Those Who Come After Will Carry the Banner — A Close Look at 3 Militia Units Named After Red Army Martyrs and Sites of Long March Stories

Those Who Come After Will Carry the Banner — A Close Look at 3 Militia Units Named After Red Army Martyrs and Sites of Long March Stories

Ninety years ago, the three main forces of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army converged at Huining in Gansu and Jiangtaibao in Ningxia, marking the victorious conclusion of the 25,000-li Long March. This epic feat composed "an unparalleled heroic epic," giving rise to countless heroes worthy of song and tears, and leaving behind one moving story after another.

Ninety years on, reverence for this great victory, remembrance of heroic forebears, and the inheritance of the red spirit (红色精神) have never ceased. Many schools, units, squares, and streets have been named after Red Army martyrs; "Long March" monuments, memorial halls, and themed parks stand in many places. People trace the footsteps of the Long March, recall its stories, and reflect on its spirit — the forms may differ, but all are filled with the same remembrance and the same deep feeling.

In this issue's "Viewpoint," we take a close look at 3 militia units named after Red Army martyrs and the sites where Long March stories unfolded, exploring their determined strides to inherit the red gene (红色基因) and continue the glory of heroes from their posts.

— The Editors

"Wang Liang Militia Emergency Company" —

Inheriting a Hero's Legacy to Guard the Homeland

■ Tian Maocai, PLA Daily Reporter Zhao Xiaohan

[Caption: The Qijiang District People's Armed Forces Department of Chongqing organizes the "Wang Liang Militia Emergency Company" to conduct forest firefighting training. Photo by Weng Mingjie.]

[Caption: The "Wang Liang Militia Emergency Company" conducts an educational activity in front of the Memorial Hall of Comrade Wang Liang. Photo by Shi Hanmou.]

In early summer, inside the Memorial Hall of Comrade Wang Liang in Yongcheng Town, Qijiang District, Chongqing, more than 30 newly enrolled militia members of the "Wang Liang Militia Emergency Company" stood in neat formation and solemnly swore an oath before the hero's statue. The resounding words of the oath rang through the hall.

This red militia company is named after Wang Liang — a revolutionary martyr from Qijiang and commander of the 4th Red Army. Qijiang is a place through which the Central Red Army passed during the Long March; its red heritage runs deep, and Wang Liang's heroic deeds have been passed down from generation to generation on this land.

Wang Liang was born in Yongcheng Town in 1905. He joined the Chinese Communist Party in 1927 and participated in establishing the Jinggang Mountains revolutionary base area. In March 1932, Wang Liang was appointed commander of the 4th Red Army. In June of the same year, while leading the 4th Red Army back to the southern Jiangxi base area, he was ambushed by the enemy and died heroically. He was survived by his legacy alone. To carry forward the spirit of the martyr and continue the red gene, the Qijiang District military and civilian authorities jointly established the "Wang Liang Militia Emergency Company" in 2020.

The company's garrison is adjacent to the Memorial Hall of Comrade Wang Liang, which has become a routine red classroom for the militia. In their spare time from training, members often enter the hall and stand in silent reflection before the martyr's yellowed letters home and precious relics. Each year, when new militia members join, the first lesson is to study the hero's deeds. "Every time I read the line in Commander Wang Liang's letter home — 'Your son has resolved to seek happiness for the people' — I feel the weight on my shoulders grow heavier," said militia member Li Fei with deep feeling.

"To inherit the spirit of the martyrs, we must forge hard skills," said Company Commander Zhang Qifang. To enhance members' emergency response and combat capabilities, the company employs concentrated rotation training and paired-unit training to consolidate the militia's military foundation; relies on industry-based facilities to strengthen integrated personnel-equipment training; and regularly conducts joint training and exercises with district fire, public security, and professional rescue forces, tempering and honing capabilities through realistic training and exercises.

Bloodline forges the founding aspiration (初心); danger reveals the weight of responsibility. Not long ago, Qijiang District was struck by heavy rainfall, and areas along the river in Shijiao Town were severely flooded, with nearly a hundred residents urgently needing evacuation. After receiving the order, more than 40 militia members of the company rushed to the disaster area with professional rescue equipment.

