dong mingxi: build an "indestructible and bombproof steel transportation line"
2024-09-25
한어Русский языкEnglishFrançaisIndonesianSanskrit日本語DeutschPortuguêsΕλληνικάespañolItalianoSuomalainenLatina
dong mingxi
born in gangu county, tianshui city in june 1934, he joined the army in march 1951 and entered north korea in december 1952. he was a soldier in the railway corps of the volunteer army and participated in the construction and repair of railways. he returned to china in april 1954.
dong mingxi, 91, from gangu county, tianshui city, is a veteran of the war to resist u.s. aggression and aid korea. in march 1951, he volunteered to join the army from his hometown. in december 1952, he went to korea and became a railway soldier of the chinese people's volunteer army, participating in the construction and repair of railways. more than 70 years have passed, and dong mingxi still remembers the scenes of building and repairing railways on the korean battlefield.
building railways requires hardship
in march 1951, dong mingxi, who had just turned 17, saw that the 19th division of the chinese people's liberation army, a stationed unit, was recruiting soldiers, so he signed up. after a political review, he officially became a pla soldier and received military training locally. in december 1952, dong mingxi went to north korea with the troops and became a soldier of the chinese people's volunteer army railway corps. after a short rest, he began to build railways and repair railway transportation lines destroyed by enemy planes.
after dong mingxi entered north korea, he built two sections of railway lines near the station from january to april 1953. the soldiers worked overtime day and night to build the railway. they had breakfast before dawn every day, and then walked to the construction site. the chef delivered lunch to the construction site. in order to save time, they worked all the time except for meal time. in april of that year, the first section of the railway they built was officially completed. "although i was unable to participate in the battle after entering north korea, building railways is also fighting to defend my country. i feel very honored to be able to ensure the supply of the front line."
afterwards, dong mingxi and his comrades were transferred to the chongchon river, a gully near the capital of qiongchang county in northern north korea, to build a railway. due to the large mountains and deep gullies, the gullies needed to be filled before the railway could be built. at that time, the facilities and equipment for building railways were relatively scarce, and they mainly relied on manual labor. during the padding process, they used cannons to drill holes on two nearby hills, then loaded explosives to blow up the mountains, and the earth and stones blown down were used to fill the gullies. after 8 months of construction, the railway was officially opened to traffic in february 1954.
dong mingxi entered north korea during the coldest season, when the temperature dropped to around -30 degrees celsius. while they were building the railway, they also had to repair the railway that was destroyed by enemy planes. "when the railway was bombed, we ran around to repair it. before we finished repairing here, there was another bomb, so we ran to that place again. we repaired it after it was bombed, and it bombed again after it was repaired, and it happened over and over again many times!" dong mingxi said.
"the steel transportation line that cannot be destroyed or bombed"
after the outbreak of the war to resist u.s. aggression and aid korea in 1950, more than 20,000 troops from various units of our army's railway corps went to north korea to participate in the railway repair mission and support the front-line operations. in november 1952, according to the needs of the development of the korean war, the chinese and north korean governments signed an agreement in beijing to build the railway from kusong to changsangli via the stadium and from nedong to zhixiali. in december, the china-north korea joint new railway command was established, and six divisions were ordered to enter north korea in january 1953 to undertake the task of building new railways. in early january 1953, our army entered north korea from andong, china (now dandong), mainly repairing and building three sections of railway lines, one from kusong to jiechuan, the second from jiechuan to yinshan, and the third from dechuan to bayuanmian. kusong was the first battlefield for the railway corps to start the construction of new railways after entering north korea, and it was also the starting point of the new railway. after arriving at kusong, the local area was in a mess. the u.s. military bombed all targets that could be bombed. the north korean people had no place to live, so they dug holes in hidden places to avoid the bombing of enemy planes.
when they first entered north korea, the railway troops were unfamiliar with the environment and could only use some abandoned mines to build shelters, build a roof over the mines with wood, and scatter dead branches and leaves from nearby woods on the roof. they lived in such a harsh environment.
