When I arrived at his apartment building early one morning, he was still in the middle of his morning exercises with some of the people at his apartment complex. Many of them are now into their 70's, and to have worked under such extreme conditions in their youth, it amazed me how flexible and active they are today.

The Shixi makeover represents more than just superficial changes in the land where the oil fields are built. Today's highly skilled oil workers are valuable industry commodities, and the companies want to retain as many of them as possible. One way this has been achieved has been through improvements in their overall quality of life. Not only does this make for happier workers, it makes for more efficient and productive workers, too.

A day's work for people like Mr. Gui doesn't include a lot of moving around. As a systems maintenance engineer, most of his movements are clicking a mouse or maybe making a phone call. So fitness centers like this one really come in handy…and they're VERY popular. Mr. Gui said that in the evenings, a thirty minute wait for a ping pong table is not uncommon!

Managing an oil field is a highly skilled job, and many of the workers here use their time off keep up on the latest industry and technological developments. But they are people, too: soccer magazines are a big hit, as are novels ranging from kung-fu fiction to classics like "Dream of Red Mansions."

Because oil fields have to be in operation 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, it is inevitable that some people have to work holidays. But for the major holidays, the oil field arranges parties and social gatherings in these places to help ease some of the homesickness and help workers enjoy themselves as much as possible. The demands on these workers are undeniably high, but so, too, seem to be the perks.

Karamay has plenty of ways to relax, including one of my favorite pastimes, shopping. I passed on the national chain stores and headed for Guomao,where I was advised that the most local character was evident. I was not disappointed! Walking through this market, perhaps more than anywhere else around Karamay, I really got the sense of this city as a crossroads for so many different cultures. A lot of the products weren't just made in another country; in many cases, they actually preserved the flavor and eccentricities of their countries of origin. In one shop, hundreds of images of eyes stared at me from all four walls. As it turns out, they were variations on some of the prominent imagery that the Kazakh minority uses to decorate their homes. As I expected, there were also a lot of accessories and decorations popular among Muslims in the city. One store sold wall hangings, imported from Saudi Arabia, with poetry from the Koran in gold embroidery. Most stores had at least one sewing machine, and if the customers were drawn to certain piece of fabric, the vendor could whip it up into curtains, a skirt, or a tablecloth right before the customer's eyes. Perhaps what shocked me most were items I saw in this stall: now, I've been to the biggest markets in Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong, but between you and me, this market in the middle of Karamay was the first place in China that I've been able to find deodorant for sale! Imported from Mongolia, it sat in the same small shop next to vases carved in Pakistan, perfumes from Iran, and placemats from Russia!

To tell the truth, I've never even held a real golf club, and I never imagined my first time hitting a golf ball would be in the Gobi Desert. But obviously, this doesn't really count as the desert anymore. I spent most of my time on the practice range, but even out on the course itself, there was not much difference between what I saw here and what I've seen on courses around the world.

Karamay seems determined to lay the strongest possible foundation for future development, as its early successes with oil have given it the capital and the confidence to expand into ever wider-reaching areas. Inasmuch as the lack of water was holding them back, at present, these needs seem to have been met and even surpassed.

Editor:Wang