On February 9, 1937, a mixed-race baby boy named Wang Demin was born in Tangshan, Hebei, China. His father was Chinese, and although his mother also had Chinese nationality, she was a Swiss woman.
Although Wang Demin was born in China, he inherited more of his mother's profound facial features and has looked different from the children around him since he was a child.
years later, many people saw photos of Wang Demin when he was young and marveled at his handsome face. However, every era has its own aesthetics. Today, when people see Wang Demin, they will feel astonished. But at that time, Wang Demin looked like this. His mixed-race appearance was definitely a liability, and it even affected his life direction.
Trouble continued
Although Wang Demin later made great achievements in the scientific community and became famous internationally, before the age of five, he was a complete "illiterate" among children of the same age. He was not unintelligent, but before the age of five When Wang Demin opened his mouth, everything he said was in English, but he knew nothing about Chinese.
The reason is that when he was a child, his parents lived in foreign concessions for a long time, and they were usually exposed to an English environment. The child's language system was already in the developmental stage. At home, his mother was a foreigner and his father was Chinese. But he also has many years of experience studying in the United States, so his parents usually talk in English at home, leaving Wang Demin without an environment to learn Chinese.
But his fluent English caused Wang Demin a lot of trouble. At a young age, he became an isolated object in the community. He neither looked Chinese nor spoke Chinese. , so the children laughed at him as a foreigner from a foreign country and were unwilling to have contact with him.
Although Wang Demin wants to be friends with everyone, he can't even understand what others say, so how can he have further communication with others? Therefore, the young Wang Demin had to hide at home and read alone, but it would definitely not work in the long run. After all, Wang Demin will definitely have to live in Chinese society in the future, so he must learn Chinese.
In desperation, her mother sent her son, who spoke English all the time, to a primary school that taught all in Chinese. After arriving at the school, Wang Demin became even more depressed. The teachers and classmates in the school all spoke Chinese, and no one talked to him. When he spoke, Wang Demin himself was actually very troubled, so he worked hard to learn Chinese.
It's a pity that because I didn't have a good foundation when I was a child, it was a little late to pick up Chinese textbooks again in elementary school. As a result, Wang Demin struggled with Chinese literature. He worked hard and didn't know how to remember these complicated Chinese characters. He could only Relying on rote memorization, remembering the shapes of these Chinese characters, and then barely understanding the words in the book.
As for his Chinese pronunciation, it became a hodgepodge. He relied on imitating the accents of his parents and others. His strange mouth and accent attracted a lot of ridicule, and some classmates secretly called him a "fake foreign devil".
In short, due to various complicated reasons, Wang Demin’s childhood life was not really happy. After stumbling into middle school, Wang Demin finally mastered the Chinese language and was able to communicate with others smoothly, and his life became easier. Some.
But Wang Demin’s troubles have not been completely solved. Languages can be learned desperately, but Wang Demin’s mixed-race face is more conspicuous than the words he speaks. When Wang Demin first entered high school, his classmates were all wondering why there was such a person in the class. foreigners.
Therefore, every time he met new friends and classmates, Wang Demin had to spend a lot of effort to explain to them that although he looked like a foreigner, he was indeed a serious Chinese who was born and grew up in China. .
But as soon as they saw his face, many people felt that his statement that he was Chinese was unconvincing. At that time, the circulation of information was not so developed. The People's Republic of China had just been founded and there were no foreigners on the street. With Wang Demin's appearance, he was the focus of attention wherever he went.
But at that time, people paid attention to him, of course, not because he was good-looking, but because they thought he looked strange. In addition, after the founding of the People's Republic of China, the West had a very hostile attitude towards New China, with various blockades and suppression, so the Chinese people were very hostile to foreigners. Naturally, his impression was not much better, so his gaze towards Wang Demin became more scrutinizing.
Of course, Wang Demin only loves one country in his heart, and that is China. After all, even his mother from Switzerland became a Chinese citizen. He himself was born during the Anti-Japanese War, and he has witnessed China go from being backward and beaten to standing up now. Why? Maybe not patriotic? It's just that it's one thing to be firm in your heart, but it's another thing to be able to make others believe in your own intentions.
Wang Demin was troubled by these things. The only thing that could comfort him was his increasingly improving performance.
When he was in elementary school, Wang Demin’s intelligence was useless because he was not good at Chinese. But later, as he gradually became proficient in Chinese, his academic level also began to gradually improve. By the time he was in high school, his grades were basically ranked first in the school rankings every time, which was the highest test score in the entire school. The best and most stable student.
