Special Issue on Building the Military Through Politics · Forged in Fire: Pure Love, Only for China

Pure Love, Only for China

■ Yang Yue

Above the plateau, the sky is crystalline blue, and the snowline stretches endlessly. Traveling south along National Highway 219, the Xinzang Road, a succession of blue road signs has branded this barren land with names that stir the heart—

Xiangrong Bridge, Pingnan Bridge, Siyuan Bridge, Yanjin Bridge, Zhuoran Bridge, Luohe Bridge, Red Army Bridge, Liangdang Bridge…

In October 2022, under the coordination and promotion of the Xinjiang Military Region Party Committee, 11 bridges officially completed construction—each named after a martyr who died defending the border or after the martyr's hometown—becoming a striking new landmark on the Karakoram Plateau. In the Kangxiwa Martyrs' Cemetery along the Xinzang Line, beside more than a hundred martyrs who gave their lives on the high-altitude frontier, four graves bearing the names Chen Hongjun, Chen Xiangrong, Xiao Siyuan, and Wang Zhuoran have written a new footnote to the People's Army's unbroken tradition of sacrifice.

Before them lies the battlefield; behind them lies the motherland. In the Galwan River Valley—sheer cliffs hewn as if by blade and axe, river water cold enough to cut to the bone—a figure standing with arms spread wide, unyielding as a monument, speaks volumes of the border soldier's "pure love."

A military victory has never been won without sacrifice. Since the era of revolutionary war, more than 20 million martyrs have fallen, and the vast majority cannot even be identified by name. For the motherland, for the people, for victory—the People's Army has carved the fine tradition of fearless sacrifice and selfless dedication into its very genes, fused it into its bloodline.

At the gathering celebrating the 90th anniversary of the founding of the People's Liberation Army, Chairman Xi profoundly observed: "Without indomitable will, without the quality of daring to sacrifice, even the finest weapons and equipment cannot guarantee victory. Generation after generation of revolutionary soldiers have relied precisely on the heroic resolve to advance toward death in order to live—and from this they forged the great spirit of overwhelming all enemies while absolutely refusing to be subjugated by them."

From the wartime willingness to face a hail of bullets and consecrate one's life to the nation, to the peacetime solitary perseverance far from the bustle of civilization and the silent, unheralded toil, to the readiness on the new journey of military strengthening to step forward and shoulder the mission in the face of risks and challenges—the years turn, but the spiritual character of the People's Army has never changed. "Pure love, only for China" has long since transcended a single oath and become the spiritual coordinates embedded in the soul of every Chinese soldier.

I

How much hot blood must be shed to write a soldier's poem of sacrifice?

Looking back from the oath "pure love, only for China" to the birth of the People's Army, this kind of sacrifice has never been a stranger—once it was called "giving one's head and spilling one's blood," once it was called "more spirit than steel," and once it was called "fear neither hardship nor death (一不怕苦，二不怕死)." To press forward without hesitation for the sake of victory—this is the truest face of the People's Army, forged in the fires of war.

American veteran Mac Callahan has never forgotten the image of one Chinese soldier.

More than 70 years ago, during the Battle of Triangle Hill (上甘岭), 23-year-old Mac Callahan was advancing with his unit when he saw that across the entire Chinese People's Volunteer Army position, only this one soldier remained alive—"He had his back against a tree trunk riddled with shell fragments and bullets, his eyes filled with hatred, his mouth shouting ceaselessly in words no one could understand."

Suddenly, someone in the American ranks noticed: "He's carrying a radio!" At that moment, a torrent of artillery shells poured down onto the position, and everyone present was blown away in an instant. Mac Callahan lost a leg but survived. Fifty-six years later, when he recounted this story to a visiting Chinese business delegation, a Chinese journalist in the group finally answered the question that had puzzled him for half a lifetime.

"He was saying, 'Commanders and comrades, open fire on me! For victory, open fire on me!'" Mac Callahan asked, bewildered: "How do you know?" "Not only do I know—all of the Chinese people know." At that moment, every Chinese person present had tears in their eyes.

Just like Wang Cheng in the film Heroes' Sons and Daughters (《英雄儿女》), who shouts "Open fire on me!"—such heroes were by no means rare on the battlefield of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. According to statistics, among the 50 first-class combat heroes of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army, more than 10 died together with the enemy.

