Hu Yang Spirit, Pioneers' Quest – Wuwei Heavy Ion Center Strives for 2026 Gansu "Worker Pioneer"
【Good News】Hu Yang Spirit, Pioneers' Quest – Wuwei Heavy Ion Center Strives for 2026 Gansu "Worker Pioneer"
The spring breeze sweeps across the Hexi Corridor, nurturing the land, while the original aspiration shines like a torch over the Gobi. In April, on the Hexi Corridor, the snow-capped Qilian peaks stand tall and majestic, while the Tengger Desert gradually comes back to life. On the eve of May Day, good news once again arrives from the cool city on the Silk Road — the Wuwei Heavy Ion Center of Gansu Wuwei Cancer Hospital has been awarded the 2026 Gansu Province "Worker Pioneer" title. This provincial honor is a full recognition and highest tribute to the team's pragmatic responsibility and dedicated, compassionate care in safeguarding lives.
This recognition is both the highest commendation for the team’s decade of deep cultivation and pragmatic responsibility, and a profound tribute to a journey of struggle rooted in the Gobi—marked by self-reliance, scientific and technological breakthroughs, and the protection of life. This pioneering team, defined by youthful energy and a backbone of responsibility, has taken root in the desert of Northwest China. They have delved deep into the cutting-edge medical field of heavy ion technology, accomplishing a historic leap from a blank slate in technology to independent innovation, and from following and catching up to running alongside and even leading the race. With core-hardened technology, they empower "Healthy China," igniting an endless flame of life across the vast, desolate Gobi.
This young iron-willed team, with an average age of under 35, shoulders the national mission of medical innovation and carries the healer's compassionate responsibility. Through over a decade of overcoming difficulties and persistent effort, they have successfully transformed China's first medical heavy ion cancer treatment device with completely independent intellectual property rights from a scientific research blueprint into a clinical reality. This achievement has broken the long-standing monopoly pattern of foreign advanced radiotherapy technology and propelled China into the global top tier of precision heavy ion therapy. To date, this center has completed treatment for over 2,800 patients. With the core strength of a national heavyweight technological asset, they have tackled the challenge of treating difficult tumors, brought high-end medical resources to China's Northwest region, and extended the hope of life to tens of thousands of people.
Ten years of forging ahead with original aspiration, building national key equipment amid Gobi wilderness
Looking back on the journey, every step was extraordinary; the path of entrepreneurship was arduous and difficult.
In 2012, relying on the core technical support of the Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, the medical heavy ion project was sited and established in Wuwei. At that time, the project location was a vast expanse of contiguous Gobi and barren desert. The natural environment was harsh, infrastructure was weak, technical experience was scarce, and construction funds were tight—countless difficulties lay ahead on the path forward.
Starting from scratch, tackling difficulties on the spot, and rising to the challenge the harder things get—this simple yet profound motto vividly portrays the striving spirit of the first-generation builders. At that time, with no standard office spaces, they set up temporary shelters and held their posts. Lacking basic living amenities, they rested on-site and endured hardships with resilience. Facing the harsh conditions of Northwest China—howling winds, sandstorms, limited power supply, and complex geology—all the builders, guided by the spirit of the Euphrates poplar (Hu Yang), nurtured their original aspirations, took root in the Gobi, confronted challenges head-on, and forged ahead against adversity. Amidst the desolate Gobi, they embarked on a difficult path of entrepreneurial struggle.
The installation and commissioning of large-scale precision medical equipment, the joint debugging and testing of core systems, and the establishment of a clinical technology system—each of these tasks was an extreme challenge. Power fluctuations and interference, equipment parameter deviations, precision instrument adaptation, special waste liquid treatment, and grounding difficulties in desert geology... a vast number of technical bottlenecks urgently needed to be overcome. To secure the bottom line of medical safety, the team independently developed a three-stage decay cooling tower water recycling technology, achieving closed-loop treatment of radioactive wastewater with zero pollution discharge. To address the special geological conditions of the Gobi, they conducted hundreds of repeated experiments and calculations, overcoming the industry-wide challenge of excessive grounding resistance and laying a solid foundation for the safe operation of the equipment.
Overcoming difficulties knew no day or night, and shouldering the mission knew no holidays. During six Spring Festival holidays, all team members remained at their posts on the construction front lines, accompanied by the roar of machinery and lit by the starry sky. A simple meal was their reunion, and their work uniforms were their armor. With the daring spirit to forge paths through mountains, the tenacity to wear away stones with persistent drops of water, and the dedication to strive for excellence, the team solved over a hundred core technical challenges one by one, filling the gaps in the clinical application of domestically produced heavy ion technology.
