The Most Beautiful Worker: Zhang Shijuan

Release time:

2021-10-13 15:34

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Zhang Shijuan is an ordinary and straightforward person. Filled with passionate enthusiasm for transportation infrastructure development, she resolutely chose to work on the front lines of surveying and design—and has remained there for over 20 years.

At the beginning of her career, Zhang Shijuan was responsible for the design of certain bridges along the Guixin Highway. She worked diligently and persevered through a series of challenges, including the steep longitudinal and transverse slopes of the bridge sites and the province’s first-ever adoption of an I-beam superstructure type. She successfully completed her independent design tasks. During the on-site investigations and computational reviews related to key technologies in culvert design, she identified potential hazard factors and developed effective solutions, thereby averting structural problems that might have arisen later on.

As a technical staff member providing post-design services for the Yusan-Sankai Expressway, Zhang Shijuan consistently immersed herself in the project site throughout the four-year construction period, effectively addressing various issues and successfully completing the post-design services for all seven linked-arch tunnels along the entire route, thereby ensuring the safe and seamless completion of the project’s tunnel network. During the design phase of the Sijian Expressway’s Mupeng Super Bridge, due to limitations imposed by geological conditions, the cantilever cast-in-place arch bridge solution was selected after careful comparison of alternative designs. At the time, this bridge type was being used for the first time within the province, and there were only two such examples nationwide. Under tight deadlines and heavy workloads, Zhang Shijuan tirelessly conducted research and site surveys, overcoming key technical challenges including model calculations and structural design. The successful implementation of this bridge has laid a solid foundation for Guizhou to break through the 450-meter span barrier in cantilever cast-in-place arch bridges.

Everyone says that today’s women are expected to shoulder heavier responsibilities in society. Just after returning to work from maternity leave, Zhang Shijuan found herself facing the critical phase of fieldwork for the Xiamen-Rongjiang Expressway’s survey and design project. Without a second thought, she packed her bags and headed straight to the construction site in southeastern Guizhou—staying there for more than forty days until the on-site work was completed and she could finally return to Guiyang. Speaking about this issue, Zhang Shijuan casually remarked, “Women in the surveying and design industry tend to be a bit more resilient,” then added lightly, “It’s not easy for anyone.”

Zhang Shijuan often says, “As a technical professional in the transportation industry, I’m not afraid of hardship or difficulty—because I firmly believe that hard work always brings rewards. Our labor has yielded historic achievements in Guizhou’s transportation sector, and that, to me, is the greatest reward of my life.” From the construction of Guizhou’s high-grade highways and the opening of its first expressway to the milestone of connecting every county in Guizhou with expressways, Zhang Shijuan has consistently remained on the front line of transportation infrastructure development, staying true to her original aspirations and forging ahead with unwavering determination.

Now, her work focus has gradually shifted to technological innovation, with a particular emphasis on tackling the challenges of construction, management, maintenance, and operation of mountainous highways, as well as on the development of smart highways. Looking ahead, in the construction of smart expressways, she will continue to leverage her strengths, uphold innovative practices, and keep striving for high-quality development of Guizhou’s transportation sector.