"Why is the battle flag so beautiful as a painting? It was dyed red by the blood of heroes…" The nameless hill in that film quietly overlaps with the many geographic coordinates branded into the memory of the nation; Wang Cheng's figure, fearless in the face of death, slowly merges with one familiar face after another—

That is the bone-piercing cold of minus 40 degrees Celsius at the Chosin Reservoir; it is Qiu Shaoyun enduring the raging flames of an incendiary bomb at more than 300 degrees Celsius; it is the unrelenting rain of fire on Songgu Peak, and the smell of blood rushing like a wind into one's face… Medic Wang Qingzhen remembered the scene after Huang Jiguang's death: "His blood had all drained out, sticking to his clothes; the back of his spine had been shot through."

"Do you know what it means to be blown to pieces?" Years later, Lü Pin—who had served as deputy political commissar of the 447th Regiment, 149th Division, 50th Army of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army—still could not forget: "Our 5th Company's deputy company commander, Dai Xueyou, was killed by a heavy bomb. The soldiers wanted to find his body, but they couldn't find a piece of flesh even the size of a fist…"

According to historical records, among the Volunteer Army martyrs honored with special meritorious service or above, there were 44 "Yang Gensi-type" heroes who "fell together with the enemy, burned together with the enemy," and 6 "Huang Jiguang-type" heroes who used their bodies to block enemy gun emplacements. General Van Fleet—the American commander who expended the "Van Fleet load" of ammunition at Triangle Hill—assessed the Volunteer Army officers and soldiers he faced in these terms: "They had no flak jackets, no steel helmets… they carried a few crudely made grenades… but they always fought forward, with utter disregard for their lives."

Wading through rivers sealed under ice and snow, advancing into the blaze of guns and artillery, stepping over the bodies of fallen comrades. Bugle calls that stirred the fighting spirit sent chills through the enemy; battle flags riddled with bullet holes flew over the positions… On the battlefield, one eternal moment after another, tempered in blood and fire, ultimately became indelible memories in the history of the People's Army.

When Chairman Xi discussed the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea with Kissinger, Kissinger marveled: China's forces lacked logistical support and air cover, their equipment was so inferior, and yet they somehow did not "lose." Chairman Xi replied: "What we relied on was a kind of revolutionary fighting spirit. Our soldiers were not afraid of you. No matter what weapons you had, they dared to fight you."

The red bloodline of the People's Army was forged by the blood of sacrifice; the invincibility of the People's Army was upheld by the blood of sacrifice—

"When victory comes, please do not forget us." In 1930, Qiu Guhuai—who had set out from Jiangxi on an expedition to the East River region of Guangdong after the Nanchang Uprising—wrote these words as his final testament before his execution.

During the Long March of the Red Army, on the stretch from the Yajiaxue Mountains to Heishui alone, nearly ten thousand soldiers of the First and Fourth Front Armies perished; "their burial mounds were quickly covered by snow."

To resist the Japanese invaders, the soldiers of the Northeast Anti-Japanese United Army trudged through frozen rivers and snow-covered wilderness in cotton-padded uniforms torn to rags by tree branches. Some soldiers simply leaned against a tree to rest for a moment, cradling their rifles, and never opened their eyes again.

In 1948, new recruit Wang Yanyun took part in the Jinan Campaign and was ordered to deliver more than 160 steamed buns to the front line, only to find that the entire company had fewer than a dozen men left. The head cook could not help but crouch on the ground and weep: "Our comrades all went hungry!"

Pressing into the zone forbidden to life, the advance detachment entering Tibet planted the national flag on a snow-covered peak where no human foot had trodden. Among them, some stopped breathing in the middle of a song; some buried their comrades only to collapse on the return journey. On the worst single day, the company held funerals for 11 comrades.

The heavy frost is all the blood of the heart, scattered across a thousand peaks to dye the autumn leaves red. From the Xiang River stained crimson, to the iron-burning battle of Liulaozhuang; from Pingxingguan, where "when the platoon leader fell the squad leader took over, when the squad leader fell the soldiers took command," to the Karakoram, where "the battalion commander saved the regimental commander, the soldiers saved the battalion commander, the squad leader saved the soldiers"—time and the mountains and rivers bear witness: it is precisely these earth-shaking acts of sacrifice that have shaped the People's Army's "invincible strength."

