Strong Military Forum | Defining the Beauty of a Soldier Through Martial Excellence (精武)
In this era when everyone pursues beauty, there is a kind of beauty that radiates loyalty, valor, courage, and strength — this is the beauty of a soldier. This beauty begins with faith, is forged through victory in war, and is revealed through steadfast dedication.
Not long ago, the Central Propaganda Department and the Political Work Department of the Central Military Commission (CMC) jointly announced 12 "Most Beautiful Revolutionary Soldiers of the New Era." The beauty of a soldier is not defined by appearance or dress, but by martial excellence (精武).
"As long as one wears the uniform, one must bear the mission." The 12 officers and soldiers — Li Can, Wang Xiaoming, Wang Tao, Bu Jiawen, Zhou Hongchao, and others — are advanced models who have emerged from the armed forces' great practice of strengthening political revolutionary tempering (政治上的革命性锻造) under the Party's banner and advancing the realization of the centenary goal of army building.
Among them are political instructors who forge the soul and cultivate people with the Party's innovative theories, and troop-leading cadres who carry on the bloodline and build strong companies; there are staff officers capable of planning and deliberating on warfare, and special operations elite soldiers who sharpen their skills through realistic combat training; there are outstanding commanders who chase their dreams in the deep blue and sail the oceans, and model pilots who train hard and soar through the skies; there are research pioneers who devote themselves to achieving victory in the cyber and information domain (网信疆场), and research experts who focus on frontier breakthroughs in new domains and new-quality capabilities (新域新质); there are also skilled craftsmen riveted to their combat positions and devoted to equipment support, and pioneers in national defense mobilization fighting on the front lines of coastal defense… Examining their common characteristics, without exception all are top performers in their specialties, training experts, and martial excellence models — and this is precisely where their greatest beauty lies.
In literature there is no first place; in martial affairs there is no second place. Soldiers are born to win in battle, and the battlefield has never had a runner-up. For a soldier, only by having solid capabilities and first-rate qualities can one defeat the adversary and win glory.
The conduct of operations concerns thousands of troops and horses; the key to strategic planning determines the outcome of war. Li Can, a staff officer at a certain bureau of the Central Theater Command Joint Staff Department, approaches every plan drafted and every piece of data verified with the mindset of "going to the battlefield tomorrow," "always keeping in mind the game of shifting circumstances, always rehearsing future battles in the mind." He keeps a close eye on global military development trends, conducts in-depth research on the mechanisms for achieving victory in informatized and intelligentized warfare (信息化智能化战争), proactively tackles difficult and key problems such as joint operations command and the employment of new-type combat forces, and devotes all his energy to studying and planning for war. A staff officer talent who integrates command and technical skills in this way is naturally "most beautiful."
Gu Qiaoyun is a researcher at a unit of the cyberspace forces. She takes the needs of the state and the military as her research direction, has long engaged in the analysis and research of highly difficult technologies, tackles the invisible battlefield, and seizes the forefront of the struggle. She has achieved multiple key technological breakthroughs in the generation of new-domain and new-quality combat capabilities (新域新质战斗力). This heroic woman (巾帼英雄) who boldly blazes new trails is, of course, "most beautiful."
Chernyshevsky once said: "Whatever life we can see that, according to our understanding, ought to be so — that is beauty." For an ordinary person, the standards of beauty may number in the thousands. But soldiers must go to the battlefield, and can only let their strength do the talking. Only through martial excellence and enhanced capabilities — able to deploy, advance, and win — without disgracing the mission or failing under the burden, can one be called "most beautiful" without reservation.
Today, science and technology have become the core combat capability; new modes and means of combat are accelerating in their evolution, and unmanned warfare, information warfare, and intelligentized warfare (智能作战) have become the primary forms of war. "When times change, methods must change accordingly (世易时移，变法宜矣)." The "face" of war keeps changing, and the standards of martial excellence must also keep pace with the times. To be worthy of the title "most beautiful," one must have not only physical fitness and technical skills, but also intelligence; not only a fighting spirit, but also a scientific spirit; not only individual excellence, but also systems thinking (体系思维). That is to say, the hard-core strength of the "most beautiful" soldier must encompass both the fearless courage of revolution and all-out effort, and the scientific literacy of mental victory (心胜) and intellectual victory (智胜).
Wang Wenbin, a "Most Beautiful Revolutionary Soldier of the New Era," is rooted at the frontline positions of the cyber and information domain (网信疆场), contests the high-end invisible battlefield, keeps a close eye on changes in technology, changes in warfare, and changes in the adversary, explores new models of cyber and information defense, leads his team in overcoming multiple key technical challenges, successfully completes multiple major tasks, has innovated more than ten new operational methods and techniques, and effectively drives the enhancement of combat capability. His martial excellence reflects the demands of the era and increases the odds of victory in war.
The beauty of a soldier is defined by martial excellence and tested by victory in war. If one cannot win on the battlefield, everything amounts to zero. The battlefield is the most rigorous auditor, and also the best testing ground for "most beautiful." Every officer and soldier should consciously learn from the "Most Beautiful Revolutionary Soldiers of the New Era," strive to become training top performers, martial excellence stars, and warfare experts, train their warfighting skills to be strong, build up sufficient confidence in achieving victory, genuinely forge the solid capabilities to overcome and defeat the strong, and ensure that when the moment comes, they can achieve decisive victory on the battlefield and effectively defend the state's sovereignty, security, and development interests.