Micro-Documentary "Thought on Strengthening the Military Nurtures a New Generation" Records the Dream-Chasing Stories of Young Officers and Soldiers in the New Era

The political affairs micro-documentary "Thought on Strengthening the Military Nurtures a New Generation" records the dream-chasing stories of young officers and soldiers in the new era — The Power of Thought, the Answer Sheet of Growth

■ PLA Daily Reporters Xie Fei, Zhang Dongpan, Li Chen

Recently, the three-episode political affairs micro-documentary "Thought on Strengthening the Military Nurtures a New Generation," produced by the Political Affairs Department of the PLA News and Communication Center, swept across the entire internet, with major mainstream portal websites and news clients placing it at the top of their homepages.

From the ice-bound, snow-wrapped northern frontier, to the sunless depths of the ocean, to the vast sky where the "Kunpeng" spreads its wings — in the videos, three young officers and soldiers from different units speak in measured tones, recounting their stories of striving toward the light and chasing their dreams under the nourishment of Xi Jinping's Thought on Strengthening the Military (习近平强军思想).

The power of thought works silently, like a gentle rain, yet it always carves deep marks in the growth rings of one's life. Through the growth of these three young officers and soldiers, internet users have seen youth and the era resonating at the same frequency: Chairman Xi's navigation of the effort to strengthen the military has opened a new journey, profoundly reshaping what an army looks like, and shaping from the inside out the thinking and conduct of a generation of young officers and soldiers.

Wind, Snow, and Miles of Road — Blood Still Burning Hot

Arxan, Inner Mongolia: covered in ice and snow for eight months of the year, with minimum temperatures reaching minus 45 degrees Celsius.

Just after the Spring Festival of 2026, Arxan was still draped in silver and white when the production crew of "Thought on Strengthening the Military Nurtures a New Generation" arrived at an Army border defense company garrisoned there.

Twelve years ago, on the eve of the Spring Festival, Chairman Xi braved the bitter cold to inspect this company, warmly visiting and offering words of comfort to the border-defense officers and soldiers, and encouraging everyone to keep their duties firmly in mind, to press forward with continued effort, and to stand their posts, keep their watch, and guard the border well for the motherland.

At that time, one of the main subjects of this micro-documentary — Wu Jingwei, now the company commander — was still a young soldier with a face full of youthful inexperience.

"When we took the group photo, because I was quite young at the time, I kept nervously shrinking back. Chairman Xi gently patted my shoulder twice and said, 'Young man, come closer to me.'" The commander-in-chief's care and expectations inspired Wu Jingwei to take root at the frontier, train hard to build his skills, and grow from a young soldier into a border defense company commander.

How does one use the language of the camera to tell the story of twelve years of transformation? The production crew turned their lenses on that patrol route buried under waist-deep snow. Reporters struggled for half a day carrying their equipment, their toes already numb from the cold. And Wu Jingwei? He walked at the front of the formation, turned back, and flashed a grin — his eyes seeming to shine with a light. Over these years, Wu Jingwei and his comrades have set out on this patrol route more than 1,000 times, covering more than 30,000 kilometers, guarding the boundary markers for the motherland.

That same gleam appeared in the eyes of the documentary's other subjects as well: at a naval port dock, helmsman-signalman technician and First-Class Master Sergeant Wang Tongyan and his comrades stood ready in full gear, preparing to submerge and sail out once more; high above in the blue sky, a post-2000 pilot, Cui Chong, challenged difficult and dangerous training subjects again and again, piloting the "Kunpeng" to soar through the clouds.

"Higher than the mountains are the people; clearer than the water are the hearts of the soldiers." Through them, the reporters used their cameras to capture the most moving qualities of young officers and soldiers: a composure and resolve that far exceeds their years, a patriotic sentiment that shoulders the weight of the mission, and an original aspiration (初心) that, beneath the uniform and through the tempering of time, remains as fierce and burning as ever.

Lightweight Expression, Technology-Enabled

Is it worth waiting a long time for the perfect light and shadow of a single shot?

During the few-minute window of sunrise, a Y-20 slowly rolled out of the hangar, the morning light tracing its silhouette — for that one moment of golden radiance, the production crew waited two days.