March 26, 2020, is a date destined to be recorded in the history of China's cancer treatment development. China's first medical heavy ion accelerator with completely independent intellectual property rights was officially put into clinical application in Wuwei. At that moment, it completely ended the domestic dependence on imported high-end heavy ion radiotherapy and the plight of patients having to travel far from home for treatment. This marked a historic breakthrough in China's domestic cutting-edge radiotherapy technology, establishing a high-quality medical platform for cancer patients nationwide to receive treatment for major illnesses close to home.
Sci-Tech Innovation Empowers New Heights, China's Solutions Lead the Global Track
The deployment of the equipment was only the beginning; improving clinical quality, driving technological innovation, and benefiting the people remain the eternal goals. For a long time, heavy ion precision radiotherapy technology was tightly controlled by a small number of developed countries, with high core technical barriers and high thresholds for clinical application. Rooted in the Northwest, looking across the nation, and benchmarking against the world, the Wuwei Heavy Ion Center has forged the spirit of "Diamond Ion" struggle. Guided by clinical needs and driven by technological innovation, it continues to unlock the clinical value of this national heavyweight technological asset.
Focusing on clinical pain points such as respiratory motion tumors, complex luminal tumors, and difficult lesions adjacent to vital organs, the team has boldly broken through conventional boundaries and conducted daring clinical explorations, achieving leading technical results both in China and internationally. They pioneered the world's first precise heavy ion therapy under ventilator control, solving the challenge of targeting moving tumors. They innovatively introduced bladder volume precision control technology, significantly improving the efficacy of urological tumor treatment. They also creatively applied organ–tumor spacer implantation surgery to solve the problem of treatment damage for tumors in complex locations. Through refined, individualized diagnostic and treatment plans, they safeguard patients with difficult, critical, and high-risk tumors.
Precise Heavy Ion Therapy Technology Under High-Frequency Oscillation Respiratory Control
Precise Bladder Volume Control for Bladder Cancer Treatment
Single-session Heavy Ion Therapy Technology with Surgically Placed Isolation Pads Between Viscera and Tumors
With hard-core strength, they have set an industry benchmark. Today, the Wuwei Heavy Ion Center has become the only medical institution in the world operating a dual heavy ion therapy system simultaneously. It has achieved the entrusted operation of the Lanzhou Heavy Ion Center and the coordinated development of the two cities, establishing a new integrated pattern for heavy ion diagnosis and treatment in Northwest China. Clinical capabilities have continuously improved, with treatable disease types exceeding 100, comprehensively covering difficult and complex tumors such as lung cancer, liver cancer, pancreatic cancer, and intracranial tumors. The three-year local control rate for core disease types has reached 84%, with clinical efficacy meeting international advanced standards.
With advanced technology, high-quality services, and an open stance, the medical reputation of this Silk Road Gobi region has reached the world. A growing number of international patients from countries such as Belgium, South Korea, and Australia have traveled to seek treatment. Domestically developed heavy ion technology has now gone global, serving the world. With safe and effective diagnostic and therapeutic outcomes, it contributes a scientific, standardized Chinese solution and Chinese wisdom to the field of international precision cancer treatment.
Gather Wisdom and Strength to Broaden the Landscape, Embrace Openness and Sharing to Safeguard National Health
Technology knows no borders, yet healers possess great compassion. Situated in the Hexi Corridor, the Wuwei Heavy Ion Center has transcended geographical limitations. Adhering to the talent development philosophy of 'not necessarily owning, but ensuring access and use,' it has built an open development framework featuring internal–external collaboration and two-way empowerment.
Deepening the strategy of strengthening the hospital through talent, the center has vigorously implemented the "136 Professional Leading Talent" cultivation project and built an integrated platform for the introduction, training, and exchange of high-level talent. It has invited world-renowned experts—including Professor Hirohiko Tsujii, widely regarded as the "Father of Heavy Ion Therapy," and Professor Jörg Hauffe, former director of the Munich Proton Center in Germany—to provide long-term on-site guidance, precisely empowering all areas of clinical practice, research, and education. At the same time, the center has selected and dispatched over 500 key medical, nursing, and engineering personnel in batches to top-tier medical institutions in Europe, the United States, Japan, and South Korea for advanced training, forging a well-structured, highly skilled, and internationally oriented professional team that integrates Eastern and Western expertise.
