The production of nitrogen fertilizers in China started in 1930s when the highest total output was only 226kt/a. After new China was founded, the Chinese government attached great importance to the development of nitrogenous fertilizer industry. By the end of 1965, 15 medium-sized nitrogenous fertilizer plants had been put into operation in the country, with the total output of synthetic ammonia reaching 1,300kt/a and above. In 1964~1966, preparation was made for the construction of Sichuan Luzhou Natural Gas Chemical Plant and Shanxi Xingping Fertilizer Plant using imported technology, which were successively put into production in 1970. In the following one decade and more, on the basis of continuously summarizing the construction and production experience with medium-sized nitrogenous fertilizer plants, a number of other medium-sized nitrogenous fertilizer production plants were built. After 1978, China carried out an all-round rectification of medium-sized nitrogenous fertilizer plants in terms of organization, management and technology, and conducted gap filling and potential tapping of the existing enterprises targeting energy saving and consumption reduction, which increased the productivity of the existing plants. As of 1983, the number of medium-sized nitrogenous fertilizer plants in the country amounted to 56, and the raw materials used by the plants reflected the policy of making use of coal, oil and gas simultaneously with coal as the main raw material. As a result, the nitrogenous fertilizer production series in the country came into being.

To meet the increasing demand of agriculture for nitrogenous fertilizer and with the large-scale development of petroleum and natural gas in the country, China introduced 13 sets of complete production plants from the United States, Holland, Japan and France in 1973, each having a capacity of 1000t/d of synthetic ammonia and 1620~1740 t/d of urea, of which 10 sets used natural gas as raw material and 3 sets use light oil as raw material. With the joint efforts made by the provinces and cities concerned, these large-scale nitrogen fertilizer plants were completed with high speed, high quality and high level and were put into operation one after another between May 1976 and Sep. 1979. Although the output of these large-scale nitrogenous fertilizer plants accounts for 20% only of the total output of nitrogenous fertilizer in the country, they have played a significant role in enhancing the technical level and management level of the country's nitrogenous fertilizer industry. Since 1983, the nitrogenous fertilizer output of the country ranked the second in the world, only next to that of the former Soviet Union.