Focusing on Grassroots Unit Building in the New Era | Going Behind the Scenes of Ceremony-Based Education

"Years of silent toil will ultimately be crowned by time"

■ Cai Tong, Gao Ouyuan

As the date of his discharge drew ever closer, Corporal Yang Kaibo of a certain brigade under the 77th Group Army found his thinking beginning to drift.

As one of the brigade's more technically seasoned mechanics, he felt he had done everything worth doing and endured every hardship worth enduring. The time remaining was nothing more than a countdown, day by day. When troubleshooting faults, he had lost his once relentless drive to get to the bottom of things. In the company's various tasks, he dodged what he could and pushed off what he could not avoid. Even during professional study sessions, his mind frequently wandered.

"I'm leaving anyway — what's the point of learning so much or doing so much?" That thought circled endlessly in the back of his mind.

Yet this period of mental "drift" lasted barely a month. It was on February 10th, at the brigade's Fourth "Top Ten Pioneers" Award Ceremony, that a quiet transformation took place inside Yang Kaibo.

That evening, the venue was solemn and dignified, the pioneers' deeds deeply moving, and the officers and soldiers in attendance were profoundly stirred. "More than a decade of dedicated work in the communications support field — battling through snow-capped mountains and high-altitude passes, participating in major exercises and training events, overcoming multiple technical challenges, and even winning gold and silver at an army-wide communications competition before retirement…" A promotional short film about the pioneer figures played on the large screen. In the footage, award recipient Ye Jianlan, dressed in combat fatigues, stood watch at a cramped and dimly lit equipment room post.

Different trades are worlds apart, and Yang Kaibo had crossed paths with Ye Jianlan only a handful of times, knowing little of each other's work. What happened next struck Yang Kaibo — who had been listening intently to the narration — even more deeply: Ye Jianlan, who had retired the previous year, strode briskly up to the award platform.

The moment she received the medal, Ye Jianlan turned toward the audience and rendered a precise military salute. The hall erupted in thunderous applause; comrades in the front rows rose spontaneously to their feet to pay tribute to this veteran soldier.

"Though you have already taken off the uniform, your fighting footprints are forever etched into our brigade's march forward," the emcee's voice resonated through the hall. "This honor belongs to every day and every night you gave wholeheartedly to the unit."

The applause was deafening. Yang Kaibo fixed his gaze on the figure standing on the stage, and something inside him was shaken to its core: "A person who has left the barracks — the organization still remembers them. Years of silent toil will ultimately be crowned by time."

"Will the officers and soldiers remember me after I leave the barracks?" "If I keep lying flat (躺平) like this, what will I have left behind for the unit?" A string of searching questions struck him at his very core.

Back in the dormitory that night, Yang Kaibo lay awake for a long time, his mind blank. The figure standing in the spotlight refused to leave his thoughts.

The day after the award ceremony, Yang Kaibo was a changed man. His comrades were astonished to find that Squad Leader Yang — the one who applied himself with quiet intensity, meticulous care, and a willingness to take responsibility — had returned. During breaks in training, Yang Kaibo even proactively invited his comrades to witness the new goal he had set for himself: "I will strive, in the shortest possible time, to systematically and methodically identify common equipment problems across every system and every time period, work to anticipate faults before they occur, and ensure that every support mission is carried out without a single hitch."

"You're about to be discharged — why push yourself this hard?" his comrades asked.

Yang Kaibo's gaze was steady, his voice resolute: "The final stretch of military service is exactly when you should give your best! I want to see what I'm capable of when I go all out to the very end!"

*A certain brigade of the 77th Group Army holds a triumphant return ceremony for a mission detachment.*

*Photo by Xu Xiaoyu*

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Going Behind the Scenes of Ceremony-Based Education

■ Cai Tong, PLA Daily Reporters Zhang Leifeng, Wang Yue

"A retirement ceremony for one person" is enough to rally the hearts of countless soldiers

Master Sergeant First Class Tian Bin never imagined that, before leaving the service, he would receive a "special honor."

