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08-02-2006 14:38

Energy resources, and fossil fuels in particular are among the most widely-discussed topics in modern society. For most of us, the closest we actually come to that world is putting gasoline in our cars and paying winter heating bills. But for citizens in northwest China's Karamay, oil is a dream, a livelihood, and their city's reason for being. Some 80% of its GDP is dependent on the oil industry, and as many as 1 out of every 3 of its people have been directly employed by an oil field. But while "oil field," to my mind at least, hardly conjures up an ideal living environment, the town of Karamay has created a quality of life for its citizens that is cleaner and greener than in most any place you could find.

Sensations of Xinjiang…see how Karamay went from a tiny dot in the desert to a modern city with oil Karamay has made this huge progress in a span of less than 50 years. It was officially created in 1958 with the express goal of developing industries related to or even dependent upon oil production. Oil has, in turn, been kind to them. The city now has one of the highest per capita incomes in the entire country: higher, even, than Shanghai!

Some of the new regulations he mentioned to me were things like stricter absence and leave policies. Punctuality also started to be more strictly enforced. Tursun also told me that, as a leader, one of his roles was as a kind of informal counselor for his colleagues. Due to the stresses of the job, arguments or pressures back home affect the workers from time to time, but these must not compromise their ability to focus and work safely. Watching him interact with his subordinates was touching, in a way, because it was clear that they respected and admired him, but saw him as a trusted friend as well.

Like work places around the world, the lunch break here is standard. But in order to keep up the level of oil production and give everyone a chance to eat on time, things move pretty quickly. Unlike workplaces in the city, there aren't any restaurants nearby, so the oil field employs cooks who prepare food according to people's requests and then deliver it to the worksite. Working, eating, and sharing living quarters with the same colleagues day after day must make the oil field into a true "home away from home."

The name "Karamay" comes from Uighur and means, literally, "black oil." The town itself is named after this hill, which was formed by the combination of sand on the surface and oil bubbling up from the earth. Perhaps the most legendary man ever to live in Karamay was Salimu, as he is credited by some for nothing less than the very discovery of oil here. How much of it is myth and how much of is fact? Well, we found one of the original pioneers here to set the record straight.

While Salimu's story has a certain mythical appeal to it, the story of most of this city's true founders – the early oil workers – is as true as it is amazing. Looking at the city's modern incarnation, it's hard to imagine what how far it has come.

I look around the exhibit hall, look up close at a picture of workers in awful winter conditions (frozen boots), montage of black and white pictures; life-size exhibit of log cabin, Mao pic, hot water pitcher, work clothes hanging on the wall

Many of the people who made up that first group of oil workers to come to Karamay in the '50's also retired here, and live here now. I set up an interview with one of them, Mr. Chen, to ask him for his firsthand account of what life was like then.