On the 99th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Liberation Army | Walking with the People, Walking with Victory
Special Feature for the 99th Anniversary of the Founding of the People's Liberation Army: Walking with the People, Walking with Victory
Ninety-nine years ago, the sound of gunfire over Nanchang announced the beginning of the Chinese Communist Party's independent leadership of armed struggle and marked the moment the Chinese people came to possess an army of their own. This people's armed force, born amid the flames of war, planted its roots deep in the fertile soil of the people from its very inception: during the Agrarian Revolutionary War, the army and the people forged ahead through hardship and depended on each other through life and death; during the War of Resistance Against Japan, they shared the same hatred of the enemy and jointly resisted foreign aggression; during the War of Liberation, they joined hands and stood united as one. By taking deep root among the people and relying firmly on the people, the People's Army has advanced from victory to victory.
As the People's Army marks its 99th founding anniversary, looking back on the magnificent journey traveled hand in hand by the army and the people, one unshakeable truth shines bright: the roots of the People's Army are planted deep in the vast earth of the people. When the army and the people are united as one, who in the world can stand against them?
—The Editors
[Caption] The "Half a Quilt" themed sculpture in Shazhou Village, Rucheng County, Hunan Province. Photo by Zhu Guihua.
[Caption] A "My Shazhou Journey" red study tour jointly organized by military and civilian authorities in Rucheng County, Hunan Province. Photo by Ou Zhimin.
Rucheng County, Hunan Province
"Half a Quilt," Sharing Warmth and Cold
■ Deng Shengxiang; Li Liangliang, Special Correspondent, PLA Daily
In the height of summer, all things flourish. On Baizhang Ridge at the southern foot of the Luoxiao Mountains, a mountain path winds and twists through towering peaks. Setting out from Yanshou Yao Ethnic Township in Rucheng County, Hunan Province, and traveling more than 20 kilometers to Wenming Yao Ethnic Township, the mountain road strings together several red villages including Guanheng, Tongcheng, Dongshan, Xiushui, Shazhou, and Wenshi. As the summer holiday begins, cadres and ordinary people from across the country arrive in an unbroken stream to retrace the Long March route.
The first stop on the Long March route is Guanheng Village, the site of the Battle of Qingshizhai—the landmark battle in which the Central Red Army broke through the second blockade line during the Long March.
In November 1934, the Red Army's advance forces arrived at Guanheng Village. Though short on food and medicine, the officers and soldiers maintained strict discipline and did not take so much as a needle or thread from the people. At the suggestion of local notable Hu Side, villagers pooled together 105 dan of rice, 3 pigs, and 12 chickens, which young and able-bodied men carried and drove to the Red Army command post. Ye Zuling, the quartermaster of the 3rd Red Army Corps, wrote an IOU, promising to honor it after the revolution's victory. Hu Side hid the IOU inside the wall of his kitchen and never mentioned it to his family. It was not until 1996, when his grandson discovered it by chance, that this moving story came to light.
That same month, at Shazhou Village in Wenming Yao Ethnic Township at the other end of the mountain road, three female Red Army soldiers lodged at the home of an elderly woman named Xu Jiexiu. Seeing that the old woman's home was bare and that she did not even have a proper quilt, they cut their only quilt in half and left one half for her when they departed.
In 1984, a journalist retracing the Long March heard this story from the elderly Xu Jiexiu. From that point on, "Half a Quilt" became a symbol of the Party and the People's Army sharing the same joys and hardships with the masses—what is the Communist Party? The Communist Party is made up of people who, even when they have only one quilt, will cut it in half to give to the common people.
More than 90 years later, revisiting this place, the old has given way to the new. On both sides of the mountain road, local people have planted specialty fruits; the hills and fields are filled with the fragrance of fruit, and laughter rings out one after another.
In recent years, with support from higher authorities, Rucheng County established the Red Shazhou 4A-level scenic area and developed the Qingshizhai core exhibition zone of the National Long March Cultural Park. Riding the favorable winds of joint military-civilian support for red tourism development, Song Huisheng, a 56-year-old villager from Yanshou Yao Ethnic Township, opened a specialty guesthouse centered on red cultural elements.
"When I was a child, I often heard villagers tell stories about the Red Army. Later, the soldiers came to pair up with us for assistance, and our lives got better and better. This kindness must never be forgotten," said Song Huisheng.
"Seeing cadres and ordinary people come here to trace the history of the Red Army, we are greatly inspired," said Zhang Xusheng, an officer of the Political Work Office of the Chenzhou Military Sub-district, Hunan Province. In recent years, the military sub-district and the Rucheng County People's Armed Forces Department have selected staff to live permanently in paired assistance villages and pair up with monitored households. "It's not just about checking the pot in the kitchen and the water at home—you also have to ask about the expenses for the children's schooling, clothing, and food," Zhang Xusheng said. "Through such bitter times, the people walked alongside us. Now we must ensure that the people of the old revolutionary base areas share in the fruits of the nation's economic development and social progress."
