Iron man's spirit lives on at oilfield

A photo from the early days of the oilfield is displayed at the Tieren Wang Jinxi Memorial Hall in Daqing. XIAO DIANCHANG/FOR CHINA DAILY

Employees follow example set by model worker Wang Jinxi

Over the past month, numerous visitors have headed to the Tieren Wang Jinxi Memorial Hall in Daqing, Heilongjiang province, to mark the 100th birth anniversary of a man who set a proud example for China's oilfield workers.

The visitors listened to accounts of Wang Jinxi's work and laid flowers at a statue commemorating him.

Before entering the 47-meter-high memorial hall, they climbed 47 steps symbolizing the relatively short but extraordinary 47-year life of Wang, who was nicknamed by his fellow workers and local residents as Tieren, which translates as "Iron Man".

Born to a poor rural family in Yumen county, Gansu province, on Oct 8, 1923, Wang had a bitter childhood, during which he became resilient and strong-minded.

In spring 1950, he passed an examination to become one of the first generation of oil rig workers since the founding of the People's Republic of China the previous year.

On April 29, 1956, he joined the Communist Party of China.

In 1959, Wang received the National Role Model Worker medal for his work performance in Yumen and was also invited to attend the ceremony in Beijing to mark the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

During his trip to the capital, he was surprised to find that every bus was operating with a huge bag on the roof.

Wang Jinxi (left) and other model workers pose at the Daqing oilfield, Heilongjiang province, in 1963. YUAN LING/FOR CHINA DAILY

When told that the buses were burning gas due to a shortage of petrol, he said he felt as though he had been stabbed through the heart.

Wang told his fellow workers after he returned to Yumen: "The gas bags alerted me to the pressure our country was under. Without crude oil, we could not develop the industry, so as oil workers, we needed to take responsibility to contribute to the nation's oil industry."

In the 1950s, China faced great economic difficulty due to a shortage of crude oil, which hindered national defense.

In February 1958, the government approved a directive to move petroleum exploration work eastward, and on Sept 26 the following year, the first gush of crude oil burst from the ground in a little-known area of Heilongjiang.

The newly discovered oilfield was named Daqing, or "great celebration", in honor of the upcoming 10th anniversary of the nation's founding.

More than 40,000 veterans, technical experts and oil workers gathered in Daqing to develop the oilfield, including Wang, who led a group of workers from Gansu in March 1960.

Without taking any rest after getting off their train, Wang and his colleagues worked to unload equipment at Daqing railway station.

However, they faced numerous difficulties in transporting large items of equipment, including a drilling rig weighing more than 60 metric tons.

No large trucks were available in the newly founded city to help the workers complete their tasks.

They dismantled the drilling rig and spent three days loading the parts onto trucks for transportation to the oil well, but after the rig was installed, Wang faced a new problem, as the supporting water pipeline was not completed.

To enable work to start as quickly as possible, Wang led his team to fetch water from a small pool 1 kilometer away. Using various items, including buckets and wash basins, the team spent about 24 hours carrying more than 50 tons of water to the oil well.

In the following years, Wang led Drill Team No 1205 in setting a series of records at the oilfield, including reaching the bottom of an oil well 1,200 meters deep in 124 hours.

In April 1960, Wang injured his right leg on drilling pipes, but he left the hospital without doctors' permission to resume work.

His colleagues and local residents, enthused by Wang's passion to conquer extreme fatigue and push himself to the limit, nicknamed him Tieren.

Just three years after it was founded, the Daqing oilfield reached an annual capacity of 5 million tons of oil, ensuring that China was basically self-sufficient in the fuel.

However, the long years of demanding work damaged Wang's health, and he died in 1970 from stomach cancer.

Over the past decades, the oilfield and its workers have battled a range of difficulties, with their work enshrined as the "Tieren spirit", and symbolizing the great changes in China's industrial development.

In March, the oilfield marked a major milestone in producing 2.5 billion tons of crude oil since it was founded, accounting for 36 percent of the nation's total onshore crude oil production.