the qingchuan river bridge is an important bridge located on the guiyin railway line. it is an important transportation artery in northern north korea, connecting the front and rear of the war to resist u.s. aggression and aid korea. many materials shipped from china had to pass through this bridge. in order to cut off this main transportation artery, the u.s. military sent several batches of aircraft to bomb this place in turn. the bridge was blown up several times, and the volunteer army railway corps repeatedly rushed to open it.
when the qingchuan river railway bridge was rebuilt in 1953, the construction conditions were extremely difficult. the railway soldiers rushed to build it in the snow and ice, risking being strafed by enemy planes. some officers and soldiers of the new railway bureau headquarters simply stayed at the construction site to transport the required materials at the fastest speed at any time.
iron will created an "indestructible steel transportation line". according to incomplete statistics, during the war to resist u.s. aggression and aid korea, the railway troops of the volunteer army repaired 2,294 bridges, extending 128 kilometers; repaired temporary bridges and temporary lines, extending 127 kilometers; repaired 14,691 lines, extending 1,003 kilometers; repaired 122 tunnels; repaired 3,648 stations, extending 161 kilometers; and built 212.86 kilometers of new railways, creating the miracle of "people on the road, people on the bridge, the country on the house, the mountains and rivers on the land", and created an "indestructible steel transportation line" with flesh and blood and tenacious will.
after returning to china, he continued to build railways
in february 1954, after completing a railway line in a gully near the capital of qiuchang county in northern north korea, dong mingxi returned to china in april of the same year. the first stop after returning to china was qinggang county, suihua city, heilongjiang province. after resting until may day, he was assigned to build a railway line in xiaoxing'anling. at that time, the weather in northeast china was still relatively cold, and the permafrost layer was more than 1 meter. "at that time, i was young and in good health, but my cultural knowledge was shallow, and the army had strict confidentiality discipline. i worked hard and didn't ask about other things." dong mingxi said that in order to build the railway, they had a very short rest time every day. before the national day of that year, the entire roadbed of the 61-kilometer xiaoxing'anling railway line was completed. at this time, the weather in northeast china became cold again, and they moved to dahu mountain in wankou town, guangze county, fujian province to build a railway line. at that time, the length of the mountain tunnel was measured to be about 1,400 meters, and it was difficult to dig it manually. the troops coordinated and transferred 4 air drills from shanghai to improve efficiency. but even so, it was not opened until october 1954 and the end of 1956. the name of this tunnel was "wankou".
dong mingxi recalled that from january 1953 to the end of 1956, many dangerous situations occurred during the construction of railways in north korea and china. some comrades were buried by landslides, and some were killed by enemy patrol planes during the construction of railway lines. when the enemy planes' flares illuminated their construction sites, they would quickly hide in nearby ravines and wait for the enemy planes to fly away before coming out to work. even so, some comrades were injured and sacrificed, but he never encountered danger. "i was lucky to come back alive and live a happy life now. i live for the sacrificed comrades!" dong mingxi said, wiping his eyes.
in july 1957, dong mingxi returned to his hometown, gangu county, after being demobilized. in august of that year, he actively participated in the construction of a canal project in his hometown. life in his hometown was extremely poor at that time. just when he was worried about his life, in 1958, the yaojie mining bureau came to gangu county to recruit workers, and the team leader was a demobilized soldier. after learning about his family's actual situation, they decided to recruit him to work in the yaojie mining bureau, and he became a miner in the yaojie mining bureau. he went down to the mine and worked as a water pump operator. he retired from the position of water pump operator in june 1990. dong mingxi worked conscientiously and hard, and was actively willing to work, and was rated as an "advanced producer" by the yaojie mining bureau.
today, whenever dong mingxi, 91 years old, talks about the korean war, he takes out the porcelain drinking jar that he has kept and repaired to warn his descendants: "you must cherish the hard-earned happy life, work hard, and be a useful person to the country, the nation, and the society!"
text and photos by teng xiaohong, an all-media reporter from lanzhou daily