The rain was fierce, and the floodwaters in the streets were murky. Militia members were organized into mixed teams with township and village cadres, going door to door to check on residents. In front of an old residential building on the eastern side of the town, the water had already risen above the knee. Militia member Jia Lanjun was the first to jump into the water, wading into the stairwell and carrying out an elderly resident with limited mobility on his back. "Commander Wang Liang once gave his life to seek happiness for the people. We carry on by protecting the safety of the masses — no matter how great the flood, we charge forward," said Jia Lanjun, voicing the feelings of his fellow militia members.

This is but one example of the company executing arduous and dangerous missions. In the summer of 2022, a forest fire broke out in Qijiang District. The terrain at the fire site was steep, making it difficult for large rescue equipment to approach. Emergency company militia members, enduring temperatures of 40 degrees Celsius and thick smoke filling the sky, wielded chainsaws and machetes to carve out firebreaks section by section, fighting continuously for two days and nights.

"We are the heirs of Wang Liang — we cannot retreat!" recalled Political Instructor Song Rubo. That rallying call became the charge signal on the front line; every member overcame exhaustion and held their position, ultimately helping local emergency forces successfully bring the fire under control.

Since its establishment, the "Wang Liang Militia Emergency Company" has completed dozens of emergency missions including forest firefighting and flood relief, fulfilling through each act of going against the tide the oath taken upon joining: "Inherit the hero's legacy, protect the people of our homeland."

"Shazhou Militia" Red Culture Propaganda Team —

Continuing the Warmth of "Half a Quilt"

■ Li Yang, Ma Zhi

[Caption: Zeng Qingjing (third from right), a member of the "Shazhou Militia" Red Culture Propaganda Team, tells students visiting the former residence where the "Half a Quilt" story took place. Photo by Ou Zhimin.]

"What is the Communist Party? The Communist Party is people who, even if they have only one quilt, will cut it in half and give half to the common people." In early June, inside the auditorium of Xiangnan University College, Zhu Shuhua — a member of the "Shazhou Militia" Red Culture Propaganda Team of Rucheng County, Chenzhou City, Hunan Province — was telling the story of "Half a Quilt" to faculty and students. She also holds another identity: she is the great-granddaughter of Xu Jiexiu, the protagonist of the "Half a Quilt" story.

In November 1934, as the Red Army passed through Shazhou Village in Rucheng during the Long March, three female Red Army soldiers lodged at Xu Jiexiu's home. Seeing that Xu Jiexiu's family was impoverished and did not even have a quilt to keep warm, the soldiers cut their only quilt in half when they left and gave half to Xu Jiexiu.

"I grew up listening to the story of 'Half a Quilt.' Back then, the Red Army soldiers were willing to endure the cold themselves in order to leave warmth for my great-grandmother. Now, as a militia member able to spread red stories, I feel deeply honored," said Zhu Shuhua.

Chenzhou is a place where the Red Army rested and reorganized during the Long March, and it is home to many red stories, including "Half a Quilt" and "The Red Army's IOU." To tell these red stories well, the Chenzhou Military Sub-district integrated the militia of Shazhou Village in September 2021 and established the "Shazhou Militia" Red Culture Propaganda Team.

Upon hearing the news, Zhu Shuhua resigned from her job elsewhere and returned home to sign up. She also persuaded her niece Zhu Duju to join the team, while several of her uncles and great-uncles became unofficial militia members of the propaganda team, volunteering as guides at the former site where the "Half a Quilt" story took place. For a time, the story of multiple generations of one family all telling red stories together became widely praised.

Propaganda team members come from different walks of life. To raise the level of their presentations, the Chenzhou Military Sub-district has held multiple professional training seminars, inviting Party history experts and experienced guides to teach, helping militia members consolidate their theoretical foundation and master presentation skills. At the same time, the sub-district organizes militia members to conduct immersive study tours and retrace the Long March route, guiding them to personally experience the Long March spirit and deepen their understanding of and identification with red history.

"We must not only tell red stories well, but make them reach the ears and touch the heart," militia member Pei Xiujun told this reporter. She and her teammates write different scripts for different audiences, organically combining Mandarin with local dialects to attract listeners who enjoy hearing and can remember the stories. They have also staged dramatic performances such as "Half a Stall" and "Half a Quilt," taking them into government offices, schools, and villages to bring red stories to life.

"The moving narration and vivid performances made me truly feel the profound bond between the military and the people (军为民、民拥军), and strengthened my resolve to enlist and defend the homeland," said Liu Hongding, a student at Xiangnan University College, with great emotion after watching the propaganda team's performance.