"Salute the military flag!" At the end of last year, after Tian Bin participated in the winter enlisted personnel retirement ceremony organized by a certain brigade of the 77th Group Army, he returned to his company. What he did not expect was that a "retirement ceremony for one person" was being held in his honor at the company level.

Walking up to the front, Tian Bin was overcome with emotion: the large screen scrolled through the honors he had earned and snapshots of his work in the company over the years, while his comrades below applauded warmly.

"In the past, when only a few veterans were leaving, the company rarely held a ceremony. Now it's different — even if only one person is departing, the ceremony must be held!" Staff Sergeant Third Class Jia Binbin told reporters. "Veteran Hu Haiqing still can't forget being called back for his own retirement ceremony."

That winter, Master Sergeant First Class Hu Haiqing, about to return home after discharge, was loading his packed luggage onto a courier vehicle with the help of his comrade Li Chuan.

"Old Hu, come back quickly." The courier vehicle had barely pulled away when Hu Haiqing received a call from the company political instructor. "Get your uniform on — everyone is waiting to attend your retirement ceremony!"

After hanging up, Hu Haiqing was puzzled: "I'm the only one in the whole company being discharged — how can there be a retirement ceremony?" He changed into his uniform and walked quickly to the venue.

As he entered the company club, a burst of warm applause and cheering erupted instantly. Walking toward the center of the venue, Hu Haiqing saw the battalion and company commanders standing in neat formation, with every comrade in the company looking at him with warm, affectionate eyes.

Receiving the company flag, saluting the company flag, removing his rank insignia, the veteran's address… every step was carried out with meticulous care. At the ceremony's conclusion, when Hu Haiqing solemnly received his discharge certificate, this tough soldier — who had once leapt from several meters up and plunged into danger during earthquake relief operations in Luding — could not hold back his tears.

"Honestly, I never expected it," Hu Haiqing said, his voice still catching whenever he recalls that moment even today. "I thought I'd slip away quietly, and I never imagined the company's ceremony would be so heartfelt."

"'A retirement ceremony for one person' is enough to rally the hearts of countless soldiers," a brigade leader remarked with deep feeling.

In the course of several days of reporting at the brigade, reporters found that this sense of honor does not belong only to retiring veterans.

Several kilometers from the brigade's main garrison area lies a small compound — the brigade's smallest post: the navigation station. Last year, this post, staffed by just two people, was recognized as a "Party Member Pioneer Post" for its outstanding support performance.

Early the next morning, the political instructor led the company's key personnel to deliver the gleaming gold honor plaque to the navigation station.

Looking out the window at the festive scene, young soldier Wang Guangguang turned to his squad leader and asked: "Doesn't this scene feel just as lively as when good news is delivered to families back home?"

Receiving the honor plaque, Wang Guangguang was overjoyed. He had always thought of himself as someone who had been "forgotten." Now he felt proud: "Every ordinary act of perseverance — the organization sees it all."

Not long afterward, due to a position adjustment, Wang Guangguang became the post's person in charge. Like the old squad leader before him, he carefully maintained the equipment every day and conscientiously mentored new comrades. The "Party Member Pioneer Post" honor plaque was polished by him until it gleamed without a speck of dust, and placed in the most prominent position. After a year of effort, the navigation station was once again recognized as a "Party Member Pioneer Post" at the start of this year.

"These simple yet heartwarming ceremonies are precisely the powerful lever we use to carry out mass education activities (群众性教育活动)," the brigade's propaganda section chief, who had come along with the company's officers and soldiers to "offer congratulations," told reporters. "Some forms of education require no lecturing at all. A single heartwarming act of positive reinforcement can ignite the spiritual drive in officers and soldiers to sharpen their combat skills and dedicate themselves to their work."