An excellent micro-documentary demands that the most refined content be presented through the most extreme camera work. This means every frame must be meticulously crafted, and every detail pursued to the highest standard.

At a time when AI can generate cinematic special-effects shots in dozens of seconds, this series of micro-documentaries — insisting on being "hand-crafted" (手搓) and painstakingly polished — strives to present to audiences the hardships of the combat post (战位) and the growth of officers and soldiers in an authentic way. Although each episode's filming encountered different difficulties — freezing rain at the naval port made the submarine's hull slippery, the damp cold at the garrison caused lenses to fog up, and the cold at the frontier caused drones to "go on strike" — the reporters' hearts beat fervently alongside these young officers and soldiers the entire time, always ready to capture their most moving moments: candid shots of the young pilot's hawk-like gaze, conveying the self-confidence of young officers and soldiers through their resolve; the lens trained on frost-covered cold-weather face masks and densely packed handwritten annotations, letting the images "speak for themselves."

Seize the details, letting lightweight expression achieve great effect with little force (四两拨千斤); technology-enabled, making the visual impact more powerful. This micro-documentary employs multiple visual technology techniques to give the work a sense of the era's texture. In the second episode, "Dive Deep, Grow Upward," a hand-drawn animated boat by a child makes a light transition, transforming into a submarine cleaving through the waves, reflecting how the boat of dreams sets sail in the tide of the era. In the third episode, "'Chong' into the Clouds," a boy's paper airplane transforms into the Y-20 "big aircraft," carrying the dream of the blue sky.

The dream of youth, passing through the clouds, ultimately becomes the "Kunpeng" — this is one person's story of growth, but is it not also the story of a great transformation of an era?

From the Small to the Great, Perceiving Mighty Power

Thought may seem intangible, yet it changes an era. How can the power of thought be made visible? The answer lies not in hollow, rigid slogans, but in authentic and nuanced expression.

After "Thought on Strengthening the Military Nurtures a New Generation" went online, it received widespread attention across the entire internet, with total views rapidly surpassing 100 million. Internet users left comments in large numbers, saying the micro-documentary shows not only the awe inspired by the nation's major weapons systems, but more importantly the most endearing image of new-era soldiers nurtured by Xi Jinping's Thought on Strengthening the Military —

The soldier who once took a group photo with Chairman Xi at the outpost has grown into an outstanding grassroots troop leader, and has in turn trained batch after batch of young officers and soldiers who fear neither hardship nor cold;

A veteran squad leader with 29 years of military service has dived into the ocean again and again, dedicating the best years of his youth to the motherland's submarine cause, and his son has chosen to sit the entrance examination for a naval academy, continuing to guard the motherland's maritime frontier;

The flight cadet representative who reported to Chairman Xi chose, after graduation, to go to a front-line combat unit, becoming a post-2000 Y-20 pilot, piloting the "Kunpeng" on voyages of tens of thousands of miles, flying beyond the nation's borders.

The era shapes youth; youth does not fail the era.

"Their generation had to wait for equipment to arrive, whereas I was able to fly the 'big aircraft' right after graduation." This gratifying growth and inheritance is both a vivid footnote to the mighty power of thought and a qualified answer sheet submitted by the People's Army in the new era.

Where the camera points, there are the real faces of the grassroots; what the images carry is the subtle pulse of the era. This "sense of mission to record the era" (记录时代的使命感) is precisely what drove the production team not to give up in the face of so many difficulties.

The program was released on the occasion of Youth Day on May Fourth. Numerous internet users clicked "like" on their screens: "From the small to the great, it reflects the development of the Chinese military"; "In this era, young officers and soldiers complete a spiritual baptism and an ideological purification, their souls more pure and their conduct more hardened." These heartfelt evaluations have made the reporters deeply understand: only when ideological substance (思想性), artistic quality (艺术性), and technical capability (技术性) are fused together can a truly compelling work be created.

Thought, like a spring breeze bringing gentle rain — wherever there are seeds of youth, a forest will take root and grow. On the new journey of strengthening and revitalizing the military, the cameras of military journalists will continue to be trained on young faces, wholeheartedly telling the stories of their growth as they write the answer sheet of military strengthening with their youthful selves and their striving selves.

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