One "Heart-Connecting Road," Brimming with the Bond Between Fish and Water — A Record of the PAP Liaoning Corps Huludao Detachment Serving the Local People
One "Heart-Connecting Road," Brimming with the Bond Between Fish and Water — A Record of the PAP Liaoning Corps Huludao Detachment Serving the Local People
■ Sun Jili, Sun Xindi
Photo ①: Members of the PAP Liaoning Corps Huludao Detachment's assistance work team visit and offer condolences to those they are paired with for support.
Photo ②: Inside the Tashan Blocking Battle Memorial Hall, soldiers of the PAP Huludao Detachment and students from Tashan August 1st Hope School serve as paired docents.
Photo ③: At the swimwear factory in Linjiadian Village, Huludao City, members of the detachment's assistance work team talk with villagers who work there.
From June to July of this year, heavy rains struck multiple locations across Liaoning Province in succession.
Tong Qing, an officer of the PAP Liaoning Corps Huludao Detachment, and his comrades stood ready to deploy at any moment. Fortunately, early warnings were timely and the affected areas were limited, and no serious disaster materialized.
"One of our most important missions is to protect the people and serve the people — wherever there is a need, we must be there," said Tong Qing. Over the years he has served in Huludao, he has followed the detachment's vehicles across every township in the city: sometimes for emergency rescue and disaster relief, sometimes to support industrial development, sometimes for military-civilian co-building (双拥共建)… The wheels have left crisscrossing tracks across the land of western Liaoning, linking city and countryside, connecting mountains and sea, and forging a "heart-connecting road" (连心路) between the detachment's officers and soldiers and the local people.
A Swimwear Factory Built in a Mountain Hollow
It was a weekend. While scrolling through his WeChat Moments, Tong Qing suddenly noticed that Li Xiaohua — a villager from the village he is paired with for assistance — had posted new photos showing her son, Hu Zhenhai, busy at work in the village's swimwear factory.
Not long ago, Tong Qing had called to encourage Hu Zhenhai to return to the village to develop his future there, but Hu had felt there was no future in making swimwear in a mountain hollow. How had he turned around and come back so quickly? With the peak tourist season now in full swing in this coastal city and orders surging, could the swimwear factory's production capacity keep up? With these thoughts in mind, Tong Qing brought along members of the detachment's assistance work team and drove straight to Linjiadian Village in Jianchang County, the village they are paired with for assistance.
Outside the blue-roofed factory building, the moment everyone stepped out of the vehicle, they heard the "da-da-da" of sewing machines. Pulling fabric taut, pressing foot pedals, feeding material at a steady pace… Inside the factory, workers were bent over their sewing machines, rushing to finish swimwear garments. Among the crowd, Tong Qing spotted Hu Zhenhai at once — he was counting inventory — and walked over to tease him: "Zhenhai, when did you get back to the village?"
Hu Zhenhai set down the order sheet in his hand and smiled with an honest grin: "Big Brother Tong, don't bring that up. I was narrow-minded — I underestimated our village's industry. Lately everyone has been taking turns working overtime until 11 at night, and we still can't keep up with the orders going out!"
Linjiadian Village is located in the north-central part of Jianchang County. It is a typical mountain village with a weak industrial base. More than ten kilometers away, Peitun Village in Yaowang Manchu Township, Xingcheng City, presents an entirely different picture: the local area is home to a nationally renowned swimwear specialty industry, the village collective economy has grown substantially, large numbers of local villagers are employed, and skilled workers earn more than ten thousand yuan a month.
"Our starting points were about the same, but they earn money right at their doorstep. It would be a lie to say we weren't envious." Hu Zhenhai's words gave voice to the feelings of many villagers.
In 2019, the PAP Huludao Detachment and Linjiadian Village were paired for co-building. "At the outset of the assistance work, we made a special trip to Xingcheng City to conduct research on the swimwear industry, and found that many manufacturers, even operating at full capacity, still faced the predicament of having too many orders to deliver on time," said the head of the detachment's assistance work team.
"At that time, the assistance work team and the village Party branch put their heads together. Xingcheng had more orders than it could produce — could the village consider building a factory too, to take on cut-and-make swimwear orders?" said Zhao Defu, secretary of the village Party branch.
After research and deliberation, in October of that year, the assistance work team helped the village take over an idle factory building and purchase thirty sewing machines, then brought in a master craftsman from a swimwear factory in Xingcheng City to run a training class. Zhao Defu explained: "The training class was held right on the production floor — whatever skills the job required, that is what the instructor taught." After systematic training, villager Yang Huaile joined the swimwear factory as a worker. "The factory pays by the piece. Once you're skilled, you can earn more than 6,000 yuan a month," said Yang Huaile, beaming.
The Soldiers of the People Nurture the "Little Buds"
Leaving the swimwear factory, the assistance work team drove on along a country lane. Not far ahead, a familiar figure sat beneath an old locust tree enjoying the shade. They stopped the vehicle and looked — it was Wang Yulan, the grandmother of Xiao Yu, one of their educational assistance recipients.
