"What should have taken three to five minutes dragged on for more than half an hour." "The same few lines repeated over and over — it put everyone to sleep." … When recalling the scenes from his squad's previous evening roll calls, Lance Corporal Du Xuesen of a certain squad under the 2nd Mobile Detachment of the People's Armed Police Qinghai General Corps still remembers them vividly.
Not long ago, the squad held its routine evening roll call. Once the formation was in order, the political instructor stepped in front of the ranks: "I'll take up a little of everyone's time today — I'll 'just say a few words simply.'" But what followed was anything but simple: interior hygiene, training discipline, safety regulations, etiquette and courtesy … requirements that had already been emphasized many times were repeated again and again, with no clear focus and little connection to the actual work of the day.
In early summer in Qinghai, the nights are still quite cold. The soldiers stood in formation, legs aching, bodies beginning to shiver, and minds quietly grumbling: "You said you'd just say a few words — how did it keep getting longer?" "These things have all been stressed before — why keep harping on them?" By the time the evening roll call ended, there was little time left for washing up, leaving everyone in a frantic rush before lights out.
The next morning, Squad Leader Liu Xihua, carrying the soldiers' unspoken grievances, went to find the political instructor: "At last night's roll call, you said you'd 'just say a few words simply,' but it went on for ages. The soldiers were worn out listening, and the key points weren't even clear." Having said that, Liu Xihua went ahead and poured out everything the soldiers had been feeling day to day: it wasn't just the evening roll call — during routine squad and platoon reviews and small meetings to assign work, many cadres and backbone personnel liked to say they'd "just say a few words simply," but once they opened their mouths they couldn't stop. Either they rambled without any structure, or what they said was out of touch with reality. Not only did it eat into training and rest time, it also failed to make the work arrangements clear.
Liu Xihua's words left the political instructor visibly red-faced on the spot. At the subsequent weekly meeting, the squad's cadres and backbone personnel sat together to reflect: "Grassroots affairs are complex and soldiers carry heavy training loads — their rest time is already precious." "Cadres and backbone personnel speaking at length in public settings looks like a problem with the mouth, but the root lies in work style (作风)." "Failing to distinguish priorities and failing to grasp key points not only affects work efficiency but also easily creates distance from the soldiers." …
"The opinions raised by officers and soldiers are the direction for our improvement!" Having identified the problem, the squad party branch acted immediately, requiring that for roll calls, reviews, and work assignments alike, cadres and backbone personnel must sort out their key talking points in advance, get straight to the point when speaking, strictly control time, and not speak in empty words, hollow words, formulaic words, or "spinning-wheel words" (车轱辘话). At the same time, designated personnel were assigned to regularly collect officers' and soldiers' opinions and suggestions on the work style of cadres and backbone personnel, creating reverse pressure to force cadres and backbone personnel to shed the habit of long-winded speech.
Today, "just saying a few words simply" in the squad has genuinely become two or three sentences that get the key points across: at evening roll call, the core requirements are made clear in three to five minutes; squad and platoon reviews cut straight to the problem; work assignments are conveyed cleanly and completely. Timed against the clock, the whole process does not exceed the fifteen minutes stipulated by regulations.
"Now when cadres and backbone personnel speak, they hit the mark — it saves time and it works. We enjoy listening, and we have more drive too!" After yet another evening roll call, the soldiers offered praise all around for the squad's down-to-earth (务实) good work style.