Everyone is holding back their energy and wants to surpass Wang Demin in the future, but few people can do it. This adds a lot of confidence to Wang Demin. When he is in high school, he is very ambitious and plans to apply for Tsinghua University and Peking University in the future.
No matter in any era, Tsinghua University and Peking University are the two best universities in China. All outstanding students yearn for these two institutions. With Wang Demin’s excellent results at that time, it can be said that Tsinghua University and Peking University were his choice. Whatever major you study, go to that major.
With full enthusiasm, Wang Demin took part in the college entrance examination that year. As expected, his results were very good, with almost full marks in almost all categories. With such a report card, no school would reject it, right? Unexpectedly, when the final admission results came out, Tsinghua University and Peking University, Wang Demin was not on the list.
Wang Demin was very surprised when he saw this result. To be on the safe side, he went to the admissions office of Tsinghua University and Peking University for consultation, but he was met with two basins of cold water. It turned out that when the person in charge of the admissions office of Tsinghua University and Peking University saw Wang Demin's face, they immediately shook their heads and advised him to go home and find another job.
Wang Demin was confused. His grades were already so high. Could it be that he was still not up to the threshold of Tsinghua University and Peking University? As a result, others told him that it was not his grades that were the reason, but his face.
Wang Demin is not stupid. When others reminded him, he understood the reason. He has foreign ancestry. The relationship between China and the West is still very tense. Wherever he goes, some people will think that he is "not of my race." His mind must be different." It is no wonder that Tsinghua North University rejected Wang Demin.
But although he could figure out the reason, Wang Demin was very unwilling. Why did he miss out on the two universities he admired most because of his face? However, he is a young student and does not have the power to change the times. Finally, after going full circle, Wang Demin became a student of Beijing Petroleum Institute.
Petroleum Industry
This is actually his fifth choice. In other words, the first four schools are not willing to recruit Wang Demin, a mixed-race child. Judging from the situation at that time, it would be ideal for Wang Demin to be accepted by a university in the end. Beijing Petroleum Institute is now known as China University of Petroleum.
There are no more ups and downs in life than this. Wang Demin took the admission notice from Beijing Petroleum Institute, and he was actually very happy. At least he would not fail the exam completely. However, what major should he study after going to Beijing Petroleum Institute? Wang Demin didn't know it at the time, because he had to accept transfers within the college. Finally, after being transferred around, Wang Demin finally learned that he had been transferred to the oil production major of Beijing Petroleum Institute.
Wang Demin really knew nothing about this major and had no idea what he was going to do in the future. However, based on the situation at that time, once he entered this major, he would most likely regard it as his career in this life, so even though he didn’t understand , Wang Demin also had to bite the bullet.
However, after actually entering the Petroleum College, Wang Demin suddenly discovered that he and the oil production major were really destined in his previous life. He was smart, loved exploration, and had strong logic, and the oil production major needed smart students like him. .
Therefore, after college life began, Wang Demin's previous depression was almost gone, and he immediately began to devote all his energy to learning this new major that surprised him.
Wang Demin's score quickly soared to the top of the college rankings. He was almost obsessed. He usually was either in the classroom or reviewing his homework in the library.
When they get to college, boys and girls are at the age when they first start to fall in love. Although Wang Demin’s mixed-race face has caused a lot of controversy for him, when he goes to college, everyone’s worries are much less. Secretly, his classmates all think that Wang Demin looks good. He is very handsome, and his academic performance is good, which gives him an aura.
So after going to college, Wang Demin began to receive passionate love letters from female classmates. However, Wang Demin, who was obsessed with academics at the time, rejected these girlish feelings one by one.
Even, in order to prevent others from pursuing him again, he publicly established two rules. If he wants to fall in love, first, if the two get married, he cannot take time to take the other person to the park; second, the other person cannot hinder him from reading books. . Worrying that your romantic luck will affect your academic research may be an annoyance that most people don't realize.
Faced with such a guy who only had academic eyes, no matter how much girlish feelings he had, it was useless. From then on, Wang Demin's side finally became clean. Wang Demin was definitely not sad about losing the pursuit of girls.
At that time, he just felt that his study time was not enough, and he wished he could turn 24 hours a day into 48 hours and spend all night in the library.
