Internal Security Political Work

A Window on Military-Civilian Relations | A Spring of Love for the People Flows Down from the Mountain

双拥视界丨山上涌出爱民泉

PLA Daily (解放军报) 31 May 2026

Summary

Soldiers from the Kurgan Border Defense Company, subordinate to Yingyan Outpost on the southern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains, used patrol rest periods to survey the surrounding pastoral area, located a mountain spring, and self-funded the installation of roughly 200 meters of pipeline and water purification equipment to resolve a seasonal water shortage affecting local Kazakh herdsmen. The article documents a standard civil-military relations (军民关系) feature of the type routinely published in PLA Daily to illustrate border unit engagement with ethnic minority communities in Xinjiang; its value is as a baseline record of how the PLA frames frontier garrison work—framing soldiers as problem-solvers embedded in local life rather than as a security presence—not as evidence of a new policy or operational development.

Translation

A Spring of Love for the People Flows Down from the Mountain

■ Liu Changwei, Wang Junqiang, Special Correspondent for PLA Daily

"Splash, splash, splash…" Inside Pasture No. 4, located to the southeast of Yingyan Outpost, herdsman Yasen bent down and turned open a gleaming faucet. Crystal-clear mountain spring water surged out instantly, and in just a moment he had filled an entire bucket.

This trickling spring was not easily obtained. Yingyan Outpost is situated on the southern slopes of the Tianshan Mountains and is a seasonal outpost subordinate to the Kurgan Border Defense Company. For a long time, herdsmen living in the pastoral areas surrounding Yingyan Outpost relied primarily on the Yingyan River as their source of domestic water. But each year when the flood season arrives between June and August, flash floods carry large quantities of silt into the riverbed, rendering the water too turbid to use normally.

"Many herdsmen came to the outpost seeking help to get water," explained the political instructor of the Kurgan Border Defense Company stationed there. Because the number of people coming for water was large and the outpost's water supply capacity was limited, they were often unable to meet the herdsmen's water needs.

"Find water! Dig three feet into the ground if we have to—find a new spring!" To help the herdsmen solve their water difficulties, the Kurgan Border Defense Company organized its officers and soldiers to make use of gaps in their daily patrols and duty rest periods to go deep into the nearby pastoral areas, conducting section-by-section surveys in search of a water source.

Diligence pays off: after days of investigation, First Sergeant Yang Jiayou found a water source in a secluded mountain hollow. Once the water source and the route for channeling the water had been confirmed, the company's officers and soldiers did not rest for a single moment. They pooled their own resources, with every member taking part, and laid a total of nearly 200 meters of water-delivery pipeline, along with professionally installed water purification equipment. After more than ten days of intense and arduous construction, the public water collection point was successfully completed. To protect the water collection facilities, the company also erected a simple rain shelter of more than ten square meters above the collection point.

"With the water pipeline, clean water flows the moment you open the tap—no more worrying about having no water to use!" On his way back after collecting water, Yasen ran into several more herdsmen coming with buckets to fetch water. Inside and outside the mountain hollow, the sound of folk songs composed by the herdsmen themselves could be heard from time to time: "A spring of love for the people flows down from the mountain, oh—thank you, our dear People's Liberation Army…"

Original Chinese

山上涌出爱民泉 ■刘昌炜解放军报特约记者王军强 “哗哗哗……”英沿前哨东南侧的四号牧区内，牧民牙森俯身拧开锃亮的水龙头，清冽的山泉水瞬间奔涌而出，不过片刻，就接满了一桶水。这汩汩清泉来之不易。英沿前哨位于天山南麓，是库尔干边防连所属的一个季节性哨所。长久以来，居住在英沿前哨周边牧区的牧民，主要依靠英沿河水作为生活用水。可每年6月至8月汛期来临，山洪裹挟大量泥沙冲入河道，致使河水浑浊不堪，牧民无法正常使用。 “为取水，不少牧民前来哨所求助。”驻守于此的库尔干边防连指导员介绍，由于取水群众较多、哨所供水能力有限，他们常常无法保障牧民的用水需求。 “找水！掘地三尺也要找到新泉！”为帮助牧民解决用水难题，库尔干边防连组织官兵利用日常巡逻、执勤休整间隙，深入附近牧区，分段排查，寻找水源。功夫不负有心人，经过连日摸排，一级上士杨家友在一处偏僻山坳中找到水源。确定了水源地和引水路线，连队官兵一刻也不停歇，自筹物资，全员上阵，累计铺设输水管道近200米，配套安装专业净水设备。10余天紧张而艰苦的施工后，便民取水点顺利竣工。为保护取水设施，连队还在取水点上方搭设10余平方米的简易遮雨棚。 “有了输水管道，干净的水随开随接，再也不用担心没有水用了！”取完水回去的路上，牙森又遇到几位提着水桶来打水的牧民。山坳内外，不时传出牧民自编的歌谣：“山上涌出爱民泉呦，感谢亲人解放军……”