"The most wronged 985 university" helped China's photovoltaic industry reach the world's top position.
In an ordinary afternoon in 1986, freshmen of the class of 1986 at Lanzhou University were having a collective orientation education in the central garden.
Several young men who had just stepped into the university campus made an ambitious agreement, "In the future, if we go out to start a business, we'll name it Longi."
In front of them was the statue of Jiang Longji, the former president of the university.
The statue of Jiang Longji, the former president of Lanzhou University
At that time, photovoltaic power generation was still representative of "expensive energy" around the world. It would take another 14 years before Germany, the birthplace of photovoltaic power generation industrialization, promulgated the Renewable Energy Act. At that time, Martin Green, known as the "father of solar energy", was still in the laboratory of the University of New South Wales, regarded as the "West Point of the photovoltaic industry", trying every means with his students to refresh the photoelectric conversion efficiency of crystalline silicon cells. At that time, no one could associate these students with the future global photovoltaic industry giants.
Forty years have passed, and the agreement made back then has become a reality.
Longi Green Energy, founded by three classmates from Lanzhou University, has ranked first in the world in the cumulative shipment volume of monocrystalline silicon wafers in the past decade and has consistently ranked among the top two in the cumulative shipment volume of modules in the past six years. It has long become the leading enterprise in the global photovoltaic industry.
People from Lanzhou University, represented by the "Three Musketeers of Longi Photovoltaic", have even propelled China's photovoltaic industry to the top in the world.
01 The Three Musketeers of Longi Photovoltaic
To the west of the Hu Huanyong Line, the land is vast and the population is sparse.
The Great Northwest lacks the commercial prosperity and large population of the eastern regions. There are only vast gobi deserts and deserts. There is even only one 985 university, Lanzhou University.
Lanzhou University has been worried about the student source because of its remote location in the Great Northwest and has been labeled as the "most aggrieved 985".
In fact, Lanzhou University is not inferior in strength. In particular, many prominent figures in the photovoltaic industry have graduated from here. They not only hold leading positions in the industry but have even subverted the technical path of photovoltaic power generation established by the Europeans and rewritten the global photovoltaic industry map.
China's photovoltaic industry now holds an absolute leading position internationally:
In all links of the industrial chain such as polysilicon, silicon wafers, solar cells, and modules, China's industrial share is over 90%.
In terms of technological innovation, the mass - production efficiency of photovoltaic cells has exceeded 26%, and the laboratory efficiency has even exceeded 34.7%, making photovoltaic power generation one of the most economical power generation methods in the world.
China has ranked first in the world in both the total installed capacity and the newly - installed capacity of photovoltaic power generation for many consecutive years.
Ranking of global solar power generation in 2024
It's no exaggeration to say that all of the above are closely related to Lanzhou University.
To clarify the relationship, we have to start with the technological route debate between monocrystalline silicon and polycrystalline silicon in photovoltaic power generation.
Although the Bell Labs in the United States developed practical monocrystalline silicon solar cells as early as the 1950s, in the following more than 50 years, whether it was the large - scale commercial photovoltaic power generation in Europe or the start - up of Chinese photovoltaic enterprises, the vast majority of photovoltaic enterprises around the world followed the "polycrystalline" technological route.
The reason is simple. Although the photoelectric conversion efficiency is low, the polycrystalline silicon technological route has a low technological threshold and relatively less initial investment.
The monocrystalline technological route is significantly more efficient than the polycrystalline one.
Among the pioneers of China's photovoltaic industry, they also initially followed the polycrystalline technological route. The most famous "Three Heroes of Yangzhong" were not only fellow villagers but also classmates, and their teacher was Martin Green, the "father of solar energy" from the University of New South Wales.
In 2005, when Li Zhenguo, the founder of Longi Green Energy and a graduate of the Physics Department of Lanzhou University, called his classmate Zhong Baoshen and talked about his idea of buying some second - hand monocrystalline furnaces from the United States to enter the photovoltaic industry, Shi Zhengrong, one of the "Three Heroes of Yangzhong", had already listed his company in the United States and replaced Rong Zhijian as the richest man in China.
