On the evening of February 4, when the fireworks of the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics exploded in the night sky, Liu Yang, a police officer of the Chaoyang Branch of the Beijing Municipal Public Security Bureau, who was responsible for the care of the Bird's Nest Fireworks Position at the National Stadium, solemnly saluted the Bird's Nest. For this moment, Liu Yang felt that it was worth it for him and his colleagues to brave the bone-chilling cold of the outdoors in Beijing for several days and work hard day and night.
On January 18, when the erection of the rack for fixing the cannon barrel on the east side of the Bird's Nest on the east side of the Lake View Road began, Liu Yang and his colleagues were stationed in the fireworks display position and began to take care of it. About 500 meters north and south of Lakeview East Road is the ground fireworks display area, because the surrounding area is relatively empty, there is no shelter, and the cold is better.
In order to prevent accidental damage to the set-up fireworks device and affect the safety of the fireworks, on weekdays, there are police officers on the fireworks position who take turns to take care of them 24 hours a day. Almost half of the time spent by the police in outdoor patrols, in addition to the three layers of police uniforms and protective bodies, warm babies, self-heating hot pots, warm kettles, and insulated cups have also become the "standard" of work. Even so, as long as he stood outside for an hour, the cold began to drill into the cracks of his bones, especially in the few days when it snowed in Beijing, Liu Yang fully realized the difficulty of this job.
On the day of the opening ceremony, more police forces gathered here to prepare for the fireworks display at night. At 7:00 a.m., Liu Yang and his colleagues began the first wave of clearance work, in which they persuaded irrelevant personnel and vehicles to leave the firing area, and at the same time arranged special care at important bayonets and points to prevent people and cars from entering by mistake. At 11:00 a.m., the clearance area was expanded to within 180 meters of the bird's nest. Soon, the ceremonial bombs used at the opening ceremony were escorted here, and professionals began to reload them. At 19:00, the last round of clearance work began. In addition to the necessary discharge personnel, other staff and work vehicles need to be evacuated to a safe area. After the previous rehearsals, Liu Yang is already quite familiar with this process.
During the opening ceremony, when the first round of fireworks rose into the night sky, Liu Yang, whose hands and feet were cold, guarded in front of the landscape sculptures of the ice piers and snow melting on the east side of Beichen East Road. Close to the Bird's Nest, but unable to appreciate the grand opening ceremony inside, Liu Yang had some regrets, but he still felt honored.
It was not until 12 o'clock at night that the remaining duds were safely removed, and Liu Yang and his colleagues completed the day's duties and resumed to daily nursing work. They will remain here until the end of the Winter Paralympic Games in mid-March. The cold weather and long time span add a lot of difficulty to the nursing work. Liu Yang's child is only two months old, "although I can only return home once in three or five days during this time, my lover is also the people's police, and for the Beijing Winter Olympics, my family has given me the greatest understanding and support, so that I can guard here with peace of mind." Liu Yang said.
Photograph: Liu Minghan