Ranghulu District 让胡路区

History

The district takes its name from a railway station. Building of the stop began in August 1898 with the Chinese Eastern Railway, and it opened in July 1903 as Stop No. 52, later called Suolongchaqi (索龙察奇). In 1960, to take pressure off Sartu (萨尔图) station, it was renamed Ranghulu, written with the character for "lake" (让湖路). The station was renamed Daqing West (大庆西站) on 26 October 2013, while the district keeps a slightly different spelling of the old name, using a different character for "hu".

What to see

The Iron Man Wang Jinxi Memorial Hall (铁人王进喜纪念馆) honours Wang Jinxi, who led the 1205 drilling team and is remembered as the "Iron Man" hero of the Daqing oilfield's development. Xinhua lists it as a national 4A-rated scenic area and a national first-grade museum. It began in 1971 as an exhibition room; the present hall, on Tieren Avenue (铁人大道) at Century Avenue (世纪大道), opened on 26 September 2006, the 47th anniversary of the oilfield's discovery. From above the main building forms the character for "work" (工) and from the side the character for "person" (人); it is 47 metres high with 47 front steps, one for each year of Wang's life, and the roof is shaped like a drill bit.

Chinese Wikipedia records 5,324 items in the collection. Displays follow Wang's life alongside the history of Daqing oil, with more than 200 photographs and 300 objects, among them his aluminium helmet, his motorcycle and the padded work jacket he wore when he jumped into a mud pit to stop a blowout. The grounds hold a 6.5-metre granite statue of Wang holding a brake lever and a Soviet-made BU-40 drilling rig of the same model his team used.

Getting oriented

Daqing West station, with a new building opened in November 2013, is served by the Binzhou (滨洲铁路) and Tongrang (通让铁路) railways and the Harbin–Qiqihar high-speed railway, whose platforms opened in August 2015. China National Highway 301 passes through the district. The district government sits in Longgang (龙岗) subdistrict, and Lamadian (喇嘛甸镇) is its one town.

Highlights

• Iron Man Wang Jinxi Memorial Hall 铁人王进喜纪念馆: A national 4A scenic area and first-grade museum on the life of Wang Jinxi and the history of Daqing oil, opened in its present building in 2006.
• Daqing West Railway Station 大庆西站: The former Ranghulu station, first opened in 1903, now also served by the Harbin–Qiqihar high-speed railway.