"cherish national unity as you would your own eyes" - chronicle of the yushu independent cavalry company of a brigade of the 76th group army in maintaining national unity
2024-08-29
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the yushu independent cavalry company of a brigade of the 76th army group organizes cavalry charge training on the batang grassland. photo by wenming
in the early autumn, the sky is high and the clouds are light, and the grass is green. the officers and soldiers of the yushu independent cavalry company of a brigade of the 76th group army are riding horses and brandishing swords, galloping on this heroic land. the flag bearer holds the company flag high and rushes to the front. the bright red company flag flutters in the wind, and the nine golden characters "model company of plateau national unity" shine brightly against the backdrop of the snow-capped mountains.
the yushu independent cavalry company was established in october 1949. it has participated in more than 100 battles, including the battle of qamdo and the qinghai bandit suppression campaign, and has been awarded 4 first-class collective merits and 10 first-class merits. successive generations of officers and soldiers have loyally guarded the peace of the snowy land and have been commended as "advanced units supporting the government and loving the people" and "national heroic groups in earthquake relief". in 1999, it was awarded the honorary title of "model company of plateau national unity" by the central military commission.
"we should cherish national unity as we cherish our own eyes," said the company's officers and soldiers. stationed on the snowy plateau at an altitude of more than 4,200 meters, successive generations of officers and soldiers have faithfully practiced the purpose of serving the people wholeheartedly for 75 years, continued the fine tradition of supporting the government and loving the people, and composed a hymn of praise for national unity with practical actions.
firm belief and unwavering loyalty to the party
“everyone should be at their best and explain the party’s good policies to our tibetan compatriots…” one morning not long ago, accompanied by the sound of horse hooves, the “propaganda team on horseback” set off under the leadership of dongzhu qingpei, the company commander of the yushu independent cavalry company of a brigade of the 76th group army.
right on the grassland at our feet, more than 70 years ago, our company’s ancestors fought against bandits in the yushu area while promoting the party’s policies and propositions such as “abolishing serfdom” and “standing up and becoming masters of their own destiny” to the masses, which won widespread support from the tibetan people.
in recent years, whenever the party and the state hold important meetings, or whenever major policies are introduced, the company will select theoretical backbones who are proficient in both tibetan and chinese to form a "horseback propaganda team" to translate the spirit of the party's important meetings and the new policies introduced by the state into tibetan and tell the tibetan people about them. the company's officers and soldiers have traveled to more than 40 townships where they are stationed, working hard to spread the party's voice to the grasslands and pastoral areas and into thousands of households.
to explain the party's innovative theories well, we must first learn more and learn more deeply, and build a solid foundation of faith through true belief, deep learning and practice. the company explored and formed learning methods such as popular lectures, personalized self-study, and online learning assistance. on the basis of guiding officers and soldiers to read the original works, study the original texts, and understand the principles, it regularly held "soldiers' lecture halls" to exchange learning experiences, used the "information window" in the lobby to display learning experiences, and selected "learning stars" every month to promote a learning atmosphere.
on this basis, they thoroughly studied president xi’s important expositions on national unity and progress, resolutely implemented the spirit of president xi’s important speech, and constantly consolidated the ideological foundation and conscious action for enhancing national unity.
batang grassland is located deep in the pastoral area, with vast land and sparse population, inconvenient transportation and information isolation. some places even have no mobile phone signals. tibetan herders do not speak chinese and have few opportunities to go out. in recent days, the propaganda team members have gone deep into nearby villages to produce bilingual brochures, leaflets and banners to explain the spirit of the third plenary session of the 20th cpc central committee to herders.