"The monthly minimum standard for basic old-age insurance for urban and rural residents has been raised by 20 yuan…" In recent years, the propaganda team has also gone door to door in villages to explain the Party's people-benefiting policies to residents. After this year's National Two Sessions (全国两会) concluded, the propaganda team divided into 5 sub-teams and went deep into villages to convey the positive policy news.

To make their outreach more grounded, each sub-team has innovated its approach — conducting "micro-presentations" (微宣讲) in farmhouse courtyards and holding "small classes" in the fields, closely linking policy interpretation with villagers' concerns about people's livelihoods and industrial development. They patiently answer questions raised by villagers one by one, cheering on rural revitalization.

"Raising the red banner, we must carry on and continue the warmth of 'Half a Quilt.'" Team Leader He Xiahui of the "Shazhou Militia" Red Culture Propaganda Team introduced that the team has cumulatively conducted more than ten thousand presentations of various kinds, reaching an audience of over one million person-times. The Shazhou Red Propaganda Corps, with the propaganda team as its backbone, has been commended by the Central Propaganda Department as a "National Advanced Collective in Grassroots Theoretical Propaganda."

"Wu Huanxian Militia Company" —

Deeply Rooted in Grassroots Governance, Resolving the People's Concerns

■ Ren Changhua, Liu Kai

[Caption: Militia members of the "Wu Huanxian Militia Company" visit and offer condolences to elderly residents living alone. Photo by Ren Changhua.]

"A report has been received from residents that vendors in the Lao Nanmen area are conducting business on the roadway. Please organize personnel to proceed to the scene for rectification…" On a summer morning, inside the urban governance dispatch center of Jingchuan County, Gansu Province, an urgent grassroots governance directive was issued. Upon receiving the order, the second platoon of the "Wu Huanxian Militia Company" quickly assembled, took up cleaning tools and policy publicity pamphlets, and headed straight for the Lao Nanmen streets to carry out rectification.

The Lao Nanmen area is densely packed with shops, and problems such as roadway vending and indiscriminate garbage dumping occur from time to time. Upon arriving at the scene, the militia split into two groups: one group explained to vendors the safety hazards of conducting business on the roadway and persuaded them to operate in compliance; the other group helped vendors organize their goods and sweep up garbage. Within half a day, the road was clear again, and passersby offered praise.

"As heirs of the martyrs, we must put into practice the founding aspiration of serving the people, and resolve the troubles of the masses with heart and feeling," said Deputy Company Commander Wang Luhong, who led the team, wiping sweat from his brow with conviction.

Wu Huanxian was one of the principal founders of the Hubei-Henan-Anhui and Hubei-Henan-Shaanxi revolutionary base areas and of the 25th Red Army. On August 21, 1935, as the 25th Red Army was marching through the Long March near Sipo Village in Jingchuan County, it was suddenly attacked by Nationalist Army forces. To cover the main force's river crossing, Wu Huanxian fought bravely at the front and died heroically, at only 28 years of age.

The hero rests in eternal sleep in Jingchuan; the red torch is passed on forever. In December 2023, the "Wu Huanxian Militia Company" was formally established under its banner. Since the company's founding, it has deeply explored the martyr's deeds, widely carried out study activities, and woven the forebears' sincere devotion of "keeping the people in mind and thinking of the people in all things" into every detail of training and daily work.

Militia forces, "assembled they are soldiers, dispersed they are civilians" (聚之为兵，散之为民), possess the unique advantage of being rooted at the grassroots level. To convert this advantage into governance effectiveness, the Jingchuan County military and civilian authorities, combining local realities, called on militia members to actively participate in grassroots governance. The "Wu Huanxian Militia Company" volunteered proactively, moving through streets and alleys every day, routinely conducting community sentiment visits, dispute mediation, and environmental rectification, bringing attentive service to the people.

To deepen their service, the company has coordinated its personnel, divided into 6 militia governance sub-teams, and established a closed-loop working mechanism of "militia assigned to areas, ledger records, time-limited completion, and follow-up feedback," transforming militia members' presence in the grid from a "temporary task" into "daily guardianship."

"A close neighbor is better than a distant relative; the key to getting along with neighbors lies in mutual help." In April of this year, two households in Wangcun Town were locked in a dispute over the boundary for constructing a courtyard wall. After militia member Wang Yuanyuan learned of the situation, she visited the households on multiple consecutive days, patiently listening to both sides' demands. She went through the township and village homestead regulations clause by clause to clarify doubts and helped delineate the boundary. The two households ultimately resolved their grievances and shook hands in reconciliation.

