On the journey toward Chinese-style modernization, every woman plays a leading role. In the struggle across all industries, women consistently demonstrate resilience and wisdom, writing extraordinary stories. When asked what kind of women are most inspiring, those at Qingdao Port would likely say "upright women."

What does "upright" mean? In northern dialect, it refers to being neat, orderly, proper, and decent. In the workplace, it describes someone who is solid, reliable, serious in attitude, and meticulous. At Qingdao Port's terminal, there exists such a group of "upright women": they advance port intelligent upgrades at the innovation forefront, persisting through over a hundred technical challenges; they safeguard operations at maintenance frontlines, responding on-call regardless of harsh cold, scorching heat, late nights, or early mornings; they promote standardization at service sites, earning continuous praise.

Sun Rixn, Equipment Manager of the Mobile Machinery Team at the Port Company, represents this group. From a novice apprentice who couldn't distinguish part names, to a skilled "dual technician" proficient in both mechanics and information technology, to an innovation leader guiding teams through technical challenges, Sun Rixn has dedicated over a decade of her youth to equipment maintenance, immersed in oil and grime, transforming an seemingly ordinary maintenance position into a brilliant path of achievement.

**"Upright" Means Perseverance, Interpreting Responsibility with Original Intention**

In 2011, fresh graduate Sun Rixn was assigned to Qingdao Port for equipment maintenance work. Faced with oil-stained floors, pungent diesel fumes, and veteran workers decades her senior, this young female employee initially considered retreat. Others' whispers kept her tossing and turning at night: "Can a girl really handle this?"

However, she was soon inspired by the dedication of veteran port workers: receiving fault notifications at 3 AM, veteran masters would rush to the terminal immediately, crawling under vehicles to repair until dawn. During equipment maintenance, veterans would polish parts with cotton cloth until they gleamed, saying while cleaning, "These iron machines are like people - treat them well, and they'll work hard for you."

Witnessing the sweat on veterans' foreheads, calluses on their hands, and their uncompromising work ethic, Sun Rixn gradually found her own purpose. She began spending time with veterans at the terminal, seeking problems in oil stains and solutions in screws: crouching beside equipment to record parameters, ignoring oil smudges on her face for fear of missing crucial data; studying technical books late into the night, noting questions to ask around; hand-drawing circuit diagrams after each successful repair, clearly marking fault-prone points as "clues" for future maintenance.

Gradually, Sun Rixn became capable of independently handling complex faults, earning recognition as the reliable "female maintenance worker" of her team. One cold night, after returning home, she received an equipment fault call and immediately returned to the terminal without hesitation. Wearing a headlamp and using a sliding board to crawl under equipment, she worked continuously for half an hour in sub-zero temperatures until the fault was resolved. When equipment restarted and terminal lights blazed again, colleagues gave thumbs up: "This woman is truly upright!"

**"Upright" Values Innovation, Creating Excellence Through Challenges**

As port production intelligence levels continuously improved with more new equipment being deployed, Sun Rixn began thinking: could equipment achieve remote monitoring? At that time, she knew almost nothing about information technology, facing growing skepticism: "Can a mechanical maintenance position handle informatization?" "This isn't achievable overnight." "Stop trying..."

"If we don't know, we'll learn!" Sun Rixn refused to accept defeat, leading colleagues into intensive research. Days were spent at terminals comparing equipment parameters, nights consuming technical materials, often working "day and night" and "5+2" continuously. During scorching summers with surface temperatures exceeding 40 degrees, they stayed beside equipment for hours, clothes soaking and drying repeatedly. During cold winter nights, they ran between offices and terminals, hands so cracked from cold they didn't notice, ultimately developing a mobile machinery remote monitoring system - enabling real-time equipment parameter monitoring via smartphone app, significantly enhancing safety assurance levels.

This strengthened Sun Rixn's belief in "technological innovation." In 2025, she led her team in launching an "old equipment dismantling and regeneration" challenge: selecting two mechanical units serving over 10 years for complete dismantling, maintenance, and reassembly. Among 2,000+ components, she discovered 6 potential hazards, including a cracked lifting cylinder pin seat that could have caused complete machine factory return if not timely repaired.

Over the following two and a half months, she led systematic challenges, comprehensively upgrading old equipment performance, saving substantial maintenance costs while effectively ensuring uninterrupted production.

"Individual strength isn't true strength; team strength is real strength. We must pass down our skills." As leader of the "Rixn Innovation Workshop," Sun Rixn frequently emphasizes this principle. She consistently practices "mentoring," unreservedly sharing experience and technology with new employees, teaching them fault diagnosis and innovation challenges hands-on until problems are understood and work is done "uprightly."

Today, her team has completed over 100 technical improvement achievements, creating benefits exceeding 10 million yuan. Multiple achievements have been promoted and applied to port production frontlines. She has personally received over ten honors including National "Transportation Technical Expert," Shandong Province "March 8th Red Banner Bearer," and Qilu Women Craftsman.

"Working at ports requires upright determination," Sun Rixn says. "This terminal is my battlefield. As long as equipment operates, I must guard it well."

In the new era port, Sun Rixn joins thousands of "upright women" in writing women's struggle chapters through hard work and innovation. This represents the most inspiring image of new era port women.