Written by Yuan Guoxiang
One day in April 2018, I took the manuscript of "Witnessing Ali" written by myself to the home of my old comrade-in-arms Xu Kechang, who had not been there for a long time, and asked