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A tree and a flight logbook make ceremony-based education weightier

As the first light of dawn broke, in the garrison area of a certain battalion of the brigade, the outline of a pomegranate tree slowly emerged from the thin mist, silently bearing witness to the struggles and growth of generation after generation of pilots.

At 8:00 a.m., pilot Han Jianing stood beneath the pomegranate tree, its branches heavy with fruit, carefully straightening the collar of his flight suit. A simple yet solemn company assignment ceremony was about to be held here — no podium, no amplification equipment, no distinguished guests, only officers and soldiers standing in crisp, spirited formation.

"Today, we hold the company assignment ceremony here," the battalion political instructor said, then walked to the pomegranate tree, his fingers gently tracing the grooves of its weathered trunk, and began to speak of the pilots who had once taken their oaths beneath it.

"On May 31, 2008, Captain Qiu Guanghua carried out his final mission, saying farewell to his family right here. Knowing full well the dangers ahead, he still resolutely boarded his aircraft and flew to the disaster zone…"

This account of heroism struck a chord in every officer and soldier present. All raised their right hands slowly and rendered a solemn salute. In that moment, everyone understood what it meant to have the undying loyalty of a hero pilot — to press forward with firm conviction and indomitable courage even when the road ahead is filled with unknown risks and challenges.

"The year Qiu Guanghua was killed, I had just graduated and been assigned to the company…" In the formation, pilot Huang Zhentian's eyes grew moist and his voice broke several times. "But unlike Han Jianing, my first ceremony upon joining the company was witnessed by a flight logbook."

That year, shortly after being assigned to the company, Huang Zhentian received a special task: to deliver Captain Qiu Guanghua's flight logbook to the battalion history museum.

"That was not a simple handover — it was a ceremony-based education experience I will never forget for the rest of my life," Huang Zhentian recalled. During the ceremony, he was not only awed by Qiu Guanghua's superb piloting skills, but also moved by the courage Qiu had shown in "volunteering for the mission" at a moment of crisis.

In the battalion history museum, the moment Captain Qiu Guanghua's flight logbook was placed in its case, Huang Zhentian rendered a solemn military salute. It was precisely in that instant that he set a goal for himself — to strive, like Captain Qiu Guanghua, to be a qualified servicemember who is loyal to the Party, obeys the Party's command, fulfills his duties, and does not fear sacrifice.

What he could not have anticipated was that, fourteen years later, that conviction had transformed into an instinctive readiness to step forward in a moment of crisis.

On September 5, 2022, a magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck Luding, Sichuan. "Commander, let me go!" Huang Zhentian volunteered. For several consecutive days, he and his comrades moved between multiple disaster sites, flying through gorges again and again, breaking through clouds and fog again and again, completing dozens of extreme-condition sorties in conditions of extremely low visibility, doing everything in their power to protect the lives of the people and successfully completing the disaster relief mission.

"Every time I carry out a major mission, I go to the battalion history museum to revisit that flight logbook," Huang Zhentian said. In his military memories, the contents of the logbook have long since been committed to heart. In recent years, Huang Zhentian has pushed into high-altitude restricted zones, competed on international exercise and training grounds, and piloted a combat aircraft to complete the brigade's first fully-loaded high-altitude landing mission…

"What moves people most deeply is often hidden in simple details. A tree and a flight logbook make ceremony-based education weightier," the brigade's leadership said, having witnessed Huang Zhentian's growth and development.

*Officers and soldiers of a certain brigade of the 77th Group Army take an oath at a mission departure ceremony.*

*Photo by Xu Xiaoyu*

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Writing respect into ceremony, weaving care into action

"What kind of ceremony are officers and soldiers hoping for?" Not long ago, Staff Officer Zhao of the brigade's propaganda section received a task: to organize a departure ceremony for a mission detachment about to set out for field training. The brigade's leadership set the requirement: "You must understand what the officers and soldiers are thinking — the ceremony must be heartfelt."

