a visit (second from left is Gu Xianjue, a 1953 cohort alumnus of the Instrument Specialty). Gu Xianjue's path of serving the nation through aviation began at NUAA. Her graduation design defense was held at an exceptionally high standard, presided over by the National Expert Qualification Review Committee, with senior experts from the Aviation Ministry participating. Initially, her advisor gave her a score of 4 out of 5. During the formal defense, she calmly completed her professional responses and smoothly handled questions posed in Russian, ultimately earning a perfect score of 5.
Gu Xianjue's graduation certificate. After graduation, she entered Shenyang Factory 119 (Aviation Instrument Factory). In the early winter of 1958, the factory received orders to build Factory 232 in Beijing (Beijing Qingyun Aviation Instrument Co., Ltd.) 鈥?this was one of the 156 projects of Soviet aid to China during the early years of the People's Republic, intended to become Asia's largest aviation instrument factory. Shenyang Factory 119 was tasked with its construction, and 17 technical backbone personnel were sent to Beijing. Gu Xianjue was on that list. It happened that all Soviet experts had been withdrawn, and the factory faced the test of "whether to proceed or halt." "Whether we could produce qualified products would determine the factory's fate," and she bore a heavy burden on her shoulders.
On March 18, 1959, the machine tool turned out its first part. Gu Xianjue reflected, "When I was studying at NUAA, these parts were all on wall charts. Now for the first time they truly became things in my hands." After the parts were machined, they still needed to be finalized. The vibration table had to run continuously for 250 hours of testing without interruption. She and her team worked day and night to overcome the challenges, successfully completing the finalization of three sets of products, and only then did the factory gain a firm foothold. She was the factory's first product designer and later shifted to standardization work. From unifying the drawing numbers and specifications of small fasteners like screws and nuts, to product packaging, long-term preservation, and reliability system development, she worked until retirement.
In Gu Xianjue's eyes, standardization was not a pile of dry drawing numbers and specifications, but a key. When the Chairman Mao Memorial Hall was being built, the lifting mechanism needed a small bevel gear, and many places were searched without success. Eventually someone found Factory 232 and found her. She took out the standardized drawing catalog she had organized in her daily work, and the other party flipped through it and immediately selected the right part. After retirement, she was rehired by the China Academy of Railway Sciences and Times Company, continuing to review technical documents and train others in standardization knowledge, only truly retiring home after training successors. She compiled and published the "Concise Standard Manual for Aviation Instrument Product Design," participated in the formulation and revision of multiple aviation industry standards, and received a fourth-class award for major scientific and technological achievements from the Ministry of Aviation Industry.
The ZC-1 lathe used by the factory in 1959. Over the decades, wherever she went, she always encountered NUAA alumni, and they supported one another. "Among factory directors and chief engineers, many were NUAA alumni. When talent was most needed in the early years of the People's Republic, NUAA sent talent to where it was needed most." In 2023, Gu Xianjue donated her lifetime collection to the Wuhu Museum in her hometown of Wuhu, Anhui Province, free of charge. This year, she donated 1,440 grams of gold to her alma mater. In her heart, her hometown is the native land that raised her, while her alma mater is the starting point of her career in serving the nation through aviation. When asked how she hoped the school would use the donation, she left the choice entirely to her alma mater. "How to use it is up to the school. When people grow old, it is like a melon ripening and falling from the vine. I have long been away from the front lines of society, but NUAA has a bright future, and I believe the school will certainly make good use of this fund."
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