Building for Oil: Daqing and the Formation of the Chinese Socialist State

Description

Building for Oil is a historical account of the development of the oil town of Daqing in northeastern China during the formative years of the People’s Republic, describing Daqing’s rise and fall as a national model city. Daqing oil field was the most profitable state-owned enterprise and the single largest source of state revenue for almost three decades, from the 1950s through the early 1980s. The book traces the roots and maturation of the Chinese socialist state and its early industrialization and modernization policies during a time of unprecedented economic growth. The metamorphosis of Daqing’s physical landscape in many ways exemplified the major challenges and changes taking place in Chinese state and society. Through detailed, often personal descriptions of the process of planning and building Daqing, the book illuminates the politics between party leaders and elite ministerial cadres and examines the diverse interests, conflicts, tensions, functions, and dysfunctions of state institutions and individuals. Building for Oil records the rise of the “Petroleum Group” in the central government while simultaneously revealing the everyday stories and struggles of the working men and women who inhabited China’s industrializing landscape—their beliefs, frustrations, and pursuit of a decent life. Building for Oil: Daqing and the Formation of the Chinese Socialist State Contents List of Maps and Figures Acknowledgments Preface Introduction 1. The Discovery of Daqing The Search for Oil The Weakness of the State Industrialization Plan Daqing: The Great Celebration Construction ( Jianshe): Building a New China 2. Production First, Livelihood Second Daqing: The Battlefield Total Mobilization An Alternative Landscape Battlefield Communism: Integration of State and Society 3. Breakthrough on a Narrow Front The Political Economy of Building Construction Planning without Cities “More, Faster, Better, and More Economic” 4. Celebrating Daqing: The Correct Path for Industrialization Learning from Daqing Worker-Peasant Villages on the Oil Field Cities and Buildings Based on the Daqing Model Industrialization without Urbanization 5. Living in an Urban-Rural Heterotopia The Factory as a Production Machine The Factory as a Work-Study School The Factory as a Battlefield 6. Challenging the Daqing Model The Red Flag on the Industrial Front Growing Industrial Agglomeration The Great Leap Outward The Sinking of the Oil Rig Epilogue Notes Bibliography Index Harvard-Yenching Institute Monograph Series