At the entrance to Song Huisheng's guesthouse, he has posted a set of military-support terms he printed himself: active-duty servicemembers and veterans receive discounts upon check-in. Walking into rooms named after red scenic sites, the reporter found the interiors simply and neatly decorated, with clean and warm bedding.
"Back then, the Red Army was willing to share half their quilt with the villagers. Now we are willing to keep a few rooms for servicemembers," said Song Huisheng.
[Caption] The "Happiness Canal" (幸福渠) inside the Zaoyuan Revolutionary Site in Yan'an, Shaanxi Province. Archival photo.
[Caption] Medical personnel from Joint Logistic Support Force No. 988 Hospital travel to villages around Yan'an to assess villagers' health conditions. Photo provided by the Yan'an Military Sub-district.
Yan'an, Shaanxi Province
The "Happiness Canal" Flows On
■ Chen Kerui; Guo Wei
In July, Yan'an's gullies and ridges are lush with green, and visitors crowd shoulder to shoulder.
Inside the auditorium of the CPC Central Committee Secretariat at the Zaoyuan Revolutionary Site, guide Luo Xiaoyu stands before two simple round tables, recounting a story to visitors: "On the Lantern Festival of 1943, Mao Zedong and other central leaders hosted a banquet here for 24 elderly people over the age of 60 from Zaoyuan Township. Before the meal began, Mao Zedong not only personally went to the door to welcome them, but also toasted each elder in turn during the banquet, wishing them long life."
On the auditorium wall, Mao Zedong's 1943 inscription "Serve the Masses" (为群众服务) shines brightly. On February 1, 1943, the Eighth Route Army Garrison's "Covenant of Supporting the Government and Loving the People" (拥政爱民公约) was officially promulgated—the first such covenant in our army's history. Beginning from this point, the mutual-support movement (双拥运动) centered on Yan'an flourished vigorously across the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region and the anti-Japanese base areas behind enemy lines.
To the right inside the Zaoyuan Revolutionary Site, near a hillside, a canal stretching a total of 6 kilometers winds its way through the grounds. In 1939, the Construction Department of the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, despite extreme financial difficulty, still allocated a special appropriation of 4,000 yuan to dig a canal for the local people. The following April, the canal was completed. Its waters irrigated more than 1,400 mu of land across five villages surrounding Zaoyuan, completely alleviating the local hardship of drought, water scarcity, and dependence on the weather for survival.
To express their gratitude to the Party Central Committee and the Border Region government, the villagers named the canal the "Happiness Canal" (幸福渠). After its completion, whenever winter slack seasons called for dredging, flood seasons required flood prevention, or spring plowing required water distribution, the soldiers would proactively help the people manage and maintain the canal and ensure irrigation. From then on, a folk song (信天游) spread across the Loess Plateau: "The Happiness Canal water flows without end, flows without end like the bond between the army and the people (军民鱼水情); the Happiness Canal water flows unbroken, the Communist Party's kindness is beyond all telling…"
More than 80 years have passed. Today the old revolutionary base area has a new "Happiness Canal"—the Yan'an Yellow River Water Diversion Project. Access to drinking water has long ceased to be a problem, but the "Happiness Canal" still nourishes this land. Today, new stories of the bond between the army and the people (军民鱼水情) are unfolding along its banks.
Entering Longshetou Village, Zhaoan Town, Ansai District, 62-year-old farmer Song Manxiong holds up his phone, its camera sweeping across the vegetable greenhouses behind him. Ever since the greenhouses built with assistance from the Yan'an Military Sub-district brought him a stable income, he has often picked up his phone to tell online followers about the local customs and the army-people bond, while also taking the opportunity to promote the vegetables and fruits he grows. "I've become an internet celebrity now," Song Manxiong said with a laugh.
In 2020, Longshetou Village's industries were still very weak. "At that time, the village wanted to develop greenhouse cultivation and was trying to figure out the funding problem, when the PLA proactively came to us. In less than a month, the funding issue was all sorted out. Once that problem was solved, we could roll up our sleeves and get to work," recalled Song Dongwei, secretary of the Longshetou Village Party branch.
"Now the village's greenhouses have grown to 128, and we also grow mountain apples, cherries, and other orchard cash crops. The village's annual output value is approximately 2 million yuan," Song Dongwei said excitedly as he spoke of the village's changes. "Seeing the village develop so well, quite a few young people who had gone out to work have come back."
"We are stationed in Yan'an, and the red stories—Zhang Side's wholehearted service to the people, the 359th Brigade Supplementary Regiment of the Eighth Route Army opening up Nanniwan—have long been etched in our hearts," said Li Zhaofei, an officer of the Yan'an Military Sub-district assigned to provide targeted assistance to the village. "From the revolutionary era when the army and the people joined forces to build canals for irrigation, to modern water conservancy projects nourishing the countryside, the army and the people of the old base area share the same heart and the same direction. The Happiness Canal water flows on without end."
