Building for oil : Daqing and the formation of the Chinese socialist state / Hou Li, Distributed by Harvard University Press.

"Examines Chinese urbanization and industrialization strategies for a model petroleum city, Daquing, during the early years of the People's Republic. It concerns the politics of building, the pursuit of food, energy and resources, and the everyday lives of the working men and women who inhabited China's northeastern frontier"--Provided by publisher.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 219-231) and index.

1. The discovery of Daqing: The search for oil -- The weakness of the state industrialization plan -- Daqing: the great celebration -- Construction (jianshe): building a new China -- 2. Production first, livelihood second: Daqing: the battlefield -- Total mobilization -- An alternative landscape -- Battlefield communism: integration of state and society -- 3. Breakthrough on a narrow front: The political economy of building construction -- Planning without cities -- "More, faster, better, and more economic" -- 4. Celebrating Daqing: the correct path for industrialization -- Learning from Daqing -- Worker-peasant villages on the oil field -- Cities and buildings based on the Daqing model -- Industrialization without urbanization -- 5. Living in an urban-rural heterotopia: The factory as a production machine -- The factory as a work-study school -- The factory as a battle field -- 6. Challenging the Daqing model: The red flag on the industrial front -- Growing industrial agglomeration -- The great leap outward -- The sinking of the oil rig.