I met the man in the book during my study tour in Xinjiang: Behind the Duku Highway, he has been guarding the tombs of his comrades for nearly 40 years
2024-08-23
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Chao News Client reporter Zhang Rong correspondent Bei Mo
Xinjiang Duku Highway is known as the most beautiful highway in China and is also a heroic road.
The Duku Highway starts from Dushanzi District, Karamay City in the north and ends at Kuche City, Aksu Prefecture in the south, running through the Tianshan Mountains. It is about 560 kilometers long and was built after 10 years of hard work by soldiers. 168 soldiers sacrificed their precious lives for this road. It is a monument in the history of China's highway construction. After it was completed and opened to traffic in September 1983, the distance between southern and northern Xinjiang was shortened by nearly half from the original 1,000 kilometers.
For nearly 40 years, retired veteran Chen Jungui has been silently guarding the tomb at the foot of the Tianshan Mountains in Xinjiang, just for a word from his squad leader back then.
"Watching Tianshan Mountain". (Photo provided by the interviewee)
Chen Jungui was once a member of the road construction army. In 1980, he, squad leader Zheng Linshu, deputy squad leader Luo Qiang, and comrade Chen Weixing were on their way to a mission when they were caught in a snowstorm and trapped for three days and four nights. In the end, they had only one steamed bun left. Considering that Chen Jungui was a new recruit, the youngest, and had just turned 18, the other three gave him the last steamed bun, but the squad leader and deputy squad leader fell down one after another due to exhaustion. Before he died, the squad leader said to Chen Jungui: "If you can get out alive this time, please go to my hometown in Hubei to see my parents."
After eating the steamed buns, Chen Jungui also fell in the snow. Fortunately, some ethnic minorities were hunting and saved him and Chen Weixing.
After Chen Jungui retired, he planned to visit the squad leader's parents, but he found that he had no other information about the squad leader, only that he was from Hubei. After much trouble, he found the squad leader's home, and found that the squad leader's parents had passed away. He returned to Xinjiang and planned to keep vigil for the squad leader for three years, and this vigil lasted nearly 40 years.
Because he later learned that the road construction mission was kept secret, and many people's families were unaware of their sacrifice. He planned to visit the parents of the 168 comrades who died one by one. "If the elderly are still alive, I will cook a meal for them on behalf of their sons. If not, I will burn some paper in front of the grave to fulfill the wishes of my comrades."
A Xinjiang study tour group organized by Fuying Education. (Photo provided by the interviewee)
Recently, this awe-inspiring veteran met a Xinjiang study tour team organized by Hangzhou Fuying Education Technology Co., Ltd. (Fuying Education). Chen Jungui's story was included in Fuying Education's "365 Good Morning Companion Study Plan" course in 2021. Meeting the characters in the book deeply touched the parents and children participating in the study tour.
Wang Jinhai, founder of Fuying Education, organizes a group of parents and children to go on study tours every year. "By traveling along the great rivers of our country, children can broaden their horizons. By experiencing team outdoor activities such as hiking and long-distance walking, children's willpower, sense of responsibility and patience will be exercised."
Photo provided by the interviewee
After meeting Chen Jungui, Wang Jinhai gave everyone in the team a book about Chen Jungui, "Watching over Tianshan Mountain", and donated 100,000 yuan to Chen Jungui as support for his public welfare cause.
Wang Jinhai was deeply moved by Mr. Chen's story. "He used his life to show us the most beautiful soul of Chinese soldiers and the inheritance of Chinese culture's 'propriety, righteousness, loyalty and trustworthiness'. He was not only guarding the squad leader's tomb, but also his inner persistence in keeping his promises. He was the love of countless soldiers for their comrades and their country, and the cultural belief of the backbone of China and future generations."
Wang Jinhai (first from right) and Chen Jungui took a photo together. (Photo provided by the interviewee)
"Donating is a tribute to the veterans, but also a spur to myself." Wang Jinhai said that he hopes he can be like Mr. Chen and stick to his original intention even in invisible places. "Fuying Education has been in the field of family education for ten years. There is still a long way to go before the next ten years and the next ten years. The company still needs to stick to its original intention and have a clear conscience."
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