Song of Clean Conduct and Upright Spirit | To Stand Immovable Is Itself to Strike Like Thunder

On the night of May 13 this year, at the Capital Airport tarmac, the United States Air Force One slowly taxied across the apron, engines roaring, waves of hot air churning. Dozens of meters away, a ceremonial guard soldier on duty stood cast in iron, solemn and erect. Despite the thunderous noise filling his ears and the powerful wind buffeting his uniform, he did not move a single muscle from beginning to end. Foreign media reporters who witnessed the scene marveled on social media: '(He) didn't even blink.' The related video spread widely on social media, sparking heated discussion among netizens.

This motionless bearing is a microcosm of tens of millions of Chinese soldiers—a vivid expression of the confidence, composure, and resolve of a great nation's military.

In the roll of heroes of the People's Army, Qiu Shaoyun is one such immovable hero. In the battle in which he gave his life, he did not fire a single shot, did not destroy a single bunker, did not eliminate a single enemy. Yet the Volunteer Army headquarters posthumously awarded him a special-class merit citation and the title 'First-Class Hero,' on the grounds that 'Comrade Qiu Shaoyun strictly observed discipline and sacrificed himself for the sake of overall victory.'

In October 1952, the unit to which Qiu Shaoyun belonged was assigned the mission of attacking the United Nations forces' forward outpost positions west of Gimhwa. On the night of the 11th, more than 500 officers and soldiers lay concealed in the grass. On the morning of the 12th, the enemy fired reconnaissance incendiary rounds; one landed near Qiu Shaoyun's concealment position, immediately igniting the grass, and the fire rapidly spread to his body. Just behind Qiu Shaoyun was a drainage ditch—a single roll would have extinguished the flames and saved his life—but he kept firmly in mind the concealment discipline: 'If hit by artillery fire, do not move, do not cry out, do not call for help; maintain strict camouflage and do not fire at will; do not cough, do not speak.'

In the flames, Qiu Shaoyun quietly pushed his demolition charge to one side, pressed both hands deep into the earth, slowly lowered his head, and endured in silence the excruciating agony of burning alive until he died… A military expert said: 'Qiu Shaoyun's silence shook the enemy more than the charge of ten thousand troops.'

In the roll of heroes of the People's Army, there is also a collective that stands immovable: the 'Good Eighth Company.'

On May 27, 1949, amid the thundering artillery of Shanghai's liberation, the Eighth Company marched into the bustling Nanjing Road. Some ill-intentioned individuals dropped money, handkerchiefs, cigarettes, and other items as bait and secretly watched to see whether anyone would pick them up. The officers and soldiers of the Eighth Company did not move. From that point on, 'not moving' became the defining quality of this company.

Supply clerk Tang Yiwei bought 10 kilograms of celery on the street, for which the proper payment was 5 yuan. The vegetable seller, however, wrote him a receipt for 6 yuan, saying: 'I'll only collect 5 yuan now; come back next time.' Tang Yiwei firmly refused and demanded that a new receipt be written for the actual vegetable cost of 5 yuan.

At the entrance to Shanghai North Railway Station, soldier Zhang Lixin, while on duty, discovered that a man's luggage bag contained 'foreign cigarettes,' and led this 'profiteer' toward the industrial and commercial management office. Along the way, the man suddenly offered him several cartons of cigarettes and asked him to 'turn a blind eye.' Zhang Lixin was unmoved: 'You had better understand—I am a soldier of the Eighth Company!'

The officers and soldiers of the Eighth Company would not take a single fen of ill-gotten gains and would not be swayed by the slightest private interest, yet whenever the people encountered difficulties, they donated their meager allowances time and again. Comrade Mao Zedong praised them lavishly: 'Good Eighth Company, your fame spreads under heaven… Resist corruption, never be tainted… Discipline is firm, like a solid wall.'

Times change, battlefields change, but the immovable conduct (岿然不动的作风) is passed down in an unbroken line, expressing the true character of Chinese soldiers.

Facing provocation and attack from foreign forces, 'Defender of the Motherland, Border Hero Regimental Commander' Qi Fabao stood with chest thrust forward, arms spread wide, planting himself like a mountain, resolutely defending the nation's territory alongside soldiers arrayed in a wall of men. In the new era, countless such officers and soldiers stand guard at the frontier, stand firm at their posts, forging a wall of bronze and iron that safeguards national security.

For the military to be capable of fighting and winning wars, it needs the sharp edge of striking like thunder (动若雷霆). In fact, standing immovable and striking like thunder are precisely complementary to each other. Qiu Shaoyun's immovability in the flames was exchanged for the thunderous, earth-shaking general assault of hundreds of brave fighters; the Eighth Company's immovability in the face of temptation won the wholehearted praise of the people; the immovability of the border-defense officers and soldiers demonstrates the resolve and confidence to follow the Party's command and dare to fight and win.

Immovability stems from strict discipline; striking like thunder is achieved through iron-clad adherence to discipline (守纪如铁). Chairman Xi has emphasized that the military is the organization that places the greatest premium on discipline, and that strict discipline is an important source of combat effectiveness. By using iron regulations to reform the conduct of training, rectify the conduct of exercises, and tighten the conduct of operations—internalizing discipline in the heart and externalizing it in action—the People's Army will be able to stand firm, hold its ground, and win in the face of any complex and severe test.