On this day 148 years ago, on October 3, 1877 (August 27, 1877 lunar calendar), Li Hongzhang organized the Kaiping Mining Bureau. On October 3, 1877, Li Hongzhang organized the Kaiping Mining Bureau. In order to solve the fuel needs of military enterprises and ships, Li Hongzhang planned to build the Zhili Cizhou Coal and Iron Mine in 1874, but it was soon suspended due to inconvenient transportation and local gentlemen's opposition on the grounds of destroying "feng shui". In the same year, Sheng Xuanhuai supervised the Xingguo Coal and Iron Mine in Hubei, but it was suspended due to poor coal quality. In 1875, the Minister of Shipping, Shen Baozhen, opened the Keelung Coal Mine in Taiwan. In 1877, coal production began, with an annual output of 54,000 tons. The above are all government-run industries. In 1877, merchants gathered shares to open the Chizhou Coal Mine in Anhui. In order to solve the fuel problem of the Tianjin Machinery Bureau and the ship China Merchants Group, Li Hongzhang sent Tang Tingshu, the general manager of the ship China Merchants Group, to Kaiping, Luanxian County, Hebei Province in October 1876 to inspect the coal and iron situation. Samples were sent to Tongwen Museum in Beijing and famous chemists in the United Kingdom for testing. After confirming that the coal and iron quality here was very good, on October 3, Li Zha Committee Tang Tingshu prepared to build the Kaiping Mining Bureau, drew up the articles of association for official supervision and commercial operation, and attracted investment and collected shares. In 1878, the "Kaiping Mining Bureau" was officially established in Kaiping Town, Tangshan. In 1881, it was fully put into production and employed 3,000 people. In 1882, it produced 38,000 tons of coal, which increased to 730,000 tons in 1898. The mine has expanded its equipment and improved its transportation conditions over the years, making it the first enterprise in modern China to use machine mining. Kaiping Mine is actually the most successful mine in the mining industry run by the Westernization faction. It has increased its production significantly year by year, quickly occupying the Tianjin coal market, thus effectively resisting the import of foreign coal.