Correct Outlook on Political Achievement, Practiced in the Barracks | Highland Wind and Snow Bite Cold, Well Water Nourishes the Heart
Highland Wind and Snow Bite Cold, Well Water Nourishes the Heart
■ Pu Jiehong, Li Zihan, PLA Daily Reporter Sun Xingwei
Deep in the Karakoram, amid the ancient permafrost of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, there is a maintenance station called Hongshanhe.
It is a place name that cannot be found on any map, and it is one of our military's high-altitude garrison posts. More than 40 years ago, a group of signal soldiers started from nothing here and built what became the highest-altitude maintenance station in the entire military, shouldering the responsibility of maintaining and ensuring communications line connectivity.
Hongshanhe is named after a "river," yet there is no river. The problem of obtaining water has plagued the station's officers and soldiers since it was first established. Due to the lack of water, the signal soldiers at Hongshanhe had no choice but to haul water from a lake nearly a hundred kilometers away, making the long trek back to the garrison. In extreme weather, they could only find ways to melt snow for emergency use.
Sinking a well in the garrison and drinking clean water became the dream of generation after generation of officers and soldiers.
The hardships of the officers and soldiers weighed on the hearts of leadership organs at every level. But sinking a well on the plateau — easier said than done.
Hongshanhe Maintenance Station is located deep in the Karakoram. The garrison is frigid, oxygen-deprived, and snow-covered year-round, with a harsh natural environment and no civilian support infrastructure. High altitude, saline-alkali soil, permafrost — one obstacle after another stood in the way, making the road to sinking a well long and arduous.
Illustration: Fang Han
From a certain unit of the Xinjiang Military District to a certain unit of the Information Support Force, over the years Hongshanhe Maintenance Station has been transferred through several reorganizations, spanning multiple service branch units, yet the higher-level units to which it belonged never abandoned the effort to sink a well.
Six years ago, the then-political commissar of a certain unit learned of this situation during an investigation and research visit and resolved to solve the longstanding water problem for the officers and soldiers.
After descending from the plateau, he immediately organized the staff to research and initiate a project. At the Party committee meeting, the well-drilling plan was studied and approved. However, before the project could get underway, the unit underwent restructuring and reform, and the plan was temporarily shelved.
This political commissar was reassigned due to the reform. When his successor took office, many people assumed that "when the leadership changes, everything gets overturned," and that the well-drilling matter would come to nothing. However, the new Party committee made its position clear: "The well-drilling effort must not be abandoned — each cohort must carry it forward from the last."
When the project first went to tender, many local enterprises took one look at the drilling conditions and walked away. After great difficulty, an agreement was reached with one company, but the construction crew had not been working long before they discovered that the project was far more difficult than imagined:
The plateau is nothing like the plains — the rock strata are numerous and the geology is hard, posing an enormous challenge to drilling equipment. By the time they had drilled just 80 meters down, two drill bits had already been destroyed. Officers and soldiers leaned over the edge of the wellhead, craning their necks to look down — only mud came up, no water — and the disappointment on every face was impossible to hide.
"The geology here is truly hard!" The construction crew leader went to the political commissar to complain and began to waver. The political commissar communicated and coordinated repeatedly, again and again requesting that they "keep drilling."
At the end of 2021, two drilling vehicles worked in shifts around the clock for four months and finally succeeded in striking water. "We finally have water — this was truly no easy feat!" That day, as clear spring water gushed up from 150 meters below ground, the construction workers and the station's officers and soldiers could not hold back tears of joy.
However, when the water quality inspection report came out, the officers and soldiers were stunned: testing showed that the mineral content of the well water severely exceeded standards and could not be drunk directly.
The problem was once again placed before the Party committee. When the discussion turned to whether to build a separate water purification station to treat the water quality, opinions were divided. Some felt that "the maintenance station doesn't have many people — building another water purification station would require too large an investment, with a low cost-effectiveness ratio." Some suggested "using the funds for headquarters infrastructure construction, so there would be something to 'show' during higher-level inspections." Some thought that "building a water purification station on the plateau is time-consuming and labor-intensive, and its feasibility remains to be demonstrated"…
"Officers and soldiers give their all to fulfill the mission — the organization cannot let them down. Funds are meant to be spent on solving the urgent difficulties and pressing concerns (急难愁盼) of officers and soldiers!" In the end, consensus was reached: "We will carry this 'heart-warming project' (暖心工程) forward in relay — we must ensure officers and soldiers drink safe, high-quality water!"