When we put the question to history—where, ultimately, does this courage to advance toward death in order to live come from?—the answer lies hidden in these mountains and rivers watched over in common devotion, hidden in this deeply beloved land.

"The great achievements they established for the nation and the people will be recorded in history forever! Their noble spirit will forever be inscribed in the hearts of hundreds of millions of people!" On July 1, Chairman Xi delivered an important speech at the gathering celebrating the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, expressing deep remembrance for the revolutionary martyrs and patriots who gave their lives one after another for national independence, the liberation of the people, national prosperity, and the happiness of the people.

Refined through the passage of years, the spirit of sacrifice flowing through the bloodline of the People's Army has remained clear and unwavering from the very beginning.

II

"Behind you lies a magnificent land, you said not an inch would be yielded / Even if you could only spread open two hands, you would build a wall / Behind you lies the great motherland, it is she who gave you steadfast conviction, it is she who gave you boundless strength…"

When we gaze upon the silhouette of the hero and contemplate the source of that pure love's power, the answer has already been written on the surface: every sacrifice and act of dedication is for the beloved motherland.

Soviet woman writer Kozhukhova said: "A soldier's strength lies not only within himself… but also in the ancient land where he grew up, in the history formed over many years that he inherited from his forebears." The resolute choice to cast aside life and death, to set aside personal gain and loss, ultimately originates in the ultimate question of "for whom do we sacrifice" and "for whom do we fight."

— This sacrifice originates in the original aspiration of ideals and convictions.

As Chairman Xi has said: "Revolutionary victory never fell from the sky, nor was it handed over by others; it was won through bloodshed and sacrifice." From the gunshots that pierced the dark night above Nanchang, to the red flags unfurling across the open fields of the Autumn Harvest Uprising; from the prairie fire ignited on Jinggang Mountain, to the unyielding military soul defined at the Gutian Conference—the People's Army, personally founded by the Communist Party of China, from the day of its birth raised the lofty ideal of "smashing the old world and building a new China." The loyal character of heeding the Party and following the Party forged the bedrock of faith for the sacrifice and dedication of revolutionary soldiers.

During the Long March, her father died of illness, her elder brother was killed in battle, and her younger sister died in infancy. Thirteen-year-old Deng Xiuying strapped her six-year-old brother on her back and gritted her teeth to keep pace with the troops. In Tongjiang County, Bazhong, Sichuan, no fewer than twenty thousand people followed the Red Army as entire families. A captured Nationalist officer once marveled: "You truly have a doctrine! If you had no fixed goal of serving the nation and the people, why would these old men, children, and women follow you for more than twenty thousand li? Could it be that Xu Teli, Lin Zuhan, Deng Yingchao, Cai Chang, and the others came along because they had nothing to eat?"

During the War of Resistance Against Japan, squad leader Ma Baoyu of the "Five Heroes of Langya Mountain," just before leaping from the cliff, took out a small notebook, placed it on his knee, and hastily wrote letters of introduction to the Party for three comrades who had not yet joined.

Before the Battle of Liulaozhuang, one soldier wrote an application to join the Party under fire: "At the moment the Party needs me most, I will dedicate my life to the Party and the people. I will absolutely not disgrace our Party, absolutely not disgrace the Chinese nation!"

General Zuo Quan wrote in a letter to his uncle: "I have sacrificed all my personal happiness to struggle for my cause. Please believe that this road is bright and great."

Because they carried faith in their hearts, they dared to sacrifice. When Chairman Xi visited the Memorial Garden of the Red Army's Long March Battle of the Xiang River, he said: "Revolutionary ideals are higher than heaven; once the fire of ideals and convictions is lit, it produces an enormous spiritual force." According to research, the earliest Party membership oath with extant physical evidence contains only 24 characters, beginning with "sacrifice the individual (牺牲个人)." To this day, we still write "be ready at all times to sacrifice everything for the Party and the people" in the oath of Party membership.

American journalist Harrison Salisbury wrote in The Long March: The Untold Story: "This legendary sacrifice and indomitable spirit is the foundation on which the Chinese revolution succeeded. The Chinese revolution will draw inexhaustible strength from these legendary stories of struggle and sacrifice." Following the Party's footsteps, the People's Army exchanged sacrifice for liberation, hot blood for new life, and laid a solid foundation for revolutionary victory.

