Military Camp Observations | The "Heat Effect" on the Road to Seeking Roots
News Sample: "We Have Come Back Bearing the Battle Flag"
■ Huang Weiwei
Liyang, Jiangsu. The fields are lush and green, and the Tangma Battle Martyrs Monument stands tall and imposing. Not long ago, a "root-seeking detachment" (寻根小分队) from a unit of the Beijing Garrison Command entered Tangma Village to trace the combat footprints of revolutionary forebears.
"What did we once rely on to win battles, and what did we rely on to win the support of the people?" "As heirs to heroes, how should we carry on their spirit?" "After returning from the root-seeking trip, what should we tell the soldiers?" — These were the questions the unit's political instructors had been turning over in their minds before setting out. Only by thinking through and truly understanding these questions could they genuinely grasp the weight of being "heirs to heroes" and allow the red gene (红色基因) to flow into the blood of officers and soldiers.
Inside the Tangma Martyrs Memorial Hall, a photograph of New Fourth Army 16th Brigade Commander Luo Zhongyi and Political Commissar Liao Haitao taken on the eve of battle transported everyone back to that tragic and stirring era of struggle.
On a cold morning in November 1941, a bitter wind swept across the fields and smoke rolled over the embankments. More than 500 New Fourth Army soldiers formed up in Tangma Village to meet the enemy, launching a breakout battle of towering courage. Facing an encirclement by more than 3,000 Japanese and puppet troops, the soldiers of the New Fourth Army's 16th Brigade fought vastly outnumbered. When ammunition was exhausted and relief cut off, Brigade Commander Luo Zhongyi raised his arm and cried out: "Communist Party members, Youth League members, step forward — comrades, fight to the death with the enemy!" In the fierce battle that followed, Luo Zhongyi and Liao Haitao ultimately fell on the position, dying heroically for their country.
As the guide's heartfelt narration unfolded, the political instructors seemed to see before them the heroic figures of their forebears charging forward one after another in unyielding combat. Company Political Instructor Zhu Yongchao not only listened with exceptional attentiveness but took meticulous notes. In his view, he had to record every word of the explanation in full and bring it back to the unit intact, so that officers and soldiers could gain a deeper understanding of history.
Word spread that the officers and soldiers of the "root-seeking detachment" were coming, and local villagers gathered early, eager to see what had become of the heroic unit that had once fought so bloodily.
"Fellow villagers, we have come back bearing the battle flag!" the officers and soldiers reported with deep feeling to the locals at the forum. "We are the heirs of the New Fourth Army's 16th Brigade. Returning today to this red land, we want to tell everyone that we have not let down the trust our forebears placed in us. Last year, more than 30 of our members won gold and silver medals in higher-level military skills competitions, and we made an important contribution to flood-relief operations in our garrison area."
Decades have passed, yet the stories connected to the Tangma Battle have never stopped circulating locally. Today, seeing the bright and vigorous faces of the officers and soldiers, many of the village elders had tears glistening in their eyes. "Over the years, the memorial activities in the village have never been interrupted. The story of the New Fourth Army has been passed down from generation to generation here, all to ensure that the red spirit is carried on forever," said villager Liu Zhiqing.
Not only in Tangma Village: at Houzhou Primary School in Liyang, the Young Pioneers established the "Luo Zhongyi Squad" and the "Liao Haitao Squad," and General Wang Zhi — a participant in the battle — was engaged as an off-campus counselor for both squads. For more than 40 years, each cohort of squad members has served as a worthy "heir to heroes," consistently carrying out activities such as the Qingming Festival sweeping of the Tangma Martyrs Cemetery and listening to old heroes recount battle stories.
Red stories are like the growth rings of an old tree, recording the tenacity of a nation rising from suffering, and like seeds full of vitality, taking root and sprouting in the depths of memory across generations.
All along the way, the members of the "root-seeking detachment" found their hearts unable to settle for a long time. This heroic unit had been so glorious in the past; carrying forward the red bloodline is a mission and responsibility that officers and soldiers of the new era must firmly keep in mind.