Late at night, reporters came to Staff Officer Zhao's office to find him poring over audiovisual records of every ceremony held since the brigade's founding. The solemn salute at a grounding ceremony, the radiant smiles at an equipment reception ceremony, the tears of excitement after a first solo flight ceremony… Working through the material systematically, he found his direction: "For a ceremony to earn the recognition of officers and soldiers, the organizer must first be the person who 'understands' them best."

Flipping open the brigade history archive, Staff Officer Zhao pointed to the entry for December 9, 2020, explaining that on that day he had helped organize the ceremony of which he is most proud in his personal military career. The ceremony's central figure was brigade pilot and inaugural "Army Pioneer" Zhao Qinqiu.

At the time, Zhao Qinqiu had just recovered from a serious injury and had endured tremendous hardship to finally return to flying. By convention, a ceremony should precede the flight. But Staff Officer Zhao believed that at that pivotal moment, letting him walk up to his combat aircraft alone was "the perfect arrangement."

"The moment Zhao Qinqiu stepped up to the aircraft, his ceremony began," recalled Xiao Yongbin, who served as his instructor pilot at the time. "My task, beyond conducting the training flight, was to document that precious moment for him."

High in the blue sky, as the aircraft was about to return, Xiao Yongbin took out a sports camera he had prepared in advance and quietly pressed the shutter. When the helicopter touched down smoothly and Zhao Qinqiu stepped out of the cockpit, he was met by the concerned and ardent gazes of his comrades-in-arms. In that moment, this iron-willed soldier's eyes filled with tears.

Today, that unforgettable ceremony has become the spiritual drive propelling him to pursue his dreams in the sky. During earthquake relief, he volunteered; during high-altitude field training, he took the lead in collecting high-altitude flight data; during new equipment training, he led the charge in tackling technical challenges… At the end of last year, he passed his qualification assessment again and became the aircraft commander of a new-model helicopter.

Ceremony forges the soul (仪式铸魂), nourishing silently like rain. Ceremony after ceremony, each one "understanding" what officers and soldiers are thinking, is transforming from "going through the motions" into "touching the heart." In recent years, the brigade has used ceremony-based education as a powerful lever, gradually accumulating experience through concrete practice. Inspired by one heartwarming ceremony after another, more and more officers and soldiers have been "understood, seen, encouraged, and moved" —

At a certain airfield in deep winter, a bitter wind cut through the air. A mission detachment of the brigade returned in triumph after successfully completing a joint exercise mission. Along both sides of the road, officers and soldiers stood in neat formation, awaiting a carefully prepared "triumphant return ceremony."

As the lead aircraft touched down smoothly, two fire trucks on either side instantly shot twin columns of water into the sky, arcing together to form a magnificent water arch. Officers and soldiers welcomed their heroes home with aviation's highest honor. Pilot Zhang Lei, recalling the scene, still could not conceal his excitement: "This was not merely a welcoming ceremony — it was a weighty recognition and a charge for the future."

Late that night, leafing through photograph after photograph of officers and soldiers in high spirits, Staff Officer Zhao's mind suddenly became clear. He picked up his pen and wrote his reflections solemnly in his notebook: "Write respect into ceremony, weave care into action. To earn the recognition of officers and soldiers, you must first be the person who 'understands' them best."

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**An Eyewitness Account**

"Dad, you are my pride"

■ Wang Jianglin, Pilot, a certain brigade of the 77th Group Army

"Dad! You are my pride!"

My daughter's words of encouragement at the award ceremony still echo in my ears.

That year, I was away with a mission detachment on field training at a certain post when I suddenly received notice from my superiors: I had been selected as one of the brigade's "Top Ten Pioneer" exemplars.

Taking into account that I was carrying out a mission, the award ceremony would be organized simultaneously at each post via video teleconference. I, as the "award recipient," would appear on stage "in the cloud" via video link.

