The Stories Behind Two Honor Flags
■ People's Liberation Army Daily Reporters Song Zixun and Wang Chao
Officers and soldiers of the "Model Company for Political Discipline" (政纪模范连) of a certain brigade under the 83rd Group Army conduct Party discipline study and education in the unit's "Political Discipline Corridor" (政纪长廊). Photo by Mo Ran.
In the honor room of a company belonging to a certain brigade under the 83rd Group Army, two flags hang side by side: one bearing the words "Model Company for Political Discipline" (政纪模范连), the other "Model Company for Observing Discipline" (遵纪模范连). The two characters for "discipline" (纪), written with vigorous brushstrokes, speak to the spiritual code that has carried this heroic company through its entire journey.
This company, which emerged from the flames of anti-Japanese resistance along the shores of Yangcheng Lake more than 80 years ago—how did it come to be awarded honorary titles for strict discipline on two separate occasions? And what are the moving stories behind these two honor flags?
I
"Every revolutionary soldier must firmly remember: the Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention..." The voices of the company's officers and soldiers ring out with force, as if piercing through the mists of history to echo across the decades to a moment of decision made in a field of crops 78 years ago.
In June 1948, the company took part in the Yuedong Campaign. They discovered that the position they were preparing to fight from was crossed by a large expanse of crops. The sorghum and millet had entered the jointing stage—it would be a great pity to pull them up, yet leaving them in place would neither clear the field of fire nor spare them from being destroyed indiscriminately by artillery and gunfire.
Thinking of how the common people depended on this grain to survive, the company made up its mind: no matter what, the cropland must not be destroyed. They temporarily transplanted the millet, soil and all, to outside the defensive position, and carefully bent the sorghum stalks down with grass rope and secured them, clearing the field of fire. After the battle ended, despite the exhaustion of days of fierce fighting, they replanted the millet one stalk at a time. When the villagers returned and saw the green crop canopy (青纱帐) still full of life, they were deeply moved.
The story of "sorghum bending down, millet moving house" (高粱弯腰、谷子搬家) spread widely from that point on. The company received high praise from the people and from commanders at all levels. The East China Field Army awarded the company the honorary title "Model Company for Political Discipline."
This episode left behind no historical photographic record—it is rendered only in oil painting form in the company's honor room—yet it has sketched a spiritual tableau in the hearts of generation after generation of officers and soldiers. Remarkably, another glorious moment in the company's history did leave behind precious historical photographs.
There is a classic photograph titled "Sleeping in the Streets" (露宿街头), taken by Xinhua News Agency photojournalist Lu Rensheng on the morning of May 1949, the day Shanghai was liberated. When the photograph was published, it caused a powerful response at home and abroad. From that point on, the story of "the victorious army sleeping on the road" spread throughout the land.
What fills the company's officers and soldiers with pride is that the PLA soldiers in the photograph were the predecessors of their own unit. For their outstanding conduct in strictly observing discipline, the company was shortly thereafter awarded the honorary title "Model Company for Observing Discipline" by the Third Field Army.
"The reason discipline was so good when entering the city at that time was that our predecessors pasted the 'Rules for Entering the City' (入城守则) on their packs, studied them whenever they had a free moment, recited them even while on the march, until they knew them inside out, and gradually it became second nature." An old squad leader who had served in the company for 16 years said: "Second nature comes from genuine conviction. Today, by continually revisiting our glorious history, everyone's sense of conviction and pride keeps growing stronger."
From "sorghum bending down, millet moving house" to "the victorious army sleeping on the road," the image of our predecessors strictly observing discipline is both a model and a spur.
In this company, every officer and soldier carries "three treasures" (三件宝): a lyrics booklet of "The Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention," the company history volume, and a copy of the photograph "Sleeping in the Streets." These "three treasures" serve as a constant reminder not to forget where they came from, and also point the way forward.
The melody of "The Three Main Rules of Discipline and the Eight Points for Attention" passes over the green crop canopy, passes over the streets of Shanghai, and rings out clearly today, helping officers and soldiers understand a simple truth: an army that constrains itself with iron discipline and holds the people in the palm of its hand possesses a force capable of shaking heaven and earth.