A photovoltaic plant at the Daqing oilfield provides solar power for the site. WANG JIANWEI/XINHUA

Zhu Guowen, executive director of Daqing Oilfield Co, said, "This was a significant milestone in China's industrial history and the nation's efforts to ensure energy security," adding that to date, the nation's largest onshore oilfield has paid more than 3 trillion yuan ($410.7 billion) in taxes and other fees.

The company said the oilfield produced 30 million tons of crude oil and 5.54 billion cubic meters of natural gas last year, with its gas production rising for the 12th consecutive year.

Daqing Oilfield Co has innovated and developed world-leading technologies for the development of onshore sandstone oilfields, leading the nation among its peers in terms of high-quality development.

The oilfield, which had an annual crude output of more than 50 million tons from 1976 to 2002, has been hailed by many observers as a miracle in the history of oilfield development.

Since 2003, despite shrinking reserves — a common problem among older oilfields — Daqing has strengthened on-site management and improved production control with the help of new technology.

Laborious work

Daqing's annual tertiary oil recovery exceeded 10 million tons over the past 21 years, with the company boasting a total production of 300 million tons to date, making it the largest center globally for research in tertiary oil recovery and the largest site in the world using such technology.

The company said it has achieved more than 11,000 technical innovations and inventions, including over 120 national-level science and technology awards, one first prize and three grand prizes in the National Natural Science Award.

To boost productivity in an all-around way and better take part in the Belt and Road Initiative, the company has been involved with numerous energy projects overseas, including oil and gas fields, pipelines and power stations. Its oil exploration teams have visited more than 50 countries and regions, including Venezuela, Egypt and Sudan.

Visitors learn about the past at the memorial hall in Daqing. WANG JIANWEI/XINHUA

On Sept 21, eight workers from Daqing Oilfield Co, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corp, were awarded the title New Model of Tieren Spirit at a commemoration in Daqing to mark the centenary of Wang Jinxi's birth.

Zhu said: "Wang was an outstanding representative of the Daqing people and a model for all oilfield workers in China. Although he left us for more than half a century ago, his 'Tieren spirit' continues to shine on us."

Liu Li, one of the eight model workers and team head at the company's second oil extraction plant, said: "Like Wang Jinxi, my father was part of the first generation to develop the oilfield at the beginning of the 1960s. I grew up listening to their stories about the oilfield and the hard work everyone put in. I was determined to follow the 'Tieren spirit' at a young age."

Since joining the plant in 1993, the industrious 49-year-old has spent much of her spare time deepening her knowledge of oil extraction and undergoing professional training.

In 1994, she finished in second place in a technology competition held at her plant, and three years later, Liu took third place in a national technology competition. Just 23 at the time, she was the youngest of the winners.

In 2001, after months of research and testing, Liu invented a new tool — a combination of a crowbar, pipe pliers, a wrench and a screwdriver. It was her first step on the road to innovation, and the invention encouraged her to continue her work.

"Workers used to carry a set of individual tools that could weigh more than 10 kilograms, but the combination tool only weighs 2.5 kg, which makes their lives much easier," Liu said.

With more than 2,000 technical innovations and inventions under their belts, Liu and the other members of her team have solved a series of production-related problems.

She has also received a number of awards for her work ethic, professionalism and technical innovation.

"As a new generation of oil workers, we will boost oil and gas exploration and development, take concrete action to ensure national energy security, and build China into a modern socialist country," Liu said.

Over the years, music and many documentaries and other films have depicted the life of Wang.

In July 2021, Liaoning Ballet of China created the dance drama Iron Man, which incorporates ballet and Chinese classic and modern dance to tell Wang's story.

The drama has been performed by some 100 artists from Liaoning Ballet of China and the Liaoning provincial song and dance troupe in cities nationwide.

Qu Zijiao, head of Liaoning Ballet of China, said, "We want the public to better understand the 'Tieren spirit' through the form of a dance drama."

After a performance of Iron Man in Daqing in May, a member of the audience said: "It was the first time I had watched a ballet drama, but Iron Man is the best to my mind. Like most young people in Daqing, I feel proud to devote myself to the oilfield."