Absolute loyalty to the Party is the founding principle and the soul of military strengthening for the People's Army, and it is also the source of confidence that enables revolutionary soldiers to willingly sacrifice and selflessly dedicate themselves. As new-era revolutionary soldiers, only by holding firm convictions and maintaining a pure original aspiration, and by seeing clearly the fundamental question of "for whom do we serve, for whom do we dedicate ourselves, for whom do we sacrifice," can we avoid retreating in the face of hardship and difficulty, and avoid losing our way when confronted with choices of advance or retreat.

— This sacrifice originates in a value choice that transcends the individual self.

Not falling behind when facing a dangerous pass, not retreating when facing artillery fire, not surrendering when facing a desperate situation… For ordinary people, each of these choices runs counter to an instinct innate to human beings. But there is a group of people who have turned these "counter-instinctive" choices into instinct. Li Dazhao once said: "The purpose of life is to develop one's own life, but there are also times when life must be sacrificed in order to develop life. Because ordinary development sometimes cannot extend the resonance and radiance of life as much as a magnificent sacrifice."

In 1928, revolutionary martyrs Chen Jue and Zhao Yunxiao, husband and wife, were separately arrested by the enemy. At the time, Zhao Yunxiao was four months pregnant. In his farewell letter to his wife, Chen Jue wrote: "Yun! Who has no father or mother, who has no sons or daughters, who has no loved ones! We are sacrificing everything precisely in order to rescue the fathers and mothers, wives and children of all the Chinese people. Though we die, our unfulfilled aspirations will be carried forward by comrades who have not died." Shortly thereafter, Chen Jue died heroically, at the age of 25.

Because she was pregnant, Zhao Yunxiao's execution was postponed. On a day in February of the following year, she gave birth to a daughter in prison and named her "Qiming" (启明, meaning "dawn star"). In March of that year, Zhao Yunxiao went calmly to her death, at the age of only 23.

The writer Lessing once assessed heroes in these terms: "In their actions they are extraordinary people; in their emotions they are truly human." This weighing of life against righteousness runs through the finite lives of Chinese Communists and Chinese soldiers, and has forged the People's Army into something incomparably strong.

In the years of war and fire, they abandoned the small self to achieve the greater self, exchanging the most magnificent sacrifice for a land at peace and a nation secure. As the times changed and the smoke of battle cleared, new-era Chinese soldiers still guard the spiritual flame of self-sacrifice for the nation, passing the heroic spirit of sacrifice and dedication from generation to generation.

This past April marked the tenth anniversary of the death of carrier-based aircraft pilot Zhang Chao. Because of the choice he made in the final moment of his life, Zhang Chao became a hero in the eyes of the world. But his wife Zhang Ya has always remembered that when she asked him whether he feared death, Zhang Chao answered her: "Who doesn't fear death? But people like us are people who are ready at every moment to sacrifice for the motherland."

Someone once said that a person's greatest contribution is to transform individual action into national action, and ultimately into historical action. Once, in the hearts of Zhang Chao and his comrades, they were just a group of ordinary pilots, ordinary soldiers. Later, this "ordinary" person, by throwing himself into a great cause and making a great choice, achieved the extraordinary of a soldier. And generation after generation of "ordinary" Chinese soldiers, by virtue of this spirit of sacrifice that time has never altered, have achieved the greatness of an army.

— This sacrifice originates in the fundamental purpose of putting the people first.

When the heroic deeds on the Karakoram spread across the mountains and rivers of the motherland along with the words "pure love, only for China," a comment left by one internet user moved many Chinese people: "I eat white rice and drink soda, and I cannot understand why these strong and healthy officers and soldiers would die. I woke up in the middle of the night and suddenly realized: they died for me."

For whom does this army charge forward? For whom does it cast aside life and death?

White-haired Korean War veteran Ling Xingzheng, his voice choked with emotion, gave the answer: "For whom did I come to fight, for whom did I shoulder the gun? For fathers, for mothers, for the liberation of the people. When the people are liberated, I am liberated."

There has never been an army in the world that has thrown itself into fire and water for the interests of the people in this way.

