Cement Character Series: Yao Yan: From the Breakthrough of Science and Technology Creation to the Take-off of Industry, Building Materials with Women's Ingenuity

2026-06-04 15:37:52

Over the past decades, Yao Yan has made outstanding achievements in the two fronts of large enterprise management and technological innovation by virtue of her outstanding wisdom and management ability. It not only makes China Building Materials General Institute stand at the peak of China's building materials science and technology, but also leaves the footprints of China's building materials in the world. Today, adhering to the original intention of "scientific and technological innovation", China Building Materials Institute is still one of the highest representatives of building materials science and technology in China.

Cement is a great cause, carrying the people's yearning for a better life, and laying a solid foundation for economic and social development. Over the past decades, China's cement industry has been developing continuously and making great progress, realizing the technological leap from shaft kiln to new dry process, completing the transformation from following to leading in the world, and becoming a basic industry with great international competitiveness in China. In the course of the vigorous development of the cement industry, a large number of dedicated outstanding figures have emerged, who have profoundly reshaped the development pattern of China's cement industry and injected strong impetus into the iterative upgrading of the industry. In the near future, China Cement Network will review the industry figures who have made outstanding contributions to China's cement industry from a third-party perspective.

Today we bring Yao Yan, former president of China Building Materials Institute.

She is the pioneer of China's building materials science and technology projects and the leader of China Building Materials Institute towards glory. Her appearance has brought China's cement building materials science and technology to the center of the world stage, witnessed the scientific and technological level of China's cement building materials, and demonstrated the strength of China's rapid development to the world. She is Yao Yan, the former president of China Building Materials Institute, a leading figure in science and technology in the building materials industry and the main leader of large state-owned enterprises, a female hero who can influence the cement industry in this era. In

1982, Yao Yan, who had just graduated, entered the "Whampoa Military Academy" of the scientific research institution of the building materials industry-Beijing Guanzhuang China Academy of Building Materials Science, and began her "life of building materials science and technology". As a senior scientist in China's building materials industry, she also truly interprets the true meaning of creating a better world with materials and building the most important tool of the country with science and technology.

From the "Ninth Five-Year Plan" to the "13th Five-Year Plan", Yao Yan, guided by the needs of the country and the industry, led the research and development institutions and universities inside and outside the United Nations to set up cross-domain and cross-regional research teams to carry out collaborative research on key technologies common to the industry. It involves special cement, high performance concrete, cement equipment, building energy saving and safety glass, green building materials and other fields. Continue to lead the industry's scientific and technological progress and transformation and upgrading. During

the Ninth Five-Year Plan period, she organized industry forces to carry out the first national key scientific and technological project in the field of concrete materials in China, promoted the transformation of concrete material design from strength to durability, and won the second prize of "National Science and Technology Progress". During the "Tenth Five-Year Plan" period, she cooperated with colleges and universities to successfully declare the first "973 Plan" project in the field of building materials, provided technical support for the performance design and test of cement-based materials in China, and established a leading research team for concrete life prediction in China. During the "Eleventh Five-Year Plan" period, under her organization and planning, China Building Materials Institute developed a number of major scientific and technological innovations with independent intellectual property rights, and won 2 national science and technology awards and 26 provincial and ministerial awards. During the "Twelfth Five-Year Plan" period, with strong scientific research strength, Yao Yan led the General Institute to undertake 8 projects and sub-projects of the "973" plan, 7 projects and sub-projects of the "863" plan, 71 projects and sub-projects of the National Science and Technology Support Plan, and 28 projects of the National Natural Science Foundation. The "13th Five-Year" General Institute took the lead in undertaking 12 projects and 36 key R & D projects. The construction of dozens of major projects such as the Three Gorges Dam, the Baihetan Hydropower Station, the Qinghai-Xizang Railway, the Beijing-Shanghai high-speed rail, and the Tianwan Nuclear Power Station, all of which

stand tall in China today, have received strong support from the technologies mentioned above, and have also made building materials truly the cornerstone of the "heavy weapons of a great power", playing an irreplaceable role in the social and economic development of the country. The integration of

production and research, creating the "highlight" era

of China Building Materials Institute, is not only the leader of technological innovation, but also the pioneer of scientific and technological industrialization. As the leader of China Building Materials Institute, during her tenure as the president of China Building Materials Institute, Yao Yan planned the layout with a far-sighted vision, broke the old and established the new, seized the leading technology sector, let the scientific and technological achievements catch the express train of the industry, built a golden bridge to the capital market for enterprises, and led China Building Materials to international glory.

