Xu Lianzong: My favorite is "Tofu Cubes"
2024-08-06
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Even after leaving the military camp, the "tofu block" shaped military blanket still often appeared in my dreams.
On the eve of the Army Day, my colleagues from the new media center and I went to the Armed Police Training Base to experience military life in an immersive way. The first thing we did was to fold the quilt. Unlike before, the quilt was placed on a flat ground with a clean mat underneath. Under the scorching sun, our "70s", "80s", "90s" and "00s" four "generation experience officers" and one new soldier lined up in a row, each with a military quilt in front of them. The squad leader next to us said "start", and we immediately squatted down and started to get busy. To be honest, this is not a difficult task for me. After all, I have 30 years of military life. Another more important point is that there are obvious creases on the quilt. Just "repeat the same mistakes" and the military quilt will be folded with edges and corners and in a good shape. Of course, in the end, the new soldiers who accompanied us to experience folded the best.
When I was in the army, the thing that bothered me the most was folding the quilt. I remember the first day I entered the barracks, the squad leader taught us how to fold the quilt. When I first saw the military quilt, it was just an ordinary green fabric, plain and ordinary. However, when the squad leader's hands began to shape it, everything became different. Flattening, compacting, folding, trimming, a series of seemingly simple but full of skills and strength, the originally soft and fluffy quilt gradually had edges and corners, and finally became a square "tofu block" with straight lines.
In fact, there are many skills to fold the quilt into a "tofu block" shape. For example, first of all, it needs to be flat. You need to use the flat surface of a small stool to press it again and again to make the soft quilt even and flat. Then, the proportions should be appropriate when folding. The length, width, thickness, 5 sides, 8 strips, and 12 corners must be very accurate. If there is a slight discrepancy, the folded quilt will be deformed. Of course, the most important thing is to organize it after folding. When we were experiencing it this time, the squad leader kept sharing his experience with us: "30% folding, 70% organization". The knowledge of organization is too big. Every detail of corners, lines, strips, and surfaces cannot be neglected. The new soldier who experienced it with us also demonstrated to us how to organize the corners of the quilt with a chopstick. He poked the corners of the quilt with chopsticks, and the corners slowly became more and more tangible and more and more stiff.
Some people say that the folding of "tofu blocks" is unique to the Chinese People's Liberation Army. This is true, but it is not "original" to our army. As early as the late Qing Dynasty, when Yuan Shikai was training troops at Xiaozhan, folding "tofu blocks" had already appeared. Our army learned from the "wide three and narrow four" folding method of the Huangpu Military Academy, which is easy to tie and conducive to the execution of tasks. Over time, this folding of quilts that can reflect the discipline of the army has gradually become a system. Not long ago, I visited the "Military Academy" in Yunnan and saw that they also folded quilts into "tofu blocks" at that time.
Now, even though I have left the military camp, the "tofu block"-shaped military blanket still often appears in my dreams. It is a witness to my youth and the most precious treasure in my life journey. Whenever I think of it, a warm current surges in my heart, which is a deep attachment to the military life and a high respect for the honor of soldiers. (Xu Lianzong)
