by Xinhua writer Lin Zhaohui
A flag-raising ceremony marking China's Youth Day was held early Wednesday at the courtyard of the Cuba branch of Great Wall Drilling Company, a subsidiary of China National Petroleum Corporation.
The company began operating in Cuba in 2005 and it is now working on the island as part of a joint venture with state-owned oil firm Cuba Petroleum Company (CUPET).
According to Du Minghan, general manager of Great Wall Drilling Cuba Branch, the project has a young team that is full of vigor and capable of handling tough tasks.
Among the company's 112 employees, 34 are under 35 years old. "Today's young people in China strive for a more prosperous life and a more harmonious society," Du told Xinhua. "Also, they have stronger competencies and aspire to thrive in a bigger world."
Aged 35, Mu Xiwei, head of drilling fluid technology for the project, has published four technical papers and successively won the award of Company Model Worker.
"Drilling fluid is called the blood of oil drilling industry and has always been an important technical support for oil and gas exploration and development," Mu explained. "Every time we start drilling a well, I would carefully study the engineering design, analyze the historical data of adjacent wells, and make accurate early warning to ensure smooth on-site construction."
Sun Mingyang, a 34-year-old currently engaging in market development of Great Wall Drilling Cuba Branch, recalled his close interactions with employees of CUPET to resolve challenges facing the project due to Cuban economic difficulties and in the past two years the COVID-19 pandemic.
On July 6, 2021, he was taken aback by a text message sent by a Cuban employee of CUPET. "I am diagnosed positive of COVID-19. We were having a meeting together the whole morning, I am very worried about you being infected!" said the message.
"He thought of me right away while he himself was in an emergency .That means he truly treats me as a friend and (it is) also a recognition of my work and character," he said.
"Having high aspirations and focusing on both ability and integrity are the pursuit of young people in our project. They are the living force for realizing the historic responsibility of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation," Du said.
China's national Youth Day, which falls on May 4, commemorates a patriotic campaign launched on May 4, 1919, when Chinese young intellectuals rose against imperialism and demanded the restoration of Chinese independence and sovereignty.
It was the prelude of a three-decade-long revolution, which blazed trail for a strong and independent nation. In 1949, the People's Republic of China was finally founded under the leadership of the Communist Party of China.
Editor: Galia
