Daqing

The region now known as Daqing Prefecture was a reasonably insignificant place until the Qing dynasty, known only as an unsettled hunting ground of Dörbet Oirat tribes due to its wetland and prairies. The region began to grow slightly after the Russian Empire constructed the Chinese Eastern Railway (KVZhD) through the area in 1898. The railway has a station at Sartu in today's Sartu District. It was not until 1959 that oil was discovered in the region as part of the large scale oil exploration put into motion across the Northeast China Plain. The Daqing oilfield was discovered in the late 1950s, and drilling began in 1958. A town with the same name was founded in 1959 to house workers extracting oil and gas from the oilfield and to host industries which could take advantage of the energy and petrochemicals, shortly before the 10th anniversary of the founding of the PRC. …

Located in the north temperate zone, Daqing has a humid continental climate (Köppen Dwa) and is affected by the Siberian high and the East Asian monsoon. Generally, winter is bitterly cold with occasional snowfalls, and spring and autumn are prevailed by monsoons. The vast majority of the annual rainfall occurs during summer. The diurnal temperature variation can be up to 14 °C (25 °F) during the growing period. The monthly 24-hour average temperature ranges from −18.5 °C (−1.3 °F) in January to 23.3 °C (73.9 °F) in July, and the annual mean is +4.2 °C (39.6 °F). A majority of the annual precipitation falls in July and August alone. With monthly percent possible sunshine ranging from 53% in July to 70% in February, the city receives 2,726 hours of bright sunshine annually. Extreme temperature ranges from −39.2 °C (−38.6 °F) to 39.8 °C (103.6 °F).

Generated by the history of the city, Daqing has a culture centering around the "Daqing Spirit, the Daqing People," which is said to represent deep personal commitment in pursuing national goals, self-sufficient and frugal living, and urban-rural integrated land use. Daqing's urban-rural landscape was said to embody the ideal communist society described by Karl Marx because it eliminated (1) the gap between town and country, (2) the gap between workers and peasants, and (3) the gap between manual and mental labor. "Daqing Spirit, Daqing People" was the title of an April 20, 1964 article in People's Daily which extolled the success of Daqing oil field workers. …