The Garrison Soldiers at the Outpost Along This "Silk Ribbon" Guard the Peace of the Nation's Frontier with Loyalty
■ Jiang Dehong, PLA Daily reporters Wei Yinchu and Wu Peiyuan
In early autumn, the Changbai Mountains are layered in lush green, and the Yalu River shimmers with blue waves. National Highway G331 winds like a silk ribbon along the forest-lined riverbank. The No. 8 Sluice Outpost of an Army border defense brigade is situated beside this "silk ribbon," where generation after generation of officers and soldiers have loyally guarded the peace of the nation's frontier.
"The No. 8 Sluice Outpost sees extreme winter temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Celsius, with the mountain closed for more than seven months of the year. It was once a 'snow-sea island' cut off by poor transportation and harsh conditions." Senior Sergeant First Class Xie Fahui of the outpost told reporters that snowmelt freezing and thawing leaves the road surface riddled with potholes, and in some places landslides directly block the road. Difficulty traveling, danger during border patrols, and difficulty receiving supplies have long been persistent problems for the outpost's duty patrols.
How could the "snow-sea island" be transformed into an open thoroughfare?
In recent years, Jilin Province has implemented an integrated construction model combining roads, networks, and embankments, continuously addressing shortfalls in border infrastructure. Leveraging the quality-upgrade project for National Highway G331, military and civilian authorities have jointly advanced the integrated construction of road renovation, embankment reinforcement, disaster management, and smart monitoring, allowing the deep-mountain outpost to leave behind its history of isolated confinement and difficult travel.
In addition, an integrated monitoring system has been established along the route, a border traffic big-data control platform has been built, and long-term performance observation stations have been used to achieve dynamic monitoring of hidden hazards, data sharing, and precise management and control.
The morning mist over the mountain forest had not yet lifted when the outpost's patrol detachment stood ready to depart. Today, in addition to routine patrol duties, the officers and soldiers had a special task: repainting the boundary markers in red.
The reporter boarded a patrol vehicle and traveled along National Highway G331 deep into the mountain forest. The sky had been clear moments before, but thick fog suddenly surged up from the valley, dropping visibility to less than 20 meters. Upon reaching a surveillance tower near the border, the patrol detachment stopped to conduct equipment inspection. Political Instructor Liu Da called the outpost's monitoring room over the radio: "Visibility at Point No. 1 has dropped — is the image clear?"
A reply came quickly over the radio: "Image is clear. Infrared mode has been switched on. Signal is stable!"
"In the past, when we encountered weather like this, patrols relied entirely on veteran soldiers' experience to find the way." Liu Da told reporters that in recent years, through the military-civilian co-construction and resource-sharing mechanism, the outpost's smart border defense (智慧边防) construction has been comprehensively upgraded, achieving real-time border situation monitoring, dynamic management and control, and precise response.
After completing the equipment inspection, the patrol vehicles continued forward. Upon reaching a section of alpine meadow, the vehicles could go no further, and the soldiers had to dismount and continue on foot.
A light rain fell steadily in the mountains. The meadow surface was soft and slippery, and border guidance poles appeared and disappeared in the thick fog. Through the meadow, a steep slope tens of meters high with a gradient of nearly 80 degrees came into view. This was the most treacherous section of the entire patrol route; the soldiers used ropes to successfully cross it.
After more than an hour of arduous trekking, the group finally reached the target boundary marker.
Xie Fahui stepped forward and crouched down, taking a can of red paint from his pack. He is soon to be discharged; this would likely be the last time in his military career that he repainted a boundary marker.
Xie Fahui loaded a brush with red paint and traced, stroke by stroke, along the grooves of the characters "中国" (China). When the brush reached the year "2009," his movements became especially deliberate. "When I first arrived at the outpost, patrols depended entirely on our own two legs," Xie Fahui said with feeling. More than ten years of frontier service had allowed him to witness the leapfrog development of border defense infrastructure construction. From the rutted and treacherous roads of the past to the smooth and straight thoroughfares of today — this is a vivid embodiment of strengthening and developing the border (强边兴边).
On the return journey, Xie Fahui told reporters that the outpost's patrol route has 105 bends in total. "I remember clearly exactly where every bend turns and how sharp it is. I'm about to be discharged. I hope the new soldiers can take the baton well and guard our boundary markers."
It was summer vacation season, and buses packed with tourists traveled in an unbroken stream along National Highway G331 toward Changbai Mountain's Tianchi. Deep in the forest, the frontier guardians stood as straight and tall as pines. The clamor of the distant world had not reached this place, but the soldiers understood well: those sounds of laughter and joy, that scene of national prosperity and people's peace (国泰民安), were precisely what they were defending with their youth and loyalty.
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**G331 Border Open Tourism Corridor**
The G331 Border Open Tourism Corridor is built along the Jilin section of National Highway G331. It begins at the Hunjiangkou Bridge on the Jilin-Liaoning provincial border and ends at Lanjiataozi in Hunchun City on the Jilin-Heilongjiang provincial border. It winds along "one mountain and two rivers" (长白山、鸭绿江、图们江 — Changbai Mountain, the Yalu River, and the Tumen River), passing through four regions — Tonghua City, Baishan City, the Changbai Mountain Protection and Development Zone, and Yanbian Korean Autonomous Prefecture — and ten counties (cities, districts). It links 216 border villages, 16 ports of entry, and 45 scenic areas rated 3A or above, with a total length of 1,240 kilometers.
Since the opening of G331, it has helped specialty products such as Ji'an ice grapes, Yanbian spicy kimchi, and Changbai Mountain ginseng "leave the village, enter the city, and reach the whole country," driving the establishment of more than 100 new specialty guesthouses, farmhouse restaurants, and specialty product shops along the route, and realizing the layout of industries along the road and the enrichment of residents along the road. In expanding employment opportunities, nearly 3,000 jobs were provided through the "work-for-relief" (以工代赈) model during the construction period. After completion, the corridor provides nearly 5,000 jobs for villagers in the sale of mountain goods, specialty products, and handicrafts, as well as in highway maintenance, service area management, and related industries such as tourism, catering, and accommodation. In driving cultural prosperity, G331 has promoted the development of health and wellness, leisure living, and medical industries in border areas, and by hosting brand events such as the Border Marathon and the "Secret Realm Relay Ride" (秘境传骑) cycling relay race, has converted event traffic into economic growth, injecting development vitality into border areas.