II
While visiting the company's honor room, reporters paused before a video playing on a loop on an electronic screen.
The elderly woman in the video is named Yan Hongying. Speaking in a northern Jiangsu accent, she clutches tightly in her hands an old photograph.
It is a photograph taken during the crossing of the Yangtze River by "a million heroic troops" (百万雄师过大江). On a river surface engulfed in artillery fire, a young woman with a long braid stands in a wooden boat, pulling hard on the oar, driving the boat toward the enemy positions on the opposite bank. On the boat is a group of fully armed officers and soldiers. That young woman is Yan Hongying—she was only 19 years old at the time.
In the video, Yan Hongying's daughter, Dong Xiaomei, says: on the eve of the Yangtze River Crossing Campaign, Yan Hongying signed up to support the frontline without telling her family, and later persuaded her father to contribute their own wooden boat to join the support contingent.
Across the long river of history, tens of thousands of ordinary people like Yan Hongying stepped forward, willing to risk their lives and livelihoods to sustain this army. Why? Perhaps the answer can be found in one sentence from Yan Hongying: "The soldiers on the boat—they are all our own kin."
This trust, as between family members, was built upon iron discipline maintained day after day, without the slightest infringement (秋毫无犯).
During the reporters' visit, they happened upon the company's monthly "Political Discipline Mini-Classroom" (政纪微课堂) activity. The company has sustained this activity for many years, encouraging soldiers to explain the principles of strict discipline in soldiers' own words. That day, Staff Sergeant Second Class Jiang Huahao drew on Yan Hongying's story in his remarks, and also recounted a little-known episode from the company's past.
In 1945, while the company was on the march from northern Huai to southern Huai on orders, villagers along the way, feeling sympathy for the hungry soldiers, brought out sweet potatoes and eggs that they themselves were reluctant to eat. The company's officers and soldiers not only refused to accept them, but also went up the mountain of their own accord to chop firewood, delivering neatly bundled loads of wood to the villagers' homes. This act spread like a warm spring breeze through the villages along the route.
Later, when the troops marched through Zhuhu Town and Qingyang Town, the local people lined the roadside with a special "welcoming gift": a bowl of water clear to the bottom, a mirror bright enough to see one's reflection, and a needle threaded with thread. What the people were expressing was that this army was "clear as water, bright as a mirror, and would not take so much as a needle or thread from the masses."
"The word 'model' (模范) inscribed on the two honor flags was forged precisely through such actions, accumulated drop by drop, without the loss of a hair's breadth. The people's enthusiastic support also stems from the fact that our predecessors played a vanguard and model role in observing rules and discipline." That day, Jiang Huahao's words earned warm applause from his comrades.
Discipline education must be studied constantly and renewed constantly. The company's political instructor Gou believes that the purpose of mastering the formula of "constancy" (常字诀) is to cultivate officers' and soldiers' conscious observance of discipline, and that this consciousness does not form overnight—it requires long-term cultural immersion and daily cultivation.
Walking through the garrison area where the company is stationed, reporters felt the richness of the discipline culture: at the doors of squad and platoon barracks, the monthly selections of "Political Discipline Pace-Setters" (政纪标兵) are displayed; each squad has a specially made political discipline desk calendar, and squad leaders regularly lead group study of cautionary slogans...
"Yu Jinsuo!" "Present!" "You are the 2,551st successor of the 'Model Company for Political Discipline'..." On the day of the visit, reporters also witnessed a distinctive company-entry ceremony. Five officers and soldiers newly joining the company stood proudly on the stage, wearing "Political Discipline Pace-Setter" sashes.
Reporters could not help but wonder—it was not yet time for new recruits to join units, so why was a company-entry ceremony being held now? Political instructor Gou, standing nearby, explained: in the "Model Company for Political Discipline," "joining the unit" (下连) does not mean "entering the company" (入连). Only those who perform outstandingly in all respects and are nominated and assessed by the company Party branch as "Political Discipline Pace-Setters" are formally awarded an honorary number and recognized as successors of the company.