The documentary From Victory to Victory (《从胜利走向胜利》) contains this detail: the renowned commander Dong Zhentang led the Red Fifth Army Corps in the rearguard action during the Long March. Once, when the unit had completed its blocking mission and was preparing to withdraw, word came that a woman in the women's detachment was in labor and hoped the unit could hold on a little longer. Someone worried this would cost more lives; Dong Zhentang gave the decisive order: "Keep fighting, hold the enemy!" He said: "What are we fighting this revolution for? Isn't it for the children, for tomorrow?!"

In November 1942, more than 300 officers and soldiers of the Eighth Route Army, in order to cover the breakout of the Shandong Military Region headquarters and some civilians, fought a bloody battle against more than 8,000 Japanese troops at Duigu Mountain in Yishui County, repelling more than 10 enemy attacks. More than 300 officers and soldiers mostly died heroically; the remaining 14 warriors, out of ammunition and food, refused to be taken prisoner, and under the leadership of Battalion Commander Yan Yulin, destroyed their weapons and leapt together from the cliff.

Serving the people wholeheartedly is the fundamental purpose of the People's Army and the underlying logic of soldiers' sacrifice and dedication. Our army has always been bound to the people by flesh and blood, sharing life and death; for the people it can be incomparably strong, and for the people it can sacrifice everything.

From the revolutionary era to the years of peace, the People's Army has always upheld the conviction of "I will efface myself and not fail the people (我将无我，不负人民)," carving the names of the people's sons and daughters deep into the mountains and rivers of the motherland.

Who can forget: amid the surging muddy waves of the Yangtze River, 20-year-old "flood-fighting hero" Li Xiangqun cast his young life into the flood-control levee. Who can forget: above the rubble of collapsed Wenchuan, 15 paratroopers had already written their wills and launched a blind jump of uncertain life or death. Fighting ice and snow, battling typhoons, fighting flood crests, combating the epidemic… Over the past several decades, no matter what disaster has struck, the words "when the PLA comes, the people's hearts are settled" have always been the expectation and call of the people, and also the unflinching responsibility and commitment of the People's Army.

Being rooted in the people, serving the people, and protecting the people—this is the warmest and most enduring source of strength for new-era revolutionary soldiers as they carry forward the spirit of sacrifice and dedication.

III

A strong nation must have a strong military; only with a strong military can the nation be secure. National security is the foundation of national rejuvenation, and the sacrifice and dedication of soldiers is the shield of national security.

Although nearly a hundred years have passed, new-era Chinese soldiers still use their bodies as stones to build the barrier that defends the nation and the people—that is the levee built of flesh and blood by flood-fighting officers and soldiers in the surging Yangtze; it is the track of Wang Wei piloting "81192" forward without hesitation across the vast sea and sky; it is the love of the border guards, purer even than the snow of the Karakoram Mountains…

On the eve of the September 3rd parade in 2025, a new-media video titled Never Forget (《永不忘》) turned its lens on the parade training ground of the Army formation, letting us see the solemn oath of today's People's Army as it carries forward the spirit of sacrifice of its forebears—

"Liulaozhuang Company," "Yanmenguan Ambush Battle Hero Company," "Diamond Drill," "Tiger Regiment"… As the names of one heroic unit after another were called out in the ranks standing in neat formation, today's heirs of the heroes stood tall and answered the call. With the loudest voices they could produce, they responded to the hot blood of the anti-Japanese war martyrs that stained the pages of history, writing a new-era chapter in the People's Army's tradition of sacrifice and dedication.

Chairman Xi has pointed out: "The military is meant to fight wars; to fight wars one must look the part, and that means fearing neither hardship nor death. The spirit of 'two fears not (两不怕)' was, is, and will forever be our precious spiritual wealth." To this day, we still do not lack people willing to give their lives for the motherland and the people—

Twenty-two-year-old Liu Jingtai, to fight Typhoon "Nepartak" and rescue the people, cast his life into the merciless rushing floodwaters; twenty-two-year-old Cheng Junhui died heroically while carrying out a border demining mission—at the moment of his death, he was still gripping the mine fuze he had just removed; twenty-nine-year-old Shen Liangliang remained forever in a distant foreign land, on the peacekeeping battlefield for which he had struggled, exchanging the last 37 seconds of his life for the safety of his comrades…

Just this past January, 26-year-old veteran Jin Chenglong, to rescue people who had fallen into the water, leapt into the bone-chilling icy water and never came back up. This young man, in his final charge after taking off his uniform, fulfilled a soldier's solemn promise to the people, and was posthumously awarded the 2026 China Youth May Fourth Medal.

