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Wang Jinxi (1923-1970) was born in a poor peasant
family in Yumen County, Gansu Province. "His life in the old society
was a nightmare": he worked as a sheep herd in childhood and later as
a coal bearer. He started working in the Yumen Oilfield when he was 15
years old, and worked there for ten years. In 1956, he was admitted to
the Chinese Communist Party and in 1959, he attended the National
Conference of Heroes of Labor in Peking.
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When Mao Zedong and the Party Central Committee decided in February 1960 "to fight 'a massive battle' to open up Daqing"
(between Harbin and Qiqihar, Heilongjiang Province) and become
self-sufficient in oil, Wang and his famous No. 1205 Drilling Team
rushed to the bleak grasslands from Yumen Oilfield. Undeterred by
temperatures of between -20 and -30 Centigrades, they jumped into
battle directly. After five days of drilling, they struck oil, and
Daqing's first production well went into operation "amidst resounding
cheers of 'Long Live Chairman Mao'". Within three years, Daqing became
China's first-rate big oilfield.
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Despite fatigue, injuries and difficulties, Wang
kept going throughout. For this the people called him 'Iron Man', and
the name 'Iron Man' Wang stuck and spread. In 1960, the nation was
called upon to learn from the Iron Man, and in 1967, he was made a
national labor model. Veteran designer Ha Qiongwen was one of the artists
who immortalized the Iron Man. In 1968, he was elected member of the
Ninth Central Committee. Until his death of cancer in 1970, Wang
remained in the foreground fighting the elements, class enemies,
revisionists and erroneous ideas.
Wang Jinxi's example was used once more in the early
1980s, to entice young people to move to hardship areas to assist in
the development of China.
Sources:
Taching—Red Banner in China's Industrial Front (Peking: Foreign Languages Press 1972)
Jiang Shanhao, Impressions of Taching Oilfield (Peking: Foreign Languages Press 1978)
Shao Wu et al. (eds), Gongheguo qunyingpu [Register of heroes of the Republic] (Beijing: Zhongguo shaonian ertong chubanshe, 2003) [in Chinese]
Xu Yan, 80 wei gongchandang rende gushi [The stories of 80 Communist Party personages] (Beijing: Jiefangjun wenyi chubanshe, 2001) [in Chinese]
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