It was also from those years that the polysilicon materials controlled by several foreign companies began to be in short supply, and the price skyrocketed from $30 per kilogram in 2004 to $475 in 2008.
In the era of "dominated by silicon", Li Zhenguo and his team also hesitated between the monocrystalline silicon and polycrystalline silicon routes.
Finally, after careful technological analysis, they gave up the polycrystalline route, which was easier to make quick money, and chose the monocrystalline route, which was more technically difficult and required more investment.
Their choice changed the direction of the global photovoltaic industry and actually promoted China's transformation from a follower to a leader.
Li Zhenguo
Li Zhenguo, who had been doing research in the relevant field since he graduated from university in 1990 and was assigned to the state - owned 741 Factory to pull monocrystalline silicon rods, began to study the future technological route of the photovoltaic industry.
They analyzed that even if the cost of polycrystalline ingots dropped to zero, monocrystalline silicon still had an advantage in the cost per kilowatt - hour. Finally, from a technological perspective, they concluded that the mainstream route of future photovoltaic power generation would be monocrystalline.
Finally, after the financial crisis in 2008, European countries cancelled solar subsidies, foreign polysilicon orders plummeted, and the price dropped by 90%.
In 2011, the West launched an "anti - dumping and countervailing" investigation against Chinese photovoltaic enterprises. Domestic polycrystalline giants, including the "Three Heroes of Yangzhong", failed to survive that winter, while Longi, which adhered to monocrystalline silicon, waited for its spring.
Li Zhenguo, his classmate Zhong Baoshen, and Li Wenxue, who joined later, were thus called the "Three Musketeers of Photovoltaic" of Longi.
In November 2022, Longi set a world record for the conversion efficiency of crystalline silicon cells at 26.81%. In May 2024, the conversion efficiency of 27.3% refreshed the world record. In October 2024, Longi's crystalline silicon modules broke the efficiency record that had been monopolized by overseas photovoltaic brands for 36 years with an efficiency of 25.4%.
Behind these records, besides Xu Xixiang, the vice - dean and chief scientist of Longi's Central Research Institute and also a graduate of the Physics Department of Lanzhou University, there are more researchers from the School of Materials and New Energy of Lanzhou University in the R & D team.
In the photovoltaic industry, Lanzhou University alumni are not only in Longi Green Energy.
For example, TCL Zhonghuan New Energy, the most "feared" competitor of Longi, has Shen Haoping, the vice - chairman of the company, who is also an alumnus of Lanzhou University and has made remarkable achievements in technological research.
Entrepreneurs in the photovoltaic and energy storage field who graduated from Lanzhou University
This senior of Li Zhenguo is also a technology - oriented person. In the early days of Longi's development, Li Zhenguo often went to Shen Haoping to consult on technological problems.
In previous years, Shen Haoping led his team to research and produce the world's first G12 solar monocrystalline silicon wafer, innovatively applying the wafer technology in the semiconductor field to the photovoltaic industry.
There are also many Lanzhou University alumni in the photovoltaic industrial chain.
For example, Hewang Electric, which manufactures new - energy electronic control systems such as photovoltaic inverters, is a competitive electrical enterprise in the domestic new - energy field with an annual revenue of 3.7 billion. Its founder, Han Yu, is an alumnus of the Physics Department of Lanzhou University, the class of 1982.
There is also Liancheng CNC, a well - known enterprise in the industry that mainly manufactures equipment for the growth and processing of photovoltaic and semiconductor crystalline silicon. It has broken through the diamond wire cutting equipment and technology that Japan had previously used to restrict China, helping Longi reduce the cost of silicon wafer cutting from five or six yuan per piece in 2005 to 0.3 yuan per piece in 2020.
From Li Chunan, the actual controller of the enterprise, to the person in charge of the R & D center, they all graduated from Lanzhou University.