"We will certainly carry forward the red spirit and, like our heroic forebears, dare to fight and be certain of victory." Before departing, the officers and soldiers solemnly presented a replica of the battle flag to the village Party secretary for display in the memorial hall. This was both a consolation to the fallen martyrs and a solemn pledge to continue passing on the red gene.
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Field Investigation: The "Heat Effect" on the Road to Seeking Roots
■ Sun Chengye, Huang Weiwei
[Photo caption: Officers and soldiers of a unit of the Beijing Garrison Command visit and study at the Museum of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression. Photo by Zhou Jiaxing.]
**Ardent Blood (热血) —**
**"What we have taken up from our forebears is not only their rifles, but the faith they guarded with their lives"**
As the lights-out bugle sounded, the bustling barracks gradually fell quiet. Peng Wugang, political instructor of the "Red Fourth Company" of a unit of the Beijing Garrison Command, was bent over his desk organizing the gains from a recent "root-seeking journey."
Old photographs from the revolutionary war era, precious materials from the archives, images of battlefield sites — Peng Wugang needed to convert these materials as quickly as possible into vivid education lessons, so that soldiers, in the process of learning history and reflecting on their founding aspirations (初心), could come to understand the core fighting spirit forged by their forebears in blood.
A few days later, in an education class, Peng Wugang showed officers and soldiers several Party membership application forms preserved in the Maoshan New Fourth Army Memorial Hall.
On the screen, a Party membership application form temporarily mimeographed in 1940 had long since yellowed. Its columns were simple: name, native place, education received, struggles participated in, personal history — no columns for "benefits" or "rank," yet at the top of the form were two resounding pledges: "Obey the organization, strictly guard secrets, never betray the Party" and "Sacrifice the individual, work actively, observe Party discipline."
The officers and soldiers in the audience did not yet fully understand what joining the Party meant in 1940 in the enemy rear areas of southern Jiangsu. In those circumstances, revolutionary forebears faced Japanese and puppet army "mopping-up" operations and betrayal by collaborators at any moment; once captured, torture and death awaited them. The forebears who joined the Party were not seeking promotion or wealth — they were joining the ranks fighting for national liberation. They gave their lives to the cause of the Party and the people.
In 1940 on Maoshan, many comrades who joined the Party may have picked up their rifles the moment they finished filling out their application forms, and stepped onto the battlefield the moment they finished taking their oath. More than 80 years have passed, yet those yellowed application forms still challenge our founding aspirations: today, why exactly do we join the Party?
Private First Class Xiao Wang bowed his head in shame upon hearing this history. Initially, he had felt that joining the Party was a great honor, and so he trained with exceptional diligence, earned recognition through outstanding performance, and was honored to join the Party organization. But measuring himself against the deeds of his forebears, he reflected that he had always harbored a reluctance to face danger when difficult or risky missions arose, and he resolved that in the future he must charge forward and take on responsibilities with courage, putting his founding aspirations into practice through concrete action.
Beyond this class, after the "root-seeking detachment" returned, the unit also arranged for political instructors to give a report-and-exchange session for all officers and soldiers, drawing on everything they had seen, heard, thought, and felt along the way.
Before the root-seeking trip, Company Political Instructor Zhu Yongchao had paused many times in the unit's honor room, holding a silent dialogue across time with revolutionary forebears. But actually setting foot on the ground where history had unfolded left him profoundly shaken. Villagers told him that on the slope where Brigade Commander Luo Zhongyi had fallen, rusted shell casings had been turned up on multiple occasions, and on the trunk of the old locust tree at the village entrance, marks left by shrapnel could still be seen. History was no longer a distant story but the real memory of the land beneath his feet. Moved deeply within, Zhu Yongchao felt the immense weight of the word "inheritance."
"Today, as heirs of the New Fourth Army, we pay you our highest respects. It was you who, at the moment of mortal peril, stepped forward without hesitation, guarded the peace of home and country with your burning blood, and with your lives forged a spiritual monument that will never be erased…" In the video, the detachment's officers and soldiers stood in neat formation facing the monument, paying heartfelt tribute to the martyrs.
