Shanghai No.2 Radio Factory; Shanghai 上海无线电二厂:
Brands:
Gongnongbing, 工农兵
Feile 飞乐, trad. 飛樂 (Philo used in early radio models). Feile won a price in 1961 National Radio Awards. It is 飞 Mandarin fēi, trad. Chinese 飛 for "to fly" and 乐 for music / happy.
The brands Gongnongbing, 工农兵, in Mandarin gōngnóngbīng (trad. Chinese 工農兵) was also used by Tianjing Bohai Wireless Factroy. It means "workers, peasants, and soldiers". This brands was at least also used by Tianjin Bohai Wireless Factory, Tianjin.
History
Liwen Wireless Company, Shanghai 利聞無綫電機製造廠 出品, simplified Chinese 利闻无线电机制造厂 出品 was founded in November 1939. Their first radio was Philo 飛樂 一燈礦石兩用收音機 (simplif. Chinese: 飞乐 brand 一灯矿石两用收音机 ) which is a "One tube or Crystal dual-purpose radio". The company was soon forced by the Japanese occupation force to produce (also?) bicycle seats.
After the end of World War II in 1945, Shanghai radio manufacturing industry (like AMA Radio, Liwen, etc.) resumed radio production.
At the end of 1947, there were 590 electronics related factories and companies in Shanghai, in which 235 are wireless companies/factories. Because many of the components were imported, and lowly paid assembly cost, domestic radio manufacturing industry had a hard time to survive. In early 1949, before the communist government took power, 30% of the wireless industry were shut down or semi shut down, only 7 factories were making radios and components, with a total of 113 workers employed. See here the "Radio History of Shanghai".
In 1948 The "Liwen Wireless Company" changed its name into "Liwen Wireless Equipment Factory". After 1949 Liwen gradually was a big speaker factory.
July 1959 Liwen merged with Oriental Electric Factory. August 1960 this was splitted in two factories: Radio and Amplifier works became the name Shanghai No. 2 Radio Factory, what is also translated in "Shanghai No. 2 Wireless Factory" - but parts became the name of "Fudan Electric Equipment Factory", "Wanli Electric Equipment Factory", "Tianhe Electric and Chemical Industrial Society" and "Zhongxing Wireless Equipment Factory". The speaker workshop became the name "Shanghai No. 11 Radio Factory" (or Shanghai No. 11 Wireless Factory).
In 1962, Shanghai 131 was transferred to Shanghai No. 2 Wireless Factory to manufacture. Based on Shanghai 131, the factory developed Shanghai 531 seven-tube four-band super-heterodyne floor standing radio and Shanghai 532 fourteen-tube full-band super-heterodyne radio receiver, record player and sound recorder multifunctional radio, the 531 and 532 model all exceeded national class1 radio standards. Between 1953 to 1957, the radio production of this factory accounted for 25.6% of national radio productions, many models were exported. From 1952 to 1959, major products from this factory are radios and amplifiers, a total of 13 types 58 models of radio were developed.
