[1] Wang was the first and best-known model worker to emerge from Daqing Oil Field and was widely promoted for his devotion to developing China's petroleum industry.

Wang Jinxi was born in 1923 to a poor peasant family in Yumen City, Gansu Province.

Following the start of Great Leap Forward in 1958, he led a team to drill 5009.3 meters per month, which was then the highest record in mainland China at that time.

In 1958, during the ceremonies for the 10th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, he met with Chairman Mao Zedong and participated in an elite meeting between industrial and communication ministries.

[3] In 1960, Mao Zedong and Party Central Committee issued a declaration "to fight 'a massive battle' to open up Daqing" and become self-sufficient in oil.

[4] Wang Jinxi participated in a 10,000-person inauguration ceremony of the oil field, during the international Labor Day.

On July 24, he joined the Ministry of Petroleum Industry and put forward for the first time, the goal of "half a ton of oil per person in the country".

Following the intervention of Premier Zhou Enlai, he was saved from further persecution and was made a national labor model.

[5]: 139  On November 18, a farewell ceremony was held for him, and his remains were interred at the Babaoshan Revolutionary Cemetery in Beijing.

[11] Wang famously wrote in a poem, "If an oil worker roars once, the Earth will shake three times!

Zhang Lianwen played the starring role of Zhou Tingshan (周挺杉), modelled after Wang Jinxi.

[12] The 2009 Chinese film Iron Man (Tieren; 铁人) is based on the life of Wang Jinxi.