It is worth mentioning that this classmate of Li Zhenguo invested money to help Li Zhenguo get through the difficulties as early as 2003 when Xinmeng Electronics, the predecessor of Longi Green Energy, was first established, and he is still the fourth largest natural person shareholder of Longi to this day.
The alumni circle of Lanzhou University is an unavoidable topic in China's photovoltaic industry.
02 The Centennial Lanzhou University: "Lonely" but Extraordinary
A university in the Great Northwest has cultivated so many giants in the photovoltaic industry. Now, the photovoltaic panels laid on the Gobi deserts in the Great Northwest are continuously outputting green electricity, gradually turning the desert sands into oases and grasslands. This seems to be a kind of repayment in the cycle of fate.
People are just curious about how this "most aggrieved" 985 university hidden in the Great Northwest managed to do this?
This has to start with the geographical location of Lanzhou University.
Lanzhou University has always been a special existence among Chinese universities.
Lanzhou University is the only 985 and Double - First - Class Construction University (Class A) to the west of the "Hu Huanyong Line", which accounts for more than half of China's land area.
Lanzhou University, which has a history of more than 100 years, can trace its origin back to the Gansu School of Law and Politics established in 1909.
Precisely because it was the first and only institution to pioneer higher education in the Northwest, the state has attached special importance to it.
In 1946, the National Lanzhou University was established. After the founding of New China, in order to accelerate the construction of the Great Northwest, Lanzhou University became the vanguard in the field of higher education in the Northwest:
In 1953, it became one of the 14 comprehensive universities directly under the Ministry of Higher Education.
In 1960, it was designated as a national key university.
In 1978, it was again established as a national key university.
In 2017, it was among the first batch to be selected as a Double - First - Class Construction University (Class A).
Since the resumption of the college entrance examination, 12 alumni who graduated from Lanzhou University with a bachelor's degree have been elected as academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and 109 have been included in the list of the National Outstanding Youth.
Lanzhou University has stood out precisely because of its "geographical disadvantage".
Back then, in order to achieve the goal of building Lanzhou into a heavy - chemical industry base and to speed up the research and development of the "Two Bombs and One Satellite", the state transferred many excellent teachers and talents from overseas - returned scholars and prestigious universities such as Peking University and Fudan University to Lanzhou University, focusing on supporting the development of majors such as physics, chemistry, mathematics, mechanics, and nuclear physics at Lanzhou University.
This has been the key to Lanzhou University's achievement of dominant disciplines in these fields.
In the 1980s, when students from key comprehensive universities across the country took the physics and chemistry exams for studying in the United States, Lanzhou University ranked first for four consecutive years.
In 1992 and 1993, it ranked third in the number of papers published and included in the SCI for two consecutive years.
In 1995, the American magazine Science selected 13 most outstanding universities in mainland China, and Lanzhou University ranked sixth.
In 2017, it was among the first batch to be selected as a Double - First - Class university, with four disciplines, namely chemistry, atmospheric science, ecology, and grass science, included in the list of first - class discipline construction.
Lanzhou University's performance in the world university rankings
From a global perspective, the chemistry discipline of Lanzhou University ranks among the top 1% globally in the ESI. The ESI ranking in 2023 shows that the chemistry discipline of Lanzhou University ranks 127th globally and 15th in China. In the QS World University Subject Rankings, it stably ranks in the range of the top 300 - 400 in the global chemistry discipline. From a domestic ranking perspective, in the fourth - round discipline evaluation by the Ministry of Education, the chemistry discipline of Lanzhou University is rated A - (top 5% - 10% in the country), ranking between 12th and 24th among domestic universities. In the SoftScience subject rankings, it ranks 14th in the country.
According to the data of the SoftScience Ranking of Chinese University Majors in 2025, the Physics major of Lanzhou University ranks 19th in the country, only after Shanxi University and ahead of Beihang University.
The strong disciplinary strength