In 1959, 22-year-old Wang Demin finally graduated from college. At that time, college students were very valuable, and their jobs were allotted by the state. Wang Demin was the top-ranked person in the Petroleum College, so if assigned, he would be allowed to choose good positions.
However, the arrival of good news changed Wang Demin's life choice again. This news was that China discovered Daqing Oilfield . After the news of
came out, the entire Petroleum Institute cheered. No one understood the importance of the oil industry to China better than them. In the past, what China lacked most was oil. The West was stuck and oil from outside could not be transported in. We could only He tried to find a way to be self-reliant, but after searching year after year, he never found a large oil field.
The label of being an oil-poor country has been worn for more than ten years, and it seems that it can never be taken off. Students at the Petroleum Institute are worried and frowning every time they discuss this matter.
But now, the Daqing oil field has been discovered, which means that China’s opportunity has come, and we no longer have to suffer the Western glare. Thinking further, if the Daqing Oilfield project is completed as soon as possible, China's industry will surely take off again, and this oilfield will play a huge role in future prosperity.
At this moment, the Daqing Oilfield is in the midst of employing people. To build an oilfield, who else is more suitable than the students of the Petroleum Institute? Therefore, from the day they learned the news, all the students were gearing up and planning to go to Daqing Oilfield to do something in their career. Of course,
Wang Demin was no exception. On the first day of registration, Wang Demin filled out the registration form without hesitation. He gave up the opportunity to stay in Beijing and went to Daqing to find a new world.
Of course, in the eyes of many outsiders, this is an irrational decision. When he stays in Beijing, there is a bright future waiting for Wang Demin, but Daqing is a desolate place with nothing. He has to start from scratch, but Wang Demin started from filling in The moment I signed up, I had already thought about everything.
As long as this large oil field can be developed for the motherland, he will be willing to risk his life in it.
Soon, Wang Demin and his classmates came to the undeveloped Daqing Oilfield with simple luggage. The situation was actually worse than people imagined. There were simple construction sheds and oil wells everywhere, and workers were exposed one by one. The face is dark.
When Wang Demin and others arrived here, they didn't even have time to breathe. They were immediately sent to the grassroots level to conduct oil well exploration with the workers. They were spinning like a top. They were busy for several hours and could only cook. After eating two bites in a hurry, I felt exhausted at the end of the day.
Moreover, because it was just under construction, there were no dormitories for them to live in around the Daqing Oilfield. At night, Wang Demin and his group of students were placed in the cowshed. Many people were stunned when they heard this, thinking how could such talents be wronged.
But Wang Demin recalled that when he first arrived in the Daqing Oilfield, those who could live in the cowshed were given the best treatment, because the cowshed was warm and spacious. This was because the workers felt sorry for them because they were young and new to the country, so they specially made room for them. from. Like many workers, they can only be squeezed into temporary tents that are leaky and leaky, which is really painful.
Although Wang Demin encountered many obstacles since he was a child, his family has always been in a good situation and he has never suffered such hardships. But even so, Wang Demin did not shrink back. The more difficult the situation in Daqing Oilfield was, the more it inspired Wang Demin's fighting spirit. Wang Demin On the first day I came here, I vowed to myself that I would work hard to improve the look of this place.
After a busy day during the day, he stayed in the cowshed at night. Wang Demin was still checking information. He realized that the current technology for oil extraction in our country was too backward. If we fell behind, we would be beaten. Advanced technology is in the West. Others will not give us the technology in our hands, but Wang Demin can get some Soviet information, which can help. The difficulty of
is that these materials are all written in Russian , and no one knows them at all. Faced with this dilemma, Wang Demin became determined to overcome the difficulties. At night, he held the Russian materials in his left hand and flipped through a simple Russian dictionary in his right hand. He corrected the words one by one and actually translated a set of materials.
climbed to the top
The simple cowshed became Wang Demin's research institute. At that time, he burst out with great enthusiasm for research. He could not even sleep every day, just stare at his eyes, and study again and again. After the field trip, I lost weight several times, but I didn't feel tired at all.
At that time, Wang Demin only had the Daqing Oilfield in his heart and had completely forgotten about himself.
However, there is always a long way to go to study this kind of thing. The oil well pressure calculation formula used by Daqing Oilfield at that time was an internationally accepted formula. This was also the only set of formulas we could obtain at the time, but the specific situation required detailed analysis. , the general formula is just an ideal algorithm. When used in actual situations, it will not help except slow down the progress.