A long string of honorary numbers carries the company's unbroken fine traditions, accompanying each step of growth along every officer's and soldier's military career.
III
On one wall of the company's "Cui Zhaosheng Squad" (崔兆生班), many certificates of merit and commendations are displayed. Above them, a display panel presents the main deeds of combat hero Cui Zhaosheng. Above the panel, a relief design bearing the words "As long as the person stands, the position stands" (人在阵地在) captures the spiritual core of this hero.
In the winter of 1950, Dead Eagle Ridge (死鹰岭) near the Chosin Reservoir was locked in ice and snow. In temperatures below minus 30 degrees Celsius, Cui Zhaosheng, then the company's deputy platoon leader, was ordered to lead the 5th Squad in holding the right flank position of the main peak of Hill 1419.2. Enemy forces carried out frenzied bombardment of our position, leveling the fortifications to the ground. Cui Zhaosheng and his comrades faced death with equanimity and held the position tenaciously, repelling the enemy's attacks again and again.
As the fierce battle continued into dusk, only Cui Zhaosheng remained on the position. Yet he still strictly executed the order to "hold the position," picked up a light machine gun, and fought on until he fell heroically in battle after firing the last round. After the battle, Cui Zhaosheng was posthumously recognized as a "Third-Class People's Hero" (三级人民英雄), and the squad he led was named the "Cui Zhaosheng Squad."
This was a heroic act of selfless sacrifice. Looking back on Cui Zhaosheng's deeds today, officers and soldiers feel not only awe, but also a deep resonance with loyalty and discipline.
A new soldier wrote in his diary: "Why were our predecessors able to hold on at Dead Eagle Ridge until the very last moment? Because they held in their hearts something more important than life itself. We have taken up the rifles of our predecessors, and we must even more so inherit their spirit."
That "spirit" (魂) is the fierce commitment (血性担当) of "as long as the person stands, the position stands"; it is the value pursuit of "discipline above life"; it is the loyal faith of "do whatever the Party says to do."
In the early hours of a day three years ago, temperatures plunged sharply, with heavy snow and bitter wind. Higher authorities organized a realistic combat exercise that day, and the company's reconnaissance squad, acting on orders, established an observation post to direct fire strikes and observe damage effects. The officers and soldiers lying in wait on the hilltop were so frozen that their hands and feet went numb and frost formed on their eyelashes. The observation equipment serving as the "eyes" of the artillery also began to ice over; once it failed, the entire combat system would be paralyzed.
The soldiers of the "Cui Zhaosheng Squad" unhesitatingly pulled open their jackets and tucked the observation equipment inside against their bodies. They used their body heat to fight the cold, held their combat positions in the wind and snow, and successfully directed the fire element to destroy an important "enemy" target. Reflecting on that experience, squad leader Liu Jiahao said: "Iron discipline makes our bones harder. What our predecessors could do, we must do too!"
Discipline is the lifeline of the military and the cornerstone of combat effectiveness. The company's officers and soldiers believe that every victory in the company's glorious combat history stems from conscious observance of discipline and resolute execution of orders; the future battlefield demands exquisite coordination between position and position, which makes it all the more inseparable from every officer's and soldier's strict observance of discipline.
In a confrontation exercise this year, one of the company's platoons was forced to relocate its position after coming under "enemy" fire, with only a few minutes remaining before the fire strike time set by higher authorities. Time is discipline. They raced against the clock, completed preparations through limit-pushing operations, and strictly implemented fire support according to plan, ensuring the main assault element's charge proceeded smoothly.
Discipline at the forefront, training with eyes fixed on actual combat. Over the past nearly three years, the company has performed outstandingly in skills competitions organized by higher authorities, successively winning first place in 17 events, with 10 individual instances of setting or breaking records.
The company has proven through more than 80 years of glorious history: a unit with strict discipline is a benchmark in peacetime and an iron fist in wartime. This is the immense power contained within iron discipline.