From the point when the dragon totem appeared in the land of China, Chinese people began to call themselves the "descendants of the dragon". In fact, "dragon" refers to a mixture of multiple idols worshipped by Chinese people. The dragon totem was created by an ancient tribal leader who combined all the totem characters of the tribes that he had conquered. Hence, the dragon symbolizes "integration" and "unity".
After thousands of years, the message of the dragon totem is still strongly imprinted on Chinese people. This long, winding picture of a creature full of life has always been at the forefront of Chinese people's minds. At the beginning of the 21st century, a huge project was undertaken in China which people associated with the image of "dragon".
However, this is not the first time that Chinese people have attributed the dragon image to something. There have previously established a concept of the "two dragons" of China. One is the Yellow River, the mother river of the Chinese nation. The other is the Great Wall, the ultimate man-made structure and a symbol of the Chinese people's awareness of defending their territory. These "two dragons" are world renowned attracting great admiration and to some extent, represent the image of China. However, why now are people exclaiming that a new modern project is the "third dragon of China"? Is it simply because of its dragon-shaped appearance?
From the map, we can see a steel pipe with a diameter of 1.016 m heading east from Lunnan Oil Field in Tarim Basin in China's western Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region through Xinjiang, Gansu, Ningxia, Shaanxi, Henan, Hubei, Jiangxi, Hunan, Guangdong, Guangxi, Zhejiang, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Shandong and Hong Kong. The steel pipe composing the trunk lines and branch lines of tier-1 and tier-2 projects plus offshore pipelines is up to 15,000 km in length with a broad range of pipe radiation, a huge scale of construction and a benefit to over 400 million people. It is an infrastructure project that benefits vast numbers of the population.

Foreword 1

Distribution of Natural Gas Resources in China and Decision-making of the WE PP 4

1.Distribution of Natural Gas Resources in China 6

2."Gas Sources"and Gas Transmission Goals of the West-East Gas Pipeline 14

3.Approval Process of the WE PP 24

4.Construction of Natural Gas Pipelines in China 28

5.West-East Gas Pipeline Construction Invigorating China's Equipment Industry 38

6.Marketization Process of the West-East Gas Pipeline 46

West-East Gas Pipeline Construction Site 52

1.Pipeline Crossing Rivers—Technical Conundrum of the West-East Gas Pipeline 54

2.Super-long Oil Pipeline Crosses the Yellow River Three Times 58

3."Sichuan Gas Transmitted Out"：Zhong-Wu Gas Pipeline's Four Crossings of the Yangtze River and Seven Big Traverses 62

4.Women Welders Group in the WEPP II 68

5."Special Forces"of the West-East Gas Pipeline 75

Protection of the Ecological Environment and Cultural Relics during the WEPP Construction 80

Ensuring a New Balance between Energy Supply and Demand 92

1.Change of Energy Structure 94

2.New Energy Pushes Economic Development 105

3.Determination of the West Gas Price 118

Outlook of the Util zation of China'sOil and Gas Resources 134

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