From Wooden Boat to Spacecraft: A Long March Relay Spanning Nearly a Century

The night over Dongfeng Space City is deep blue. The last sliver of golden light is being swallowed by the Badain Jaran Desert. The launch tower slowly opens its arms, and the milky-white Long March rocket stands silently, like a sword waiting to be unsheathed.

A few hours before launch, outside the Wentian Pavilion, the send-off ceremony for the three-member Shenzhou-23 crew had concluded. They are: commander Zhu Yangzhu, spacecraft pilot Zhang Zhiyuan, and female payload specialist from Hong Kong, Lai Ka-wing.

On that day's calendar, another date was also printed. Ninety-one years ago on this day — May 24, 1935 — on the banks of the Dadu River, Sun Jixian, battalion commander of the 1st Battalion of the 1st Regiment, received an order: select brave fighters and prepare to force a crossing. At dawn the next day, Sun Jixian led 17 soldiers through a hail of bullets, using nothing but a single wooden boat to tear open a gap across a stretch of river that the Nationalist Army considered an impassable natural barrier.

Two May 24ths — one on the Long March road, one on the road to the heavens. History, at this moment, completed a remarkable convergence.

I

Few people know that the first commander of this space city on the Gobi Desert was none other than Sun Jixian — the very commander of the battle to force-cross the Dadu River.

In 1957, Sun Jixian, then serving as deputy commander of the 20th Army Corps of the Chinese People's Volunteer Army, was recalled to the country and given an unexpected assignment: to establish China's first missile test range on the northwestern Gobi Desert. It is said that when the central leadership selected him for this task, what they valued was precisely the audacity he had shown at the Dadu River — "opening a path to survival in a desperate situation (于绝境中开辟生路)."

The heroic battalion commander of the Dadu River thus became a pioneer of space development on the Gobi Desert.

In 1958, he led troops who had just returned from the Korean battlefield and plunged deep into the Badain Jaran Desert. There were no railways, no roads, not even a single tree. Sun Jixian took the lead in making a vow: "Die on the Gobi Desert, be buried on the green hills."

Pioneering the Gobi Desert was no less perilous than breaking through the Dadu River. This People's Army, tempered by the Long March, was not only fierce in battle but possessed a tenacity for taking root in desperate circumstances. They put down roots in that land of sweeping yellow sands and grew upward.

In 1970, the Long March-1 carrier rocket lifted Dongfanghong-1 straight into the sky, and the melodious strains of "The East Is Red" resounded throughout the universe. It is said that naming it "Long March" was meant to signify that China's space program would, like the Long March of old, overcome all hardships and obstacles to reach the shore of victory.

After General Sun Jixian passed away, he was buried, as he had vowed, at the Dongfeng Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery. More than seven hundred space pioneers rest there as well, many of whose lives were forever fixed at the best years of their youth.

Their tombstones stand in rows facing the launch site, watching day and night as Long March rockets lift off again and again.

II

There is another thread, equally moving.

The unit that Sun Jixian led in forcing the turbulent river crossing was later designated the "Dadu River Hero Company (大渡河英雄连)." On July 1, 1997, Hong Kong returned to the motherland. This company, serving as the vanguard of the garrison troops, raised the August 1st military flag in the rain and was the first to cross the Shenzhen River and enter Hong Kong.

From the Dadu River to the Xiangjiang River, the company history of this heroic unit is itself a condensed history of national rejuvenation and national reunification.

And among the Shenzhou-23 crew is a female astronaut from Hong Kong — payload specialist Lai Ka-wing. Before her selection, she worked at the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Police Force, holds a doctorate in computer science, and is the first female payload specialist selected from the Hong Kong and Macao regions for China's crewed spaceflight program.

After being selected as an astronaut, she studied and trained diligently, making daily progress, and in just over a year completed an enormous volume of theoretical study, various specialized practical training, and full-mission flight procedure simulation training.

At the meet-the-press event, Lai Ka-wing said: "At this moment, my heart is filled with gratitude and honor, and I feel deeply the glory of the mission and the weight of the responsibility." Hong Kong SAR Chief Executive John Lee stated: "(This is) a historic moment for the Hong Kong SAR as the dream of spaceflight arrives."

Space carries not only the dreams of all humanity, but also the future of the Chinese nation.

From wooden boat to spacecraft, from the Dadu River to the Milky Way, the sons and daughters of China set forth toward the vast ocean of stars that belongs to us.

III

The night deepened. All preparations were complete. People held their breath, waiting in silence for the countdown command.

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the Red Army's Long March victory, and also the 70th anniversary of the founding of China's space program. At the astronaut meet-the-press event, a reporter asked commander Zhu Yangzhu: how do you understand the saying "each generation has its own Long March road, and each generation must walk its own Long March road well"?

Zhu Yangzhu replied: "The relay of the Long March spirit (长征精神) has never stopped. Looking back at history, the Red Army soldiers of those years crossed ten thousand rivers and mountains to complete the arduous and extraordinary great expedition; over 70 years, generation after generation of space workers started from nothing and walked out a space Long March of reaching for the stars. From the victory of the great Long March, we have come to understand the bedrock of faith (信仰底色) of our revolutionary forebears; on the dream-building journey of China's space program, we have always upheld 'the interests of the motherland above all else (祖国利益高于一切).' These two spirits converge and resonate across time."

He also said: "We will certainly carry this spiritual strength that transcends time and space — dedicating our youth to the mission, opening a new journey through struggle — letting the red bloodline and the spirit of the age illuminate each other, and pressing steadily and courageously forward on the new Long March road of exploring the universe."

When the countdown reached zero, the light of the Long March rocket's exhaust flame would illuminate the night sky — and also illuminate those immortal names in the Dongfeng Revolutionary Martyrs Cemetery.

A Long March relay spanning nearly a century is pressing on, toward the vast ocean of stars, never stopping.

Author: Dajun