The belief of the island keepers

The picture shows a bird's eye view of Kaishan Island.

Image China

One

On this day, the rising sun crosses the sea level and shines on Kaishan Island, which is only 0.013 square kilometers in the outpost of the Yellow Sea. A path on the island that leads from the bottom of the mountain to the top of the mountain is inadvertently illuminated by the sun.

It is a path with 208 steps. On the peak at the end of the path, a flagpole is erected, as if the island is firmly fixed to the map of China's Ten Thousand Miles Sea Frontier.

At this time, the three militiamen of the Militia Post on Kaishan Island, clad in the morning light, climbed up the steps along the path. They went to raise the flag.

In 1986, according to the needs of the country's economic construction and national defense construction, the three companies of a certain unit of the People's Liberation Army, which were originally stationed on Kaishan Island, were ordered to withdraw. The superiors entrusted the task of guarding the island to the local militia, and Wang Jicai and Wang Shihua took over the burden. For 32 years, the couple went to the top of the mountain every day to raise the national flag, rain or shine. Now, three years after Wang Jicai's death, the flag of shoudao has been passed on to the militia of Kaishan Island. Thus, the raising of the flag became part of the life of the new generation of island keepers, or rather, part of their lives.

Now, they were walking up the hill. As you ascend step by step, the space in front of you opens up one after another. This process seems to be moving towards the vast and high, constantly moving forward.

Two

On July 27, 2018, Wang Jicai, director of the militia post on Kaishan Island, died of a sudden illness while on duty, and the rescue was ineffective, and unfortunately passed away at the age of 58.

Before Wang Jicai died, he once said to his wife Wang Shihua: "When we come, we will guard it in a down-to-earth manner." This is part of the motherland, and it is of great significance that we are flying the national flag here. This is Wang Jicai's promise, and it is also Wang Shihua's promise. After Wang Jicai's death, Wang Shihua submitted an application to his superiors to continue guarding the island.

At the same time, the People's Armed Forces Department of Guanyun County, Lianyungang City, Jiangsu Province, recruited militia guarding the island throughout the county, and as many as 500 people signed up!

Huang Xiaofeng, who works in the party and government office of the fourth team town, signed up for the first time to apply for shoudao. Huang Xiaofeng and Wang Jicai are from the same village, and it can be said that they grew up listening to the story of Wang Jicai's shoudao island. In Huang Xiaofeng's heart, Wang Jicai is a hero. Huang Xiaofeng is dedicated to learning from heroes and is determined to be a strivers like Wang Jicai.

Chang Xiangdong, who works at the veterans' workstation in Dongwangji Town, took the initiative to ask to guard the island, but his wife did not agree. The wife said that her son will go to the third year of junior high school next year and will take the middle school entrance examination, and at the critical time, you cannot leave. Chang Xiangdong repeatedly did his wife's ideological work, saying that Wang Jicai gave up his small family and served the country, and now the country needs people to guard the island. Later, the wife understood her husband's pursuit, and Chang Xiangdong became a new generation of militia at the Kaishan Island outpost as he wished.

In the past three years, the Guanyun County People's Armed Forces Department has successively selected 37 militiamen to guard the island, the vast majority of whom are young people. Among them, 9 people in 2021, divided into three groups, entered the island in batches to rotate.

The three men who were now walking toward the top of the mountain were members of a group on rotation to guard the island. In front of them, there seemed to be a familiar figure walking forever, leading them like a flag, that is, Wang Jicai.

Yes, in their hearts, as long as they go to raise the flag, Wang Jicai will walk with them.

Three

Following one step of the steps, they continued their climb towards the top of the mountain.

They know that not every time the flag is raised, the weather is so good. At sea, storms are frequent visitors to the island.

When a storm comes, it does not greet you in advance, and it often hides in large, low-hanging clouds, or lurks in schools of fish swimming on the seabed, in short, without a trace. When it approached the island, the storm suddenly appeared, jumped out of the shadows, shouted loudly, roared, and pounced on the island.

That year, Wang Jicai was blown off a cliff by a fierce wind on the way to raise the flag, breaking three ribs. Later, with the support of his wife Wang Shihua, he endured the pain and went to the top of the mountain, and he forced the national flag to be raised!

Compared with Wang Jicai, the new generation of island keepers has not been guarding the island for a long time, but they have also experienced ups and downs.

Once, when the wind came, I couldn't leave. It was windy every day for more than a month. The ship could not enter the island, and the food supply was interrupted. In those days, they ate instant noodles every day, and it seemed that the instant noodles they would eat for the next three or five years, or ten years and eight years, were concentrated in this time period, so that when they smelled the taste of boiled water bubble noodles, their stomachs were pantothenic.

Another time, when a storm struck, Shao Zhenggang, deputy director of the militia post, received a call from his wife, saying that his 12-year-old son had a high fever and would not go away... At this time, the storm was raging, and there were no boats out of the island at all. All Shao Zhenggang was able to do was comfort his wife over and over again on the phone and ask for help from relatives and friends outside the island.

In addition to the strong winds and waves, there are many difficulties to deal with in the life of the island keepers.