At the report-and-exchange session, the officers and soldiers in the audience were also moved by the resounding declaration. "What we have taken up from our forebears is not only their rifles, but the faith they guarded with their lives. As heirs to heroes, only by treating every training session as a charge and every mission as a battle can we honor the wishes of our forebears and pass the red bloodline from generation to generation," said Sergeant Yan Bobo.
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**Ardent Passion (热情) —**
**"Restoring and reenacting the heroic deeds of our forebears is to draw closer to them — a little closer, and then a little closer still"**
"Swear to scale the city walls and take Taixing City!" The impassioned cry pierced through the stage smoke and struck hard at the heart of every officer and soldier present.
Not long ago, a cultural performance with the theme of carrying forward the red gene was staged at a unit of the Beijing Garrison Command, vividly recreating the unit's combat history of growth and battles fought across the country through stage plays, situational dramas, and other forms.
On stage, artillery fire struck again and again; the soldiers were repulsed multiple times as they tried to scale the walls, yet still they gritted their teeth and charged forward into danger. When the battle flag bearing its glorious burden was planted atop the city wall, the entire hall erupted in sustained applause.
During the period from scripting to creation and performance, the director's team and the core creative personnel carefully reviewed long-sealed historical battle records, drawing creative nourishment from them. While visiting the history museum, an old table bearing 51 bullet holes moved everyone deeply. It was a witness to the forebears who, under a hail of bullets, carved out the path of assault with their lives.
In order to present well the combat scene of "building a human ladder and scaling the walls to annihilate the enemy," the creative process went through multiple rounds of overhaul and reconstruction. Initially, the script's arrangement emphasized grand narrative, but the work lacked emotional power. To address this, Director Wang Dali spent the night reviewing the forebears' combat accounts and choreographed the "human-ladder assault" dance, depicting the revolutionary forebears' ultimate fighting spirit of "overcoming every difficulty without being overcome by any difficulty."
In order to restore the fearless bearing of forebears who faced death with equanimity, the participating officers and soldiers, wearing performance costumes soaked through with sweat, repeatedly practiced climbing and falling on the hard stage floor — and not one person complained of hardship or fatigue.
Sergeant Zhou Haokun, positioned at the very bottom of the "human ladder," had several deep purple pressure marks on his shoulders and found it difficult even to raise his arms. His comrades urged him to rest before continuing to practice, but he shook his head and said: "Back then, what our forebears carried on their shoulders was the lives of their comrades and the hope of taking the city. Compared to the responsibility they bore — a thousand, ten thousand times greater — what does a little pain like this amount to?"
Passion comes from understanding. Every time Sergeant Chen Xinyang rehearsed, he had to step on a comrade's shoulders and fall from the edge of the "city wall," yet he never once furrowed his brow. He wrote in his diary: "Standing beneath the 'city wall,' I came to understand the courage of our forebears — not that they were unafraid of death, but that knowing the danger, they still charged forward. Restoring and reenacting the heroic deeds of our forebears is to draw closer to them — a little closer, and then a little closer still."
Everyone understood in their hearts: back then, the forebears used flesh and blood to stop real bullets. If one cannot endure a few drops of sweat or a scraped knee, one cannot embody the true soul of a hero.
Understand the heroes. Chase the heroes. Become the heroes. On the competition ground of the all-military bayonet-fighting competition, soldier Wang Weiping's old wrist injury had gone numb from the impact. At the very instant his opponent seized on the opening and thrust forward with his rifle, a flash like lightning crossed Wang Weiping's mind: "Dare to fight and be certain of victory, courageous and tenacious (敢打必胜，勇猛顽强)." He gritted his teeth, abruptly dropped his center of gravity to evade the thrust, then immediately executed a self-invented technique he had drilled more than a hundred times, driving his rifle tip precisely onto the scoring point of his opponent's protective gear.
The whistle blew. Wang Weiping removed his face guard, and the sweat at his temple slid down along his brow. "First place, individual bayonet fighting!" When the result was announced, his gaze passed over the cheering crowd, as if he could see, more than 80 years ago, the figures of his forebears charging across that land.
