Party Delegate's Study Notes | Forging the Soul and Cultivating People Requires Heart and Feeling

Forging the Soul and Cultivating People Requires Heart and Feeling

■ Party Member Cadre of a Brigade under the 73rd Group Army, Dang Weitao

Dang Weitao (second from left) explains weapon and equipment operating essentials to officers and soldiers. Photo by Liu Zhiyong

In recent days, I have been continually inspired by Chairman Xi's charge at the celebration of the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China to "establish lofty aspirations and bravely shoulder the burdens of the era."

I successively served as Party branch secretary in two honorary companies — the "Qingzhou Company" and the "Strengthen the Military, Excel in Martial Arts Red Fourth Company" — before transferring to a staff organ at the end of last year. Along the way, I have often pondered one question: as a grassroots Party affairs worker, what is my "burden of the era"? I believe one important task is forging the soul and cultivating people (铸魂育人) — planting the seeds of Party faith in the hearts of young soldiers, and fusing the red gene (红色基因) into the bloodline of generation after generation of officers and soldiers.

I remember that on my very first night at the "Qingzhou Company," the sound of an argument between a new recruit named Xiao Zhong and his squad leader drifted in from the corridor. Some comrades said Xiao Zhong was an "honor insulator": unqualified in training, barely getting by in barracks upkeep, hiding at the back during oath-taking before the battle flag, with "I'll just serve two years and get out" constantly on his lips. The squad leader and backbone cadres had talked with him seven or eight times, and the more they talked, the more resistant he became. Everyone said he was a "hard stone" that couldn't be warmed up.

I did not rush to "stoke the fire." Instead, I observed carefully. By chance, I came across a few short videos Xiao Zhong had filmed before enlisting — they showed real creativity — and on a sudden inspiration I assigned him a task: "Compile the combat history of the 'Qingzhou Company's' assault operations and produce a red documentary film."

When he heard the assignment, he was a bit stunned — he hadn't expected me to entrust such a responsibility to him, a "troublemaker soldier." Afterward, he immersed himself in sorting through historical materials. When he saw the stirring scenes of his forebears braving artillery fire to raise ladders and storm city walls, charging through a hail of bullets, I noticed a light come into his eyes.

During that period, he spent every day "soaking" in the honors room, verifying the battle history word by word, repeatedly refining the script, and carefully editing the footage. Three months later, the documentary he produced spread across the entire brigade. Even more gratifying was the transformation he achieved through this assignment — from a disengaged, lying-flat fringe soldier, he became a frontrunner on the training ground who proactively took on the role of company history docent.

Last year, Xiao Zhong was admitted to a military academy. On the day I saw him off to report in, he held me tightly and choked out: "Thank you — I never imagined you would never give up on me."

In that moment, I became even more firmly convinced: every young soldier has a fire burning inside, and the key is whether you have the patience to fan it into flame. In forging the soul and cultivating people, not a single soldier can be allowed to fall behind.

After transferring to serve as Party branch secretary of the "Red Fourth Company," I noticed that Squad Leader Lao Cai's condition was declining: his drive in training was insufficient, his patience in management was diminishing, and his squad's performance was slipping along with it. In several heart-to-heart talks, he kept saying "it's nothing."

Then one night during a late-night bunk check, I found him sitting alone in the corridor, his face etched with exhaustion. I sat down beside him, started with small talk, and guided him along little by little until he finally opened up: both his parents had been chronically ill for years, his wife had been suddenly hospitalized in the late stages of pregnancy, and the accumulated pressures of family affairs were suffocating him. Yet as a backbone cadre, afraid of disrupting the company's competition preparations, he had gritted his teeth and never once requested leave.

Once I understood the situation, the company commander and I immediately approved his leave and called his family to offer words of comfort. When Lao Cai returned to the unit, the gloom in his eyes had completely lifted, and a long-absent smile appeared on his face.

Forging the soul and cultivating people — what is cultivated is the person, and what is warmed is the heart. As a Party branch secretary, one must be someone who can perceive the difficulties soldiers face and bear the weight of their pressures.

Without a branch committee capable of fighting and winning battles, you cannot build a unit capable of fighting and winning battles. During one exercise, some officers and soldiers had conducted high-intensity mobile operations and confrontations for many consecutive days, their physical strength depleted. In the assault phase, a negative mindset emerged — they simplified tactics, were careless with camouflage, and some felt that "an exercise isn't real combat, close enough is good enough."

The harder and more grueling the conditions, the more Party member cadres must charge to the front. The company commander and I made a decisive deployment: he took charge of the main axis of attack, while I led a small detachment in a flanking envelopment. When the battle commenced, I personally led the way in advancing to breach obstacles. The mountain path was steep and muddy, physical strength was nearly exhausted, mud and water covered my entire body — but I persisted in crawling and bounding forward, fighting to the end.

Watching the company commander and me charge at the lead under extreme conditions, the officers and soldiers rallied their spirits one after another and pressed close behind us. The moment the company flag was planted on the high ground, the entire company erupted in a deafening cheer.

Over these years, though my post has changed, my original aspiration of cultivating people for the Party and cultivating talent for war has never changed. I believe the true way of leading soldiers is to discover with heart, to warm with feeling, and to lead through action.

(Compiled by PLA Daily special correspondent Liao Xiaobin and reporter Xiang Liming)