Daqing

Daqing (simplified Chinese: 大庆; traditional Chinese: 大慶; pinyin: Dàqìng) is a prefecture-level city in the west of Heilongjiang province, People's Republic of China. The name literally means "Great Celebration" and refers to the tenth anniversary of the PRC.[2]: 2  Daqing is known as the "Oil Capital of China" and has experienced a phenomenal boom since oil was discovered at the Daqing Oil Field in 1959.[3] Its population was 2,781,562 as of the 2020 census, of whom 1,574,389 lived in the built-up (or metro) area in four out of the total of five urban districts: Sartu, Longfeng, Ranghulu and Honggang. The region now known as Daqing Prefecture was a reasonably insignificant place until the Qing dynasty, known only as an unsettled hunting ground of Dörbet Oirat tribes due to its wetland and prairies. The region began to grow slightly after the Russian Empire constructed the Chinese Eastern Railway (KVZhD) through the area in 1898.[4] The railway has a station at Sartu in today's Sartu District. It was not until 1959 that oil was discovered in the region as part of the large scale oil exploration put into motion across the Northeast China Plain.[3]