Seeing that it was Tong Qing and the others, Wang Yulan wasted no time pulling the officers and soldiers by the hand and leading them inside: "Come in, come in, have some water and rest a while."
Xiao Yu is eleven years old and is the paired assistance recipient of Huang Jie, a sergeant and member of the assistance work team. Xiao Yu's parents are divorced, and after her father died in an accident when she was seven, she has lived with her elderly grandparents. Previously, during a military-civilian co-building activity, the assistance work team learned of Xiao Yu's situation from her school teachers and began including her as an educational assistance recipient.
"Xiao Yu has always been a sensible child. Recently, with Little Huang tutoring her, her math scores have improved quite a bit…" As everyone talked about Xiao Yu's studies and daily life, when the conversation turned to her future, Wang Yulan's eyes reddened. Choking back tears, she said: "You've seen the situation at home. But no matter how hard things get, we have to let this child go to school…"
The work team members sat in a circle, holding the old woman's hands, and spoke to her word by word, each word grounded in concrete action: "Auntie, please don't worry. Xiao Yu's school fees, her seasonal clothing, her books and pens and paper — we will find a way. We will absolutely never let this child be without schooling." Hearing this, the old woman could no longer hold back her tears.
Since 2001, the detachment has raised dedicated educational assistance funds under the "Little Buds" (小蓓蕾) program. It has also helped the August 1st Hope Primary School in Jianchang County — the school it is paired with for co-building — establish a national defense exhibition room and a national defense education corridor, and has selected outstanding backbone personnel to serve as off-campus counselors, regularly entering the campus to carry out national defense education. "Quite a few of the students who received assistance planted the seed of serving the country through military service in their hearts from a young age. After graduating from high school, student Chen Guanqun chose to enlist," said Huang Jie.
Before leaving, work team member Zhang Mingcong noticed a composition notebook lying open on a small square table. The essay title was "My Family." It read: "My grandpa and grandma take care of me in daily life — they are my family. The PAP uncles care about me in daily life — they are also my family. I must study hard, and when I grow up, help others just like the uncles do…"
"Red Epaulettes" Join Hands with Red Scarves
On the return journey, the assistance work team decided to make one more stop at the Tashan Blocking Battle Memorial Hall in Lianshan District, to see how the paired docent arrangement between the Red Scarf docents from Tashan August 1st Hope School and the detachment's soldiers was working out.
"Tashan has no pagoda, Tashan has no mountain — we of the 4th Column are the pagoda, we of the 4th Column are the mountain! As long as our 4th Column stands, the enemy shall not dream of crossing Tashan!" Upon entering the memorial hall, in front of the "Battle Assessment of the Day" display panel in the "Fierce Battle at Tashan" exhibition hall, PAP Huludao Detachment soldier Wang Tianyu was recounting this stirring pre-battle rallying cry of a People's Liberation Army commander to visitors.
Standing alongside Wang Tianyu was a Red Scarf docent — Dong Xinmu, a sixth-grade student at Tashan August 1st Hope School. In a voice young yet resonant, he pointed to a grain sack inside a glass display case bearing nine bullet holes and explained: "The victory of the Tashan Blocking Battle could not have been achieved without the support of the people. Villagers near Tashan Fort Village braved a hail of bullets to deliver grain to the People's Liberation Army…"
The two docents — one adult, one child — presenting together, blending solemn composure with vivid childlike sincerity, drew repeated thumbs-up from visitors.
Tian Xiujuan, a teacher at Tashan August 1st Hope School and leader of the Red Scarf docent team, explained that Tashan August 1st Hope School is located near the Tashan Blocking Battle Memorial Hall. In 2019, to encourage students to carry forward the Tashan Spirit through concrete action, the school invited officers and soldiers from the detachment's "Red Epaulettes Party History Lecture Team" (红肩章党史宣讲团) to join with students in forming the "Beacon Fire Lecture Team" (烽火宣讲团), establishing a collaborative mechanism of "presenting together, preparing lessons together, and refining stories together," and exploring a co-building model of paired presentations by soldiers and students.
After joining the "Beacon Fire Lecture Team," Sergeant Guo Wei consulted multiple military history sources, compiled little-known stories and details from the Tashan Blocking Battle, and edited them into commentary suitable for students. "Breaking a stretch of military history down into individual small stories with human warmth makes it easier for children to listen attentively, remember, and retell well," said Guo Wei.
Looking at the lively scene inside the hall, Tong Qing reflected: "We named our lecture team after 'beacon fire' (烽火) because we hope that every presentation will plant a red spark in people's hearts, igniting the enthusiasm of the broad masses to love the Party, love the country, and love the military."
Photography: Pan Hongyu, Li Fengyang
Graphic design: Hu Shuo