In 2001, Yao Yan was appointed president of the Chinese Academy of Building Materials. At this time, how to quickly push the technological achievements with market competitiveness to the market is a difficult problem restricting the development of building materials institutes. After Yao Yan took office, he began to conduct a comprehensive evaluation of scientific research achievements in terms of technical level, market space, economic and social benefits, and industrialization basis.

In 2004, China Academy of Building Materials Science and China Building Materials Group implemented strategic restructuring, becoming the first central research Institute to enter a large enterprise group. In 2006, China Building Material Group integrated more than ten research and design institutes and established China Building Material Science Research Institute. Since then, the largest comprehensive research Institute and technology development center of building materials and inorganic non-metallic materials in China was born. After the establishment of

the General Institute, two listed companies, Ruitai Science and Technology and National Inspection Group, were set up successively. In 2006, Ruitai Science and Technology, as the first refractory company in China, successfully listed and entered the capital market. The successful listing of Ruitai Science and Technology has enabled the General Institute to explore the industrialization transformation mode of scientific research achievements, which integrates decentralized management into a whole chain of "research-development-manufacturing-engineering". The development of science and technology industry, one of the four major business sectors, has made considerable progress and formed a competitive science and technology industry cluster. On November 9, 2016, the State Inspection Group successfully landed on the main board of Shanghai and became the first state-owned holding company in China to integrate inspection and certification.

Under the guidance of the "4335" guiding principle of China Building Materials Group and the "two-turn" rule of the General Institute, China Building Materials General Institute has achieved double-digit growth in business income and net profit for many consecutive years by reforming the transformation mechanism, strengthening the industry with science and technology, and promoting development with innovation, and has made steady progress on the road of high-quality development.

Through years of unremitting efforts, Yao Yan has won the honors of National Excellent Scientific and Technological Workers, National Excellent Entrepreneurs, National March 8th Red-Banner Pacesetters, 40 Years of Reform and Opening-up in Building Materials Industry, Top Ten News Persons in Building Materials Industry, Top Ten Outstanding Women in Building Materials Industry, and Top Ten Scientific and Technological Innovators in Building Materials Industry. Over

the past decades, Yao Yan has made outstanding achievements in the two fronts of large enterprise management and technological innovation by virtue of her outstanding wisdom and management ability. It not only makes China Building Materials General Institute stand at the peak of China's building materials science and technology, but also leaves the footprints of China's building materials in the world. Today, adhering to the original intention of "scientific and technological innovation", China Building Materials Institute is still one of the highest representatives of building materials science and technology in China.

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Over the past decades, Yao Yan has made outstanding achievements in the two fronts of large enterprise management and technological innovation by virtue of her outstanding wisdom and management ability. It not only makes China Building Materials General Institute stand at the peak of China's building materials science and technology, but also leaves the footprints of China's building materials in the world. Today, adhering to the original intention of "scientific and technological innovation", China Building Materials Institute is still one of the highest representatives of building materials science and technology in China.

2026-06-04 15:37:52

On April 23, Yao Yan, General Manager of China National Building Materials Corporation, cordially met with a delegation led by Deputy Minister of Finance of Tajikistan Narinov. The delegation includes Damdolav, Economic Counselor of the Embassy of Tajikistan in China, Nabirov, General Manager of the Tajikistan Aluminum Group, and his financial adviser, who intends to cooperate with the group company to build a cement project.

2011-04-26 00:00:00

On June 4, the delegation of Hebei Building Materials Industry Association went to Shandong Cement Industry Association to hold a symposium. The two sides conducted in-depth exchanges and practical discussions on common issues such as the current operation characteristics of the building materials industry, changes in the market environment and industrial transformation and upgrading. This visit is a concrete practice of Hebei Association to actively innovate its working methods and serve the healthy development of the industry, aiming at learning from the advanced experience of other provinces and jointly exploring a new path for the high-quality development of the cement industry.