The martyrs, looking back, should smile with relief—those who carry the banner forward are already here.

In his important speech at the gathering commemorating the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, Chairman Xi pointed out: "The People's Liberation Army is always a heroic force that the Party and the people can completely trust and rely upon."

Different eras confer different missions and tasks upon soldiers, and also confer different era-specific connotations upon sacrifice and dedication. In the era of war and fire, the core of sacrifice and dedication was to stop war with war, to save the nation from extinction, to exchange lives for national independence; in the period of peaceful construction, the core was to guard the territory and secure the nation, to safeguard peace, to use steadfast perseverance to defend national stability; in the new era of national and military strengthening, the global order is undergoing profound adjustment, security risks are spreading across all domains, and the form of warfare is iterating and upgrading—the connotation of soldiers' sacrifice and dedication continues to expand, with the emphasis on escorting national rejuvenation, defending national sovereignty, protecting the happiness of the people, and supporting the great cause of military strengthening.

The tranquility of peaceful days cannot be separated from those who carry heavy burdens and press forward. In peacetime, there are no brutal battles shrouded in gunsmoke, rarely the magnificent choices of a single life-or-death instant, yet there is the silent perseverance, day after day. Border defense officers and soldiers brave wind and snow to guard the nation's frontiers; naval vessels conduct far-sea patrols to defend the blue national territory and overseas interests; Air Force eagles temper their swords in the long sky to build a security barrier in the air and space domains; Rocket Force officers and soldiers lie in wait deep in the mountains, forging the great nation's shield…

A veteran soldier with more than 30 years of service, who spent half his life rooted in the mountains, devoted himself body and soul to the cause of national defense, working selflessly. When others asked him: "After all these years, you're still just a soldier—do you have any regrets?" he answered calmly: "As long as the unit needs me, I am willing to be a soldier for the rest of my life."

From obeying the overall situation in unit relocations, organizational restructuring, and position reassignments, to painstaking breakthroughs in new equipment research and testing, new tactics research and training, and exploration of new domains; from the constant perseverance of high-intensity combat-realistic training and round-the-clock combat readiness duty, to the self-revolution of discarding the accumulated ills of peacetime and breaking through fixed patterns of thinking—every advance and every breakthrough in the new-era cause of military strengthening is inseparable from the quiet dedication and selfless contribution of the broad ranks of officers and soldiers. Countless officers and soldiers are rooted at the grassroots level, holding fast to their combat positions, and training hard to build their capabilities; through individual sacrifice and dedication, they are driving the transformation and development of the force and the iterative upgrading of combat power, injecting inexhaustible momentum into the timely achievement of the goal of the centenary of the founding of the army.

Chairman Xi has pointed out: "At present, the once-in-a-century changes in the world are accelerating, the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation has entered a critical period, the risks and challenges we face have increased markedly, and it is unrealistic to always want to live peaceful days and be unwilling to struggle. We must discard illusions, be courageous in struggle, yield not an inch on matters of principle, yield not an inch of territory, and with a strength of will unprecedented in history, safeguard national sovereignty, security, and development interests." Today, strategic opportunities and risks and challenges coexist, and uncertain and hard-to-predict factors are multiplying; the sacrifice and dedication of soldiers is no longer merely an individual moral choice, but a strategic requirement for serving the national interest and supporting national rejuvenation. The more this is the case, the more we need to step forward with courage and commitment, and the more we need to preserve that heroic fighting spirit (英雄血性).

The tombstones of the Kangxiwa Martyrs' Cemetery stand silent; the mountains and rivers of the Galwan River Valley bear witness. Standing before Xiao Siyuan's tombstone, soldiers of the "Xiao Siyuan Squad" once said to him: "Squad leader, every ridge you walked I have walked; I have already followed every footstep you left. Your comrades and I are here—rest easy."

As batch after batch of new soldiers sing of "pure love" and rush toward the plateau, we are absolutely certain: this indomitable spirit of daring to sacrifice, this patriotic devotion of a son of the motherland (赤子情怀) with a heart set wholly on serving the nation—will forever be transmitted through the red bloodline of the People's Army.