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**Ardent Energy (热能) —**
**"As heirs to heroes, no matter how difficult or dangerous, we must charge to the front and hold the line — we must absolutely not let down the people's expectations"**
In this unit, every batch of new soldiers arriving at their companies is greeted with the "Three Firsts" (三个第一) induction education: the first thing they do is visit the honor room; the first class they attend is a red traditions class; and the first song they sing is a red song.
Private First Class Tang Le still remembers that on the day he set down his pack, the company instructor immediately took him to the company's honor room. "This is the root of our unit, and also your first lesson in military life," the instructor said, pointing to the photograph of martyr Dong Yuxiang on the wall and recounting with deep feeling the heroic story of how the forebear killed and wounded more than 30 enemies on the front line before finally dying a heroic death.
Then a traditional education class formally began. From the fire-and-smoke years when the unit was first formed, to the experiences of officers and soldiers in the new era shouldering heavy responsibilities, one glorious chapter of history after another let Tang Le understand what an "heroic unit" meant. In class, the squad leader taught everyone to sing "March Forward, Loyal Guardians" — a song passed down through generations of the unit's officers and soldiers. In the stirring melody of lines like "Fight bravely, fear no sacrifice, write our glory on the military flag," the "thermal energy" (热能) of the red gene gradually fused into the blood of officers and soldiers.
The young officers and soldiers carrying forward the red gene soon faced a major test. In July 2025, Beijing was struck by extreme heavy rainfall, and the unit's officers and soldiers responded to orders and immediately launched rescue and evacuation operations for the people. Throughout the operation, special situations arose frequently and dangers lurked everywhere, but nothing could stop the officers and soldiers from advancing toward danger in their rescue efforts.
"It's very slippery here — step on the top of my foot to get across!" After being washed by the rain, the mountain rocks were exceptionally slippery. Tang Le used his own foot as a stepping stone to let the people pass safely.
On the riverbank, officers and soldiers were soaked through by the rain; their feet had soaked white and their hands had developed blood blisters, yet they gritted their teeth and persisted. After 15 consecutive hours of combat, they moved and stacked more than 70,000 sandbags and successfully reinforced 4,860 meters of embankment, ensuring the safety of the lives and property of residents along the banks.
If anyone were to ask again whether "this generation of young people can shoulder the future," these soldiers — covered in mud, eyes shining with light — have already answered with their actions.
"From the revolutionary battlefield to the flood-relief front line, what changes is the battlefield environment; what does not change is the founding aspiration of loyal service to the people. As heirs to heroes, no matter how difficult or dangerous, we must charge to the front and hold the line — we must absolutely not (绝不) let down the people's expectations!" said Political Instructor Wu Xuesi.
The river murmured on, and one moving scene after another of unity between the military and the people quietly unfolded. The smoke of battle from more than 80 years ago has long since dissipated, but the stories engraved in the passage of time still carry the power to reach directly into the heart.
The inheritance of the red gene is both deeply planted in the hearts of officers and soldiers and woven into ordinary posts and positions. Not long ago, when higher authorities issued new equipment, Sergeant Liu Xiandong was the first to sign up for training.
However, the transition from sniper to operator of the new equipment was not easy. To close the gap, Liu Xiandong used his rest time to study instructional videos repeatedly, engraving the key points of each movement in his mind. But when it came to actual equipment operation, problems kept arising one after another, which inevitably left Liu Xiandong somewhat discouraged.
Momentary passion cannot sustain a prolonged charge; enduring strength lies in the roots of the spirit. Facing the pressure, Liu Xiandong thought of the heroic deeds of revolutionary forebears and silently resolved: in the revolutionary war era, the forebears held on to the very last moment for the Party's cause — he himself had to grit his teeth and hold on, and win honor for the team.
In the end, through day-after-day of diligent training, Liu Xiandong's accumulated effort bore fruit, and he achieved outstanding results in the assessment.
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Eyewitness Account: The Company's History Is Written by Us
■ Chen Zexin
[Photo caption: A unit of the Beijing Garrison Command organizes a live-fire shooting assessment. Photo by Shan Leijie.]
In the year I have served as company instructor, I have come to understand deeply: the depth to which the red gene is transmitted bears directly on the unit's cohesion and combat effectiveness. What we pursue is not to leave the company history sitting in the display cases of the honor room, but to allow the spiritual power contained within it to flow into the blood of officers and soldiers.