Not being able to stand in the hall in person and receive that weighty medal with my own hands — I could not help feeling a twinge of regret. But the field training schedule was tight and the mission demanding, and as a key member of the unit I had to keep my full attention on my combat post. The honor and the ceremony were the organization's recognition of me; all the more reason for me to shoulder the responsibilities on my shoulders with a fighting spirit.

On the day of the ceremony, I deliberately put on a brand-new flight suit and sat before the video terminal. When the emcee called my name, I immediately rose to my feet and rendered a solemn salute toward the main venue on the other side of the screen. At that moment, the large screen suddenly cut to a new image, and three figures I know better than anyone slowly walked onto the stage.

It was my mother, and my son and daughter, walking hand in hand onto the stage, waving toward the camera. I could see my mother's eyes glistening with tears as she held flowers and the medal in both hands, slowly "passing" them toward the camera on my side.

My mother's familiar hometown accent was especially dear to me: "Do your best in the unit — the children are all proud of you!" Before she had finished speaking, my daughter suddenly pressed her little face up to the camera, nearly touching the screen, and called out: "Dad, you are my pride!"

"Dad hears you!" I called back loudly, and tears streamed down my face. Through blurred eyes, looking at my closest family on the screen, I suddenly understood: this honor is not only an affirmation of my past struggles and efforts — it is also a charge for me to keep charging forward in the future. I must become a role model for my children.

From that day on, my heart became as firm as a boulder on the high plateau. When studying tactics and methods of warfare in complex environments, or working through training challenges, the expectations of my family, the affirmation of the organization, and the encouragement of the honor are all the spiritual drive that steels me to press forward.

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**Sharp Perspective**

Using Ceremony-Based Education to Forge the Soul and Cultivate People

■ Chen Daiyong

Ceremony, as an ancient cultural phenomenon, has been widely employed in military construction and military operations since the birth and development of human civilization. The People's Army has always placed great importance on conducting ceremony-based education, treating it as an important measure for strengthening ideological and political education, carrying forward the red gene (红色基因), and rallying the hearts and morale of the force.

Ceremony-based education integrates knowledge, emotion, will, and action (知、情、意、行) into a unified whole. It carries the functions of forging the soul (铸魂), tempering for war (砺战), inspiring fighting spirit (激气), and cultivating virtue (厚德). It is a forge for the spirit, giving concrete, perceptible form to the otherwise abstract — the servicemember's duties and mission, the unit's fine traditions, the character and spirit of heroes — and is capable of further igniting officers' and soldiers' political identification, professional identification, and emotional identification. When a young soldier takes a solemn oath beneath the military flag, when a retiring veteran bids a tearful farewell to their post, when all officers and soldiers bow their heads in silent tribute to fallen heroes… the spiritual force stirred in those moments reaches far deeper than any number of words.

To unlock the "spiritual cipher" (精神密码) of forging the soul and cultivating people, and to conduct ceremony-based education well in the new era, the key lies in grasping the dialectic of "change" and "constancy." What "changes" is the form and method, which must adapt to the cognitive characteristics of young officers and soldiers and the pulse of the times. What remains "constant" is the spiritual core, which must firmly uphold the founding purpose of forging the soul and cultivating people. A successful ceremony-based education should carry both the weight of history and the freshness of the times; both the rigor of established norms and the vitality of innovation.

Water that is not stirred does not rise; people who are not inspired do not strive. The great march to build a powerful military and revitalize the armed forces requires not only a sharp blade of weapons, but also a resilient blade of spirit. We must make good use of ceremony-based education as a powerful lever — conducting necessary ceremonies in conjunction with the unit's actual mission requirements — to inspire officers' and soldiers' enthusiasm for building a strong military and serving the nation, to continuously cultivate a martial ethos (尚武之风) of thinking about war and training for war, and to enable officers and soldiers to temper their fighting spirit and ignite their martial courage and boldness (血性胆魄) through education and inspiration.