Professor Tatsuaki Kanai — Former Professor at Gunma University School of Medicine, Japan
Professor Hirohiko Tsujii — Former Director of the National Institute of Radiological Sciences (NIRS), Japan
Professor Shiro Fuji, Director of the Prostate Cancer Center, Ofuna Central Hospital, Japan, and Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Urology, Faculty of Medicine, University of the Ryukyus, Japan
Professor Jörg Hauffe, former Director of the Rinecker Proton Therapy Center (RPTC) in Munich, Germany, and Professor Olga
Professor Yee-Min Jen, former Chairman of the Radiation Oncology Department in Taiwan
Professor Wu Jiaming, renowned radiotherapy physicist at Chang Gung Memorial Hospital inTaiwan
Professor Wang Junjie, Chairman of the Radiation Oncology Branch of the Chinese Medical Association
Upholding the public welfare essence of healthcare, the center has stripped advanced technology of its "elitist" aura, making it accessible to more ordinary people. It continues to optimize the patient service system and has innovatively launched a coordinated mechanism combining "million-level medical insurance + heavy ion green access channel," offering a special health protection of up to 5.55 million yuan. In collaboration with civil aviation authorities, it has opened an air green service for cross-regional patients, removing barriers to out-of-town medical treatment. It has also refined the tiered diagnosis and treatment pricing system, with the Lanzhou Center strictly controlling the cost per treatment session, effectively reducing patients' financial burdens, and making high-end medical technology more accessible and inclusive.
Crossing mountains and seas, they journey toward hope. From bustling metropolises to small towns in Northwest China, from domestic patients to overseas friends, countless lives in distress have regained vitality and strength here. A pancreatic cancer patient from Belgium shared heartfelt sentiments: "In the distant East, advanced medical technology and warm humanistic care have lit up the path ahead for me." Healers uphold their original aspiration, while technology carries its mission—allowing the compassionate spirit of healers on the Gobi land to cross vast distances and deliver a warm, powerful embrace.
Forge the soul with pioneering spirit to continue the glorious chapter, pass down the torch and forge ahead into a new era journey
Ten years of braving wind and rain, ten years of spring blossoms and autumn harvests. Along the journey of dedicated effort and solid work, honors have steadily accumulated. Gansu Province Talent Introduction and Intelligence Base, Provincial Heavy Ion Medical Engineering Transformation Center, Model Party Branch, Youth May Fourth Medal Collective—15 provincial-level or higher platform honors have been awarded one after another, bearing witness to the team's growth and transformation. The attainment of the National "Worker Pioneer" title is not only a full affirmation of past struggles but also an inspiring clarion call of the times urging continued progress.
This profound honor belongs to every research engineer who persevered day and night in overcoming challenges, to every clinical medical worker who strived for excellence, and to every logistics support worker who stood fast in quiet dedication. They are outstanding representatives of industrial workers in the new era and a pioneering force on the medical front. With craftsmanship, they advance technology; with original aspiration, they safeguard health; with solid action, they embody responsibility. On the vast desert Gobi, they are writing an inspiring chapter of serving the nation through science and technology, and healing the people with healer's devotion.
The tide rises and the wind is strong; forging ahead begins a new journey. Standing at a brand new starting point in the construction of a Healthy China, the Wuwei Heavy Ion Center keeps its vision far-sighted and its pace unrelenting. In the future, the team will take the National "Worker Pioneer" title as a new foundation, carry forward the spirit of struggle, and nurture innovative momentum. They will continue to expand into cutting-edge technologies such as light ion therapy and boron neutron capture therapy (BNCT), accelerate the establishment of a comprehensive, full-coverage matrix of high-end cancer treatments, make every effort to create a national regional heavy ion radiotherapy medical center, and strive to build a world-class precision tumor diagnosis and treatment hub.
The wind and sand temper the original aspiration; the Gobi bears witness to responsibility. The vast Hexi land and the timeless Silk Road civilization have witnessed the dream-chasing journey of a pioneering team. All members of the Wuwei Heavy Ion Center will take honor as their motivation and mission as their duty, carrying forward the spirit of craftsmanship and the strength of pioneers. They will let the flame of struggle never die out and let the light of life illuminate an even farther journey. On the path of safeguarding the health of the people, they will forge ahead with courage, achieve even greater accomplishments, and continue contributing their hard-core strength to advance the construction of a Healthy China and empower the high-quality development of healthcare in Northwest China.