"Every time I mediate a dispute and see the smiles of neighbors reconciling, I genuinely feel that the red spirit is never distant — it is hidden in the small, everyday acts of resolving difficulties for the people," Wang Yuanyuan said with feeling at a company discussion and exchange meeting.

Inheriting the spirit of the martyrs — governance outcomes are the best measuring stick. Company Political Instructor Xie Pengbo introduced that they regularly invite experienced grassroots cadres and professional legal workers to give lectures, conducting special training and scenario simulations focused on dispute mediation skills and other topics to enhance the militia's hard capabilities in serving the masses.

After a heavy rainstorm last year, multiple drainage pipes in the jurisdiction were blocked and mud accumulated on road surfaces, seriously affecting residents' travel. The company moved immediately upon receiving the order, dividing into three groups — road silt clearance, pipe drainage, and hazard inspection — to work separately. Despite the fatigue of having participated in flood relief for consecutive days, members dug out leaves and silt from drainage channels by hand and inspected every building for waterlogging hazards. Watching the militia members work without pause, many residents spontaneously brought hot water and towels, moved to say: "When we see those camouflage uniforms, our hearts are at ease!"

Layout Design: Wang Qiushuang

Let the Red Gene Radiate with the Light of the Times

■ Luo Yunzhong

We have heard many deeply moving red stories. Standing before display cases in memorial halls, sitting in Party lecture classrooms, immersed in themed education events — time and again our hearts have surged and our eyes have filled with tears.

After stepping out of the classroom and leaving the exhibition hall, once the surge of passion has passed, how to truly transform the reverence in one's heart and the reflections in one's mind into the conscious action of rolling up one's sleeves and getting to work — so that the red bloodline flows on forever — is the examination paper that everyone in the new era must answer well.

In recent years, wave after wave of militia units, volunteer service teams, and other organizations named after martyrs have emerged vigorously. They till the red soil deeply, pass on the heroic torch, internalize the red spirit in their hearts and externalize it in their actions, weaving it into the details of daily life. With their concrete actions they vividly demonstrate: to commemorate our forebears, we must act with tireless dedication — following in the forebears' footsteps, continuing the struggle.

Uphold the founding aspiration at an ordinary post; reveal the weight of responsibility in moments of danger and difficulty. When the fire ground is blanketed in smoke and danger is imminent, the silhouette charging in the opposite direction is a true embodiment of "fearlessness of sacrifice"; when a solitary elderly person lives alone, the quiet companionship maintained day after day, year after year, is a plain interpretation of "selfless dedication"; when the fields await a harvest and rural development hits a bottleneck, the assistance rendered by those rooted in the soil and pouring out their sweat is a faithful practice of "serving the people"; when the masses enter martyrs' cemeteries and memorial halls to pay their respects, the voice explaining again and again without pay is a vivid transmission of "the founding aspiration and mission" (初心使命).

"Losing one's head is no matter, so long as the cause is true. Kill Xia Minghan, and those who come after will carry on." In the years of war and fire, countless martyrs gave their lives to fulfill their mission and shed their blood to protect the homeland. In an age of peace, as the "those who come after" (后来人) whom the martyrs earnestly hoped for, bathed in the sunlight of the new era, continuing the red bloodline is our inescapable responsibility.

Tracing the thread of history, we know clearly where we came from; shouldering the burdens of the times, we must be even clearer about the path ahead. To inherit the red gene well, we must hold our convictions firm as a rock — no matter how many obstacles lie ahead, always keep the guiding light in our hearts, never change direction, never change our founding aspiration. We must keep the masses in our hearts, stepping forward without hesitation when the people are in need. We must forge hard skills, treating difficulties as tempering and challenges as tests, rising to the occasion in arduous and dangerous missions. We must be willing to embrace the ordinary, treating our post as a battle position, accumulating growth through day-after-day perseverance, and writing loyalty through unsung dedication.

From "being moved" to "being able to fight," from "listening to stories" to "practicing the inheritance" — this transformation is the most profound tribute to history and the most powerful answer to the times. When more and more people continue to write the red chapter through concrete action, the red gene will surely radiate ever more brilliant light in the new era.