At the New Fourth Army Huangqiao Campaign Memorial Hall, the guide's heartfelt narration restored the scene of that time, as if one had personally witnessed every shot fired and every blade of grass in the battle. And the villagers of Tangma Village — the vast majority of them can recount the history of the Tangma Battle fluently. This familiarity with and enthusiasm for history is precisely what our company needs to draw on when transmitting its spirit; only by generating emotional resonance among officers and soldiers can we achieve the leap from "knowing" to "identifying."
"This photograph was taken when I participated in the military parade for the first time in 2019. On the training ground, I looked at the flag I was holding aloft and thought again of the scene of the Huangqiao Battle that the company instructor had described to me when I first enlisted. Our company's forebears fought tenaciously against the enemy for a full day and night — this spirit of fighting to the very end is something we must strive even harder to carry forward and develop." Wang Tao, now the company history narrator, has participated in two military parades; each time he marched with firm and powerful steps past Tiananmen Square, his heart was always stirred by the inspiring force of the company's historical honors.
From listener to practitioner, and then to narrator, Wang Tao's growth trajectory has made me ever more clearly aware: only by allowing officers and soldiers to find a sense of belonging and a sense of value in history, and by making everyone a part of the company's history, will inheritance truly become a conscious act.
Every officer and soldier is a writer of the company's history. Today, after officers and soldiers participate in major tasks and achieve outstanding results, they leave their mark in the company's honor room.
As instructor, I am both a transmitter of history and a builder of the company's development. In the future, I will continue to lead officers and soldiers to deepen their identification with the spirit through its transmission and promotion, and to innovate in practice. When the company song rings out, every officer and soldier's heart surges with passion; when the company flag unfurls, every person's eyes shine with light — these moments contain our inexhaustible driving force to press forward.
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Sharp Perspective: Why We Must Frequently "Look Back"
■ Wang Aidong
The red bloodline is not only the bond connecting past, present, and future, but also the spiritual code (精神密码) for forging the unity and soul of officers and soldiers at large. It carries the footprints of a century of struggle and nourishes the growth of generation after generation of officers and soldiers. For the armed forces, the red bloodline is the source of confidence. By carefully tracing the past, cherishing every red memory, and finding paths to cultivating people that are both close to the heart and practically effective, we can allow the light of history to illuminate the present.
The best education often occurs in the resonance of heart with heart. Whether feeling the founding aspiration of joining the Party from yellowed application forms, or reliving the glorious and arduous revolutionary years through situational dramas, or drawing the strength to forge ahead through self-reflection — education is no longer rigid and solemn, but full of the warmth of life and the texture of history. Static text becomes vivid story; abstract spirit becomes vigorous inner drive. Officers and soldiers temper their thinking by looking back at history, improve themselves by measuring themselves against their forebears, enhance their capabilities through realistic training, and transform profound insights into the ability to win battles — allowing red education to truly enter the heart and take effect in action.
And this inheritance is not the work of a single morning or evening; it requires us to cultivate it in a normalized, sustained manner (常态化深耕): making "red root-seeking" a "required course" for officers and soldiers to replenish their spiritual calcium, and through visiting old sites and touching historical artifacts, bringing history "alive" in an immersive experience; making "recounting the stories of heroes and models" a "fixed action" in daily education, so that those vivid heroic figures step out of the display cases of memorial halls and become examples that everyone around can feel and emulate.
When the historical baton is passed into the hands of a new generation of officers and soldiers, this inheritance is no longer merely a ritual, but a soul-stirring relay. Officers and soldiers of the new era must transform the warmth drawn from the depths of history into the courage to hack through thorns and brambles; they must forge the faith that their forebears upheld in desperate circumstances into the unyielding tenacity that refuses to yield in training and war preparation. Every sweat-drenched training session in preparation for war, every instance of volunteering for a mission, is a manifestation of the red gene quietly fusing into the bloodstream. This is the finest consolation to the fallen martyrs, and the firm and resounding footfall of a heroic unit advancing toward the goal of a strong military (强军目标).