the officers and soldiers rode their horses to xiabatang village and saw that a horse racecourse and an archery range had been built on the grassland. there was an endless stream of tourists who came here to admire the grassland. the company commander dongzhu qingpei could not help but feel deeply moved. dongzhu qingpei is a frequent visitor to xiabatang village. in recent years, he and his comrades have come to the village more than 20 times to give theoretical lectures. "thanks to the team members' regular preaching of the concept of 'green waters and green mountains are gold and silver mountains', more and more herdsmen have started to engage in tourism and ecological breeding. the 'grassland' of the past has become 'golden bay', and life is getting better and better." gama suoang, secretary of the party branch of xiabatang village, said happily.
during the discussion, the members of the propaganda team explained the policies to the villagers around the contents of the "decision" such as "improving the green and low-carbon development mechanism" and "improving the ecological environment governance system". the easy-to-understand language and illustrated narration made the herdsmen feel the care and love from the party.
herder tuduo cairen said: "thanks to the 'jinzhu mami' (tibetan: people's liberation army) of the cavalry company, i have learned about the latest policies of the party. i believe that as long as i work hard under the leadership of the party, i will be able to live a better and better life."
practical training transformation
"as soldiers stationed in ethnic minority areas, what are the responsibilities on our shoulders?" in the minds of officers and soldiers of the yushu independent cavalry company, the answer is self-evident: "take root in the plateau, be martial and self-reliant, strengthen our ability to maintain social stability, and enhance our ability to maintain national unity."
the company has fought against bandits and rebellions, and has won four "first-class collective merits" in the cold and oxygen-deficient snowy plateau, becoming an important force in maintaining stability in the area. however, in the information age, many people doubt the role of cavalry. in 2010, a 7.1-magnitude earthquake occurred in yushu, qinghai. at the critical moment, the role of cavalry was highlighted. the cavalry company officers and soldiers rode over mountains and ridges, walked on narrow paths and damaged roads, collected disaster data and information in the first time, and rescued 52 people in distress from the ruins.
cavalry training and combat emphasizes "the unity of man and horse". to achieve this state, you must first lay a solid foundation. corporal hua yu will never forget the horse-riding training when he first joined the company. at that time, the squad leader asked him to take off the stirrups and hold his elbows, and ride on the horse's back for a whole morning. due to the constant friction between the thighs and the saddle, the skin and flesh of the legs were abraded that day. what he didn't expect was that such training lasted for more than two months.
double-sword slashing and stabbing is the specialty of sergeant 2nd class huang zhijie. in order to master this skill, he swings the 95-centimeter-long, 1.65-kilogram sword more than 1,000 times a day. even if his hands are blistered and his arms are so numb that he can't even pick up chopsticks to eat, he never lowers his training standards.
the company is responsible for the task of maintaining stability in the garrison all year round. cavalry company combat operations, cavalry riot formations, and cavalry mountain arrests are key subjects that must be mastered. in addition to daily physical and skill training, crossing trenches, crossing horizontal bars, and going through fire rings are also essential. to practice these projects well, you must first overcome the psychological barrier, and neither the man nor the horse can be timid.
"the horse can sense even the slightest movement of a person on horseback. if you are nervous, the horse will also be nervous." speaking of riding training, sergeant first class zhao xuechao said, "good riders are made by falling. the more you fall, the braver you become, and only then can you perform difficult cavalry tactical actions such as riding over obstacles and shooting on horseback."
in the new information age, how to make the cavalry adapt to modern combat missions is the most important issue for the company. in order to carry out diversified military tasks, the company set up a "research and development team" to mobilize officers and soldiers to actively offer suggestions.
company commander dong zhuqingpei introduced that during this period, based on the training results of the "cavalry + chariot" and "cavalry + infantry" systems, the company explored and launched the training course of drone battlefield reconnaissance and guiding cavalry coordinated attack, and initially formed the results of the "cavalry + unmanned" tactics. in the next step, they will continue to tackle key problems and verify them to ensure that the tactics are really effective.
dedicated to maintaining national unity
in the dormitory of kang pengju, the instructor of the yushu independent cavalry company, there is a bookcase in the corner, with more than a dozen blood donation certificates neatly arranged inside. "these are all from the officers and soldiers of the company." kang pengju told the stories behind these blood donation certificates.
