Party Flag Leads the Way, Struggle to Strengthen the Military | Loyalty Inscribed at 4,868 Meters Above Sea Level
Loyalty Inscribed at 4,868 Meters Above Sea Level
Xinhua News Agency reporters Sun Luming and Zhang Ruijie
Heading west from Golmud, snow-capped mountains roll one after another and the Gobi stretches without end.
"That year I came to the foot of the Kunlun Mountains, a soldier ascending to the sentry post in the clouds; the romance of youth before the edelweiss, the soldier's pride beneath the mountain-pass moon; let the cold wind blow through memories of green, let the snow mountains bear witness to the altitude of faith…"
The officers and soldiers of the 7th Detachment who accompanied us up the mountain hummed their unit song, "Sentry Post in the Clouds," in the vehicle. After nearly four hours of jolting along a "washboard road," our reporter team finally arrived at the northern foot of the Kunlun Mountains.
Here stands the "sentry post in the clouds" at 4,868 meters above sea level — the highest permanent duty post on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway — where the oxygen content is only half that at sea level.
At the tunnel entrance, a large slogan blazes in vivid red: "A place of hardship, a place far away, a fine place to render meritorious service and build a career."
This is the oath of loyalty of the officers and soldiers of the 7th Duty Detachment, Haixi Branch, People's Armed Police Qinghai General Corps.
"A Soldier Ascending to the Sentry Post in the Clouds"
On May 1, 2026, detachment officers and soldiers patrol at the entrance to the Kunlun Mountain Tunnel. Photo by Yang Hao.
The sentry tower is not large — only two stories.
But to reach the "clouds," one must climb a further 110 steps.
Ascending the steep stone steps, accompanied by the chest tightness, shortness of breath, and intensifying headaches that come with the rising altitude, our every step was enveloped by the heavy sound of breathing and the rapid pounding of our hearts.
Gripping the railing, we climbed step by step. On the steep slope, at intervals, stone blocks are carved with inscriptions: one-third of the way up reads "retreat in the face of difficulty, give up halfway"; at the midpoint, "halfway through the course, take a brief rest"; and when "mission accomplished, victory achieved" finally came into view, we had reached the top.
Looking out from the "sentry post in the clouds," the view is an unchanging expanse of wilderness and mountains. Since the Qinghai-Tibet Railway opened along its full length in 2006, the officers and soldiers of the 7th Duty Detachment have stood guard here for nearly 20 years. Day after day, young officers and soldiers keep watch at the post, protecting the "road to heaven" beneath their feet.
The 1,686-meter-long Kunlun Mountain Tunnel is the number-one control project on the entire Qinghai-Tibet Railway line, with treacherous terrain and complex geological conditions. The two ends of this tunnel — the world's longest tunnel in a high-altitude permafrost zone — are the 7th Detachment's two permanent duty posts.
On June 10, 2021, officers and soldiers of the 7th Duty Detachment patrol during a thunderstorm. Photo by Yang Hao.
Senior Sergeant First Class Wang Shang, who extended his service, has stood guard here for nearly 18 years and is the oldest soldier at the post. "The first time I stood watch, after just 20 minutes I started feeling dizzy, my vision went dark, and I had to lean against the wall to stay upright." The scene of his first arrival at the post remains vivid in his memory to this day.
The officers and soldiers joke that this is the plateau's exclusive "welcome gift" to them.
The most recent recipient of this "gift" was the post's youngest soldier, Li Shujie. In September 2024, he traveled thousands of li from a small coastal city in Guangdong to the "sentry post in the clouds." "On the first night, I wanted to sleep but couldn't — difficulty breathing, headache, eyes swollen and aching," said Li Shujie.
In the Kunlun Mountains, loyalty and dedication are embodied in every day and every night, in every minute of eating, sleeping, and walking.
On the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau, with an average elevation exceeding 4,000 meters, threats to bodily function and to life itself lurk everywhere. "Even a minor cold can trigger high-altitude illnesses such as pulmonary edema or cerebral edema," said Political Instructor Jin Shenglin.
Yet over 20 years, not a single officer or soldier in the detachment has voluntarily requested a transfer.
In just over a year, Li Shujie has tasted every flavor the "plateau" has to offer. Having just celebrated his 20th birthday, he has come to understand more deeply the poetry and distant horizons of youth, and has solemnly submitted his application to join the Party to the organization.
This soldier from the south has completed the leap from the sea to the "clouds."
On New Year's Eve 2024, officers and soldiers stand duty at the entrance to the Kunlun Mountain Tunnel on the Qinghai-Tibet Railway. Photo by Yang Hao.
"The Soldier's Pride Beneath the Mountain-Pass Moon"
In June, a cold wind still blows through the heart of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau.
The soldiers describe it this way: there are only two seasons here — winter, and "approximately winter."
Here, the Kunlun Range temporarily forecloses the possibility of seasonal change. Snow mountains and wilderness are the year-round, unchanging scenery.
Because of this, every officer and soldier harbors a stubborn attachment to the color green: they use foam boxes as seedling trays, planting cold-resistant flower and grass seeds, quietly tucking all their hopes for life and vitality inside.
When officers and soldiers return from duty and resupply runs in Golmud, their bags never lack for potted plants of various colors and green seedling shoots. Everyone carries a fixation in their heart — a desire to bring green up to the post — yet the vast majority of plants cannot survive more than half a month.
Political Instructor Jin Shenglin is the most stubborn of all. Before one return to the post, he carefully selected a pot of asparagus fern and a pot of chrysanthemums, carried them all the way up to the sentry post through a roundabout journey, and tended to them with great care. In the end, they stubbornly stayed green in the Kunlun Mountains for ten days.
Just ten days — yet no one felt any regret.