[Caption] The Huaihai Campaign Martyrs' Memorial Tower. Photo by Lu Mingkai.
[Caption] As Army Day approaches, officers and soldiers of an infantry unit of a brigade under the Eastern Theater Command Army take an oath before the military flag at a training ground. Photo by Wang Weibo.
Xuzhou, Jiangsu Province
Speaking of Original Aspirations Before the "Pushcart"
■ Sun Jinyi; Hu Shaowu, Special Correspondent, PLA Daily
"Visiting the Huaihai Campaign Martyrs' Memorial Tower—it's actually most fitting to come in winter," said Fan Jianwen, an officer of an Army unit, "because the Huaihai Campaign took place in winter. Reading these artifacts at that time of year, you can better appreciate the determination of the masses to support the front lines despite the bitter cold, and their deep affection for the People's Army."
Brushing away the frost of time, we can still find those emotional imprints in the memorial hall today—
A small bamboo stick carved with place names, from Laiyang, Shandong. During the Huaihai Campaign, Laiyang villager Tang He'en heard that civilian laborers were being organized to deliver military grain to the front lines. Having just received his land allocation, he immediately signed up. This small bamboo stick accompanied him over mountains and through snow-covered rivers. At each place he reached, he carved the place name into the stick. Over more than half a year, 88 place names accumulated on the stick, forming a support-the-front map stretching more than 3,000 kilometers.
A chipped porcelain bowl, from Shangshui, Henan. When the Huaihai Campaign began, people in the liberated areas responded to the call and joined the army of front-line supporters en masse. Shangshui villager Xu Naizhen set out with a stretcher team, carrying nothing but a worn cotton jacket and a single old porcelain bowl. Through starlit, frost-cold nights, the stretcher team often marched dozens of kilometers in a single night; the porcelain bowl traveled with Xu Naizhen the whole way, serving rice and water to the wounded. Not long after the Huaihai Campaign ended, Xu Naizhen died of his injuries. The porcelain bowl that had accompanied him in supporting the front was later donated by his family, becoming a witness to that era.
"The pushcarts came from all directions because the people of the liberated areas understood clearly: only if the PLA won its battles could they hold onto their land and live good lives. Everything for the people—only then can you win the people's support. This is something we dare not forget for a single moment," said Zhang Jiahui, a Staff Sergeant First Class of an Army unit.
"Our unit has been stationed in Xuzhou for more than 70 years," Zhang Jiahui said. Since the Huaihai Campaign Martyrs' Memorial Tower was completed in 1965, conducting educational activities at the tower and memorial hall every year has become an unbreakable tradition for the unit.
Supporting the military and the front lines is history carried by artifacts, and it is also a legacy that cadres and ordinary people embody in their actions.
Liu Kui, an assistant in the unit's barracks management section, recounted the following story: parts of the unit's garrison are located within the urban area, where training grounds are small and scattered, making it difficult to conduct realistic combat training subjects, and leaving no room to maneuver for hands-on training with heavy equipment. In August 2025, they submitted a request to the Xuzhou municipal government for training land, hoping to swap some garrison land.
"The military and civilian sides sat down together and held several coordination meetings," Liu Kui said. "We put forward our needs, and the local side laid out their old-city renovation plans. When the two sides compared notes, they found a win-win solution was achievable."
In April of this year, the project entered the assessment phase, and all procedures are advancing in an orderly manner. "Serving the enhancement of the troops' combat effectiveness is our inescapable responsibility, and this is entirely consistent with our tradition of supporting the military and the front lines," said the local project official involved in the coordination.
"This is consistent with what we feel day to day," Zhang Jiahui said. Officers and soldiers can feel the people's respect for servicemembers in their daily travel and duty. Having served in Xuzhou for more than ten years, he has a personal sense of the military-support atmosphere here: "The people always ask us what we need and spare no effort in providing us with the best policies and services. Whenever the people come to offer their regards, I think of the pushcarts in the memorial hall. Right now, this is our most genuine feeling—the support of the people is the most solid backing for our struggle to build a strong military."
[Caption] Recently, a brigade of the 81st Group Army organized officers and soldiers to visit the Li Dazhao Memorial Hall, inspiring them to carry forward the red gene and shoulder the important mission of building a strong military. Photo by Jiang Zhengwang.
[Caption] Recently, the Qianxinan Detachment of the PAP Guizhou Corps organized officers and soldiers to visit the Zhenfeng Red Army Long March Exhibition Hall to review the Long March spirit on-site. Photo by Song Wenming.
[Caption] As Army Day approaches, Dangshan County, Anhui Province, held a themed "August 1st" military-civilian celebration and send-off event for new military academy students, paying sincere tribute to the People's Army and inspiring patriotic youth to devote themselves to national defense. Photo by Li Jinchun.
Layout Design: Hu Shuo