Western countries have countless experts to help, and of course they don’t have to worry about this problem when extracting oil. But in China, this is the problem among the problems. Without first-hand information, you can only eat what others leave, so Wang Demin works day and night. We need to study Soviet information and find a way to dig out the Daqing Oilfield.
While summarizing the experience of the Soviet Union, he conducted actual measurements and calculations in the Daqing Oil Field.
Finally, in 1961, Wang Demin miraculously designed a new formula for Daqing Oilfield, which successfully solved the problem of low mining efficiency in Daqing Oilfield. Wang Demin suddenly became a celebrity in the entire Daqing Oilfield. Even Premier Zhou wrote When the letter of commendation was given to the Daqing Oilfield team, Wang Demin’s name was specifically mentioned.
This success almost shocked the whole country, but Wang Demin did not feel arrogant because of it. He still plunged into his simple research room, calculating and researching over and over again with tattered manuscripts. There are still many unresolved problems in Daqing Oilfield. As long as these problems remain, Wang Demin will force himself to keep moving forward.
In the Daqing Oilfield, Wang Demin devoted almost his life. With his fame and status, he had countless opportunities to be transferred back to Beijing, but Wang Demin refused. For Wang Demin, the Daqing Oilfield was like the treasure of his soul. Part of it is his responsibility and expectations for the country. It is impossible for him to let go of the Daqing Oilfield. After
solved many detailed problems, Wang Demin began to think about a bigger problem. At that time, oil fields around the world could basically only undergo secondary oil recovery, and then they would face outage. As for tertiary oil recovery, only the Soviets had barely accomplished it. , there are very few successful cases.
Even the Americans have been studying for 20 years, but they have not figured out how to achieve tertiary oil recovery. But now Wang Demin wants to develop the method of tertiary oil recovery and apply it to Daqing Oilfield. He believes that with the potential of Daqing Oilfield, tertiary oil recovery can be achieved. of. Just bring out the technology yourself.
At that time, many people advised Wang Demin not to waste time. The oil storage capacity in Daqing Oilfield was sufficient for China to use for many years. It could be used for tertiary oil recovery. This was a topic that baffled countless people in oil exploration. The Soviet Union and the United States still had difficulties. What's more, as a newcomer, Wang Demin?
Wang Demin couldn't listen to these words. As long as possible, he had to give it a try. This is a national resource and no trace of it can be wasted.
However, since the 1960s, he has been studying this topic for more than 20 years, but there has been no effective progress on this topic.
In 1985, Wang Demin became the chief engineer of Daqing Oilfield. He still put the topic of tertiary oil recovery as the first priority in his research. Many people said forget it. Wang Demin is now successful and famous, and there is no need to work on a topic that will never be researched. Ruined his own reputation.
But when Wang Demin heard these words, he just shook his head and smiled, and continued to immerse himself in scientific research.
Many people say that he went crazy for oil research, but as a down-to-earth scientist, Wang Demin does not have the word "give up" in his dictionary.
Just like this, after persisting for several years, Wang Demin finally discovered to his surprise that as long as polymers are injected into oil wells to displace oil, it can drive tertiary oil recovery. No one believed that he could create such a miracle, but he still did it.
When the initial construction of the Daqing Oilfield was completed, some American experts predicted that the Daqing Oilfield could produce 50 million tons of oil for China, which would be used by China until 1995. This is already a very astonishing number.
However, due to Wang Demin's efforts, the oil extraction volume of large oil fields exceeded 100 million tons. This is a feat that no scientist in the world has ever accomplished. Even the United States has to be convinced.
The miracle created by Wang Demin not only promoted the development of China's petroleum industry for 20 years, but also played a great role in promoting the development of international petroleum mining technology. Because of his outstanding contributions, international small oil companies The Planet Center Naming Committee announced that the asteroid with international number 210231 will be officially named "Wang Demin Star".
Wang Demin became the fourth celebrity to win this honor after Leonardo da Vinci, Newton, and Marie Curie..
In Wang Demin's life, Daqing spirit runs throughout. Now, Academician Wang Demin is 85 years old. His growth has made him leave the front line, but he still tirelessly studies the mysteries of oil.
In Wang Demin's own words, his life has already shared the fate of Daqing Oilfield. Wherever Daqing Oilfield is, that is his home.
Wang Demin, who dedicated his life to his country, deserves all the praise. The Daqing Oilfield is a monument he erected with his whole life.
