Oral Biography Of Petroleum Engineer Wang Changyu

Born in 1936,Wang Changyu was an oil worker of Henan origin.He came from a family of merchants and businessmen,and his family was well off during his early years,but his father died early and his family fell into disgrace.After the war against Japan,his family’s shop went bankrupt and,as the eldest son,he was sent to the city to work as an apprentice in a cloth merchant’s shop in order to maintain the family’s livelihood.With the establishment of New China,Wang Changyu’s fortunes changed and he was given the opportunity to attend Nanyang High School in 1950.After graduating from secondary school,he was assigned to the Tianjin Petroleum Industry School to further his studies in refinery machinery,and after graduating in 1956,he was assigned to the Guangzhou Petroleum Industry School,where he taught a course in metalworking and entered the education unit.1956 to 1957,Wang Changyu went to the Beijing Mining Institute for further studies,and then taught at the Guangzhou Petroleum Industry School until 1963.In his prime,Wang Changyu went to work for the Seventh Bureau of Agricultural Reclamation in Sartu,Heilongjiang,where he was transformed from a teacher to a worker.In 1967,in response to the call for the construction of the Third Line,Wang went to the Linxiang Oilfield in Hunan Province to carry out production and construction work.In his middle age,he went to the Tianjin Petrochemical Refinery,where he was involved in the construction of a complete petrochemical system in southeastern Tianjin.Wang Changyu has lived in Tianjin since his arrival in 1974 until today,during which time he has worked as a cadre within the Fourth Construction Company,rising through the ranks and enjoying the benefits of the unit.Wang Changyu’s life history comes at a time of profound social change and rapid development in China,so studying his personal life history makes it easy to grasp his destiny,identity transformation,family formation and social relations in a time of great change.In addition,through oral histories and related documents,Wang Changyu’s attitudes towards the major historical events he experienced can be observed in the interrelationship between the individual and the state.Wang Changyu’s personal life history narrative is able to show and materialize the development of society and the nation from the 1930s to the beginning of the 21st century.In short,as a representative figure of a generation of oil industry workers,Wang Changyu’s personal life story reflects the development of China’s oil industry,social change and changes in national policy during this period.