After three years of arduous construction, the water purification station was finally completed. Everyone thought they would finally be able to use "safe water," but unexpectedly, as autumn gave way to winter, disaster struck again — the water pipes froze and burst. Although heating facilities had been installed during construction of the purification station, they still could not withstand the extreme nighttime low temperatures of -30°C at Hongshanhe in winter.
The pipes were buried 1.5 meters underground. Because of the hard geology, officers and soldiers dug from early morning until late at night for a long time without even catching a glimpse of the pipes. With no other option, the maintenance station's officers and soldiers went back to hauling water from the frozen lake.
Before long, the unit's Party committee underwent a change of leadership. Upon learning of Hongshanhe Maintenance Station's predicament, the newly appointed political commissar made the station his very first grassroots destination, traveling 2,000 kilometers by a roundabout route to come to the station in person and work out solutions together with the officers and soldiers.
After a period of research and demonstration, the approach of using "movement" to prevent "freezing" (以"动"防"冻") emerged: a water pump was added to the drainage pipes to keep both the supply and drainage pipes flowing at all times. At the same time, the previous method of direct-burial piping was changed, and a new underground maintenance tunnel was constructed to facilitate routine maintenance by officers and soldiers. Considering that the permafrost would thaw in summer, they also specifically used reinforced concrete construction to prevent the tunnel from collapsing and causing danger.
"Carrying the well-drilling effort forward in relay, clean water nourishes Hongshanhe." Day by day, the renovation project was completed amid the eager anticipation of officers and soldiers, and clear well water finally achieved round-the-clock stable supply. Hongshanhe Maintenance Station thus completely bid farewell to more than 40 years of water hardship.
"Difficulty is precisely where responsibility is shown; hardship is precisely where character is revealed. The pool of well water at Hongshanhe reflects the spirit of several successive Party committee teams — the bearing of 'success need not come on my watch' (功成不必在我) and the responsibility of 'success will surely come with my contribution' (功成必定有我)." Looking at the clear well water before them, the maintenance station's officers and soldiers always recall the pledge made by the unit's leadership at the Party committee meeting: "We must ensure officers and soldiers drink safe, high-quality water!"
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Genuine Care Is the Sweetest Spring
■ Liu Weijiao
From shoveling snow and chipping ice to sinking a deep well, from purifying water quality to solving frozen pipes, the complete resolution of Hongshanhe Maintenance Station's more than 40 years of water hardship is both a moving story of concern for the grassroots and warmth toward officers and soldiers, and a vivid educational lesson in how to establish and practice a correct outlook on political achievement (正确政绩观).
What is a correct outlook on political achievement? One of its essential points is to wholeheartedly do good things, handle practical matters, and resolve difficult problems for officers and soldiers. Faced with challenges including extreme cold and oxygen deprivation, drilling through permafrost, substandard water quality, and frozen burst pipes, the successive Party committee teams of the unit to which Hongshanhe Maintenance Station belongs did not shirk responsibility because of unit transfers, did not allow continuity to break because of changes in principal officers, and did not give up because the effort was "large in investment, slow to show results, and unlikely to shine." Instead, they kept the grassroots' hopes and the officers' and soldiers' needs constantly in mind, carrying the work forward cohort after cohort, striking blow after blow, and ultimately made this heart-warming project warm the hearts of soldiers and rally their morale.
Chairman Xi has repeatedly emphasized: "Creating prosperity for the people is the greatest political achievement." Yet in reality, some units and leading cadres, though highly enthusiastic about doing practical things for soldiers, do not actually do the things soldiers need most. At its root, this reflects a lack of a people-centered philosophy and a correct outlook on political achievement. When leading cadres and staff organs remain committed to caring for grassroots officers and soldiers — treating the voices of officers and soldiers as the primary signal, keeping their urgent difficulties, pressing concerns, safety, and well-being constantly in mind and firmly in hand — the political achievements they produce will be like the deep well at Hongshanhe Maintenance Station: flowing with the clearest and sweetest spring water.