Everyone often says: on the plateau, seeing a vivid patch of green is the same as seeing life itself. The green grass and trees that are everywhere on the plains are the most extravagant scenery here.
For Private First Class Zhang Lianzong, something even more extravagant is playing a full basketball game.
He has been looking forward to it ever since he arrived at the detachment over a year ago. But in reality, even in warm weather, they can play at most a half-court game, and a doctor and oxygen tanks must be on standby throughout.
Night deepened, and a train whistle cut through the sleeping valley. Private First Class Li Gaoyu knew: this was a passenger train, approximately 10 to 12 carriages.
The railway tracks of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway run just four or five meters from the sentry post; the roar of trains hurtling past and the silence of the mountains face off at the soldiers' bedsides.
It would be hard for anyone to imagine that the young soldiers have found amusement in this — by listening to the sounds, they can determine the approximate arrival time of a train, whether it is a freight or passenger train, whether it is heading up the mountain or down.
Opening veteran Wang Shang's "sentry post diary," the first several pages are densely filled with tally marks (正字). After arriving at the post, he recorded every train he stood guard over.
1:00 a.m., 4:00 a.m.… Every officer and soldier carries a familiar train timetable in their heart. Whenever the thin air makes sleep impossible, they lie in the darkness waiting for and confirming each whistle blast. The train passes; they wait for the bed boards to stop trembling, and then everything goes quiet again.
When Li Gaoyu stepped up to the sentry post, the full moon happened to be rising just above the towering Kunlun Mountains. On this night, he and his comrades were the Chinese People's Armed Police closest to the sky.
"Let the Snow Mountains Bear Witness to the Altitude of Faith"
Officers and soldiers conduct tactical training in the snow. Photo by Yang Hao.
On the hillside in front of the detachment compound, there is a giant map of China assembled from stones. A base of blue-gray stones, outlined in red bricks, with the six large characters "I Stand Guard for the Motherland" (我为祖国站岗) laid out in the center.
Every stone on the map was selected one by one by officers and soldiers from the Gobi wilderness, hammered into the hillside, and secured with wire. They have steadied their longing for home and country — stretching across ten thousand li — in a place very close to the sky.
Twenty years ago, the first group of officers and soldiers came here and left behind a map of China carved into the Kunlun Mountains. Since then, every year when new recruits join the detachment, the unit organizes them to repair the map, using it to inspire generation after generation of officers and soldiers to take root on the plateau.
This stone-built map, assembled from more than 40,000 Kunlun Mountain stones, is the eternal landscape of rivers and mountains in their hearts. One section of stones on the map is arranged most neatly and densely — the position everyone in their hearts loves most and holds most dear: Beijing.
Most of them have never been to Beijing. Yet the longing they carry in their hearts is deeper than anyone else's.
People often ask: what can this small sentry post do, besides guarding the tunnel?
National Highway 109 makes a sharp bend just below the post, with a steep grade and a tight curve — a stretch prone to traffic accidents. Detachment officers and soldiers have erected 15 People's Armed Police assistance point signs along more than 100 kilometers of hazardous road, with contact numbers posted publicly and available to respond around the clock.
"South of the sentry post is the Hoh Xil uninhabited zone, where wildlife is abundant and animals frequently stray onto the railway. Last year, we also rescued a railway worker who had been struck and injured by a wild yak," said Political Instructor Jin Shenglin.
One year, a sudden heavy snowfall at the Kunlun Mountain pass stranded more than 300 vehicles. The soldiers braved wind and snow, brought all the plateau medicines, supplies, and combat rations down from the mountain, and delivered water, food, and medicine to each vehicle one by one.
One year, soldiers discovered an overturned sedan during a patrol, with three people injured. On the way to the hospital, Wang Shang cradled the head of a seriously injured girl on his arm for more than three hours. At the hospital, he donated 400 milliliters of blood and advanced more than 20,000 yuan in medical expenses out of his own pocket.
"Keeping soldiers for a thousand days is really for the sake of the possible one-in-ten-thousand emergency — that is the meaning of our existence," said Jin Shenglin.
Over 20 years, generation after generation of officers and soldiers have stood guard at the "sentry post in the clouds," measuring out 210,000 kilometers of patrol routes on foot, neutralizing more than 500 dangerous situations, and protecting more than 200,000 trains in safe passage.
In 2023, the 7th Duty Detachment drilled its first water well; officers and soldiers celebrate with cheers. Photo by Yang Hao.
As his service term nears its end, veteran Wang Shang has handwritten a thick stack of "soldier-training lesson plans," covering everything from "prediction and prevention of high-altitude pulmonary edema" to "frostbite prevention during snow patrols," filling several notebooks with dense writing. Having been cooped up in the mountains for nearly two decades, the earthy smell of the plateau has bored into his bones and never left.
Trains roar past, and the sound of the wind fades into the distance. Generation after generation of young people have inscribed here their most radiant coordinates of loyalty.
(Xinhua News Agency, Xining, June 28)
Planning: Liu Gang, Huang Ming
Coordination: Yu Haoyang, Yu Xiaoquan, Zhang Ruijie
Reporters: Zhang Ruijie, Sun Luming
Directors: Zhang Ruijie, Xu Fuzhe
Cinematography: Yang Hao, Niu Hongyan, Fang Shengfei, Zhu Chen, Li Yixuan
Editing: Guo Han, Fang Shengfei
Coordination: Xu Bowen, Wei Shan, Guo Ziyang, Yang Hao
Acknowledgments: Political Work Department, People's Armed Police Qinghai General Corps; People's Armed Police Qinghai General Corps Haixi Branch; Xinhua News Agency People's Liberation Army Branch
Produced by Xinhua News Agency