last july, the 8-year-old son of tibetan tu zhoujia was involved in a car accident. when he was sent to the local hospital, he was already in shock and the blood bank was in urgent need of ab type blood. at the critical moment, the local hospital called the company. in less than 20 minutes, 5 soldiers rushed to the hospital and urgently transfused 2,000 milliliters of blood. the child was finally saved. in the past five years, soldiers have donated blood more than 20 times, with a total blood volume of more than 80,000 milliliters, saving the lives of more than 20 people. they are called "living blood banks" by tibetan compatriots.
soldiers are also concerned about how to help the villages where they are stationed get rid of poverty and become rich. when we arrived at tielijiao village, which was built in partnership with the company, we saw clean and wide roads and tibetan-style new houses one after another. the thriving scene in front of us makes it hard to imagine that the high altitude and inconvenient transportation made yak meat unsalable, and 35 households out of the 654 households in the village had 176 poor people.
how to help villagers get rid of poverty and become rich? the company party branch and the village party branch carried out a series of activities to jointly build the party branch. by giving party lessons to party members, inviting village party members to visit the company to see the party building achievements, and exchanging party affairs experience, the village party branch continuously improved its ability to lead the masses out of poverty and become well-off.
yushu is located in the sanjiangyuan area. after post-disaster reconstruction, this new plateau city attracts a large number of tourists, and commercial tourism is booming. at the suggestion of the company party branch, tielijiao village mobilized villagers to invest in the construction of a snowy hot spring hall, a national performance team and an entertainment horse farm. all profits were distributed to villagers at the end of the year, which not only increased income but also solved the employment problems of some villagers. in just a few years, the village has undergone earth-shaking changes: tibetan-style homestays have been built one after another, and every holiday, there is an endless stream of tourists coming to play. as a result, the village has also taken off the "hat" of a poor village ahead of schedule and become a model of local rural revitalization. at the beginning of this year, the company was commended by yushu city as an "advanced unit supporting rural revitalization."
yushu is known as the "water tower of china" and is the source of the yangtze river, the yellow river, and the lancang river. in recent years, with the development of the local tourism industry, the phenomenon of littering white garbage and destroying water, soil, and vegetation has increased. to this end, the company took the initiative to establish a coordination mechanism with the local government, responsible for the ecological protection of the batang grassland area of about 38 square kilometers, and responsible for ecological environment monitoring and reporting, preventing illegal poaching and mining, ecological restoration, and ecological environment protection publicity.
soldiers often use the breaks between training to pick up white garbage in nearby grasslands and ditches. at the same time, they go deep into tourist attractions and grassland pastoral areas to spread environmental protection knowledge by distributing leaflets and posting slogans, reminding tourists and herdsmen to consciously protect the environment and ecology.
one year, the company accidentally found an injured white-lipped deer during training on the batang grassland. with the careful treatment of the company's veterinarian, the white-lipped deer quickly recovered and returned to the grassland. driven by the company's officers and soldiers, the local residents actively joined the ranks of afforestation and wildlife protection. the ecological environment in the sanjiangyuan area has been continuously improved, and the populations of seven wild animals that were originally on the verge of extinction have been restored and reproduced.
"the military and the people are as close as fish and water, united as one family" and "family members and soldiers, build a home together"... in the company's honor room, banners sent by the local people tell of the deep friendship between the company's officers and soldiers and their tibetan compatriots. striding forward on the new journey, the officers and soldiers of the yushu independent cavalry company have the same belief: "we must continue to practice the purpose of the people's army, wholeheartedly safeguard national unity, and let the flower of national unity bloom forever on the snowy plateau!"
ma zhen, zhang shishui, wenming, china youth daily and china youth network reporter gong ayuan source: china youth daily
(source: china youth daily)