For example, in September 2018, the first militia on rotation first entered Kaishan Island and lived in a small auditorium. Due to disrepair, many windows in the auditorium were damaged, mosquitoes invaded, and people could not sleep at all... Later, the county people's armed forces department built dormitories, and the State Grid Lianyungang Power Supply Company provided supporting facilities such as smart microgrids and seawater desalination systems in a timely manner, and the living conditions on the island have been greatly improved. Looking back on the past, Wang Haijian, Yuan Yang, Wang Xubing and others who were on duty on the island still have fresh memories.

For example, although there are refrigerated cabinets on the island, the vegetables are kept fresh for a short time, and after a few days, the only vegetables eaten by everyone are potatoes that are easy to preserve. That is to say, during their 2/3 rotation on the island, cooking became particularly simple, except for fried potatoes, which is stewed potatoes.

Four

Moving forward, it's time to reach the flag-raising platform. Whenever they walk here, they stop and look back at the land behind them.

This time, it is no exception.

When their gaze flaps their wings like a seagull, across the vast sea and toward the opposite shore, there is a pure, nearly infinitely transparent feeling that will spread rapidly in their hearts.

Why, no matter why an island less than the size of two football fields raised high above the continental shelf, has such an appeal to them?

There is a financial subsidy for staying on the island. But that little subsidy is far from making a reason for everyone to rush to the island. They come from all walks of life, have their own fixed income, if nothing else, let's say that the business is doing a few young people, where is the financial subsidy on the island comparable to their operating income? But they came without hesitation. In the minds of these island keepers, the meaning of a thing is never measured by the amount of remuneration. They have their own spiritual pursuits.

After the 90s, Zhang Ao had a conversation with Wang Jicai three years ago. Wang Jicai said: Xiao Zhang, people must be able to endure loneliness, guard poverty, strengthen their faith, and work in a down-to-earth manner. Later, Zhang Ao came to guard the island for Wang Jicai's words. He wants to follow the footsteps of Wang Jicai, explore the mystery of "perseverance" in the hero, and find the true meaning of life.

Chen Zhixian, the 32-year-old director of the Militia Post on Kaishan Island, is exactly the same age as Wang Jicai's "island age." One island, two people, 32 years, what do those three numbers mean? Chen Zhixian thought for a long time. He believed that Wang Jicai was the coordinate of his life. Like Wang Jicai, he wants to guard the island, love the country, and use unremitting efforts to give meaning to life.

Shao Zhenggang was one of the first volunteers and has been on duty on the island for three years. The winter of 2020 was particularly cold, with the lowest temperatures reaching minus 18 degrees Celsius. The island's famous neem tree froze to death. When he saw Wang Shihua holding the tree and crying bitterly, his heart was strongly shaken. The neem tree was planted by Wang Jicai and Wang Shihua by their own hands. The couple planted two or three hundred trees successively to survive this one. Three years ago, Wang Jicai left everyone; now, the neem tree has also left everyone. Shao Zhenggang looked at Wang Shihua, who was in tears in his arms, and thought to himself, bad weather can make the tree die, but it cannot change the firm belief of the island keepers. After that, Shao Zhenggang planted flowers everywhere on the island, planting a flower called "purple jasmine". He wants this kind of cold-, heat-resistant, wind-resistant, and rain-resistant flowers to speak for the island keepers with strength and enthusiasm.

In fact, each of them, far from the hustle and bustle, away from the temptation, stands guard on the island, patrols, puts up sentries, raises the flag... Over time, I feel that the mind is always feeling purified.

Five

After walking the last step, they came to the commanding heights of Kaishan Island, the flag-raising platform.

When Wang Jicai guarded the island, he would raise the flag here every day.

Now, here they are. They are also flag raisers. When they unfurled the flag, at this time, the sky was red, the sea was red, the clouds were red, the morning light was red, even the low-flying seagulls were red... The red and red fire indicates that the great motherland is auspicious and peaceful.

They know that since the militia was stationed on Kaishan Island, a small militia post with a glorious history of more than 30 years, under the unremitting insistence of Wang Jicai and Wang Shihua for many years, in the wind and rain, has come all the way to this day, and is destined to bring heavy spiritual harvests to every militia post in the future.

They know that raising the national flag is a declaration of national sovereignty. Therefore, when they became a militiaman at the Kaishan Island outpost, they had a mountain-like responsibility on their shoulders. They even feel that because of the raising of the national flag here, they are no longer their own in the original sense. They are sincerely proud to be able to safeguard peace and sovereignty for their dear motherland.

They also knew that behind them, there would be more militia; in the near future, there would be more island keepers. Like themselves, they will passionately raise the bright flag and the sun every morning.

At this time, they sang the national anthem and saluted the national flag.

The national flag of Hula waving in the wind makes a hunting sound in the process of slowly rising. This sound, blown and spread by the sea breeze, has a mighty momentum. As a result, it is not just the three rotating militias raising the flag at the moment, but thousands of island guards who are raising the flag. The bright red flag danced, like a song, like a picture, like a trumpet blowing!

In the outpost of the Yellow Sea of the motherland, on Kaishan Island, a new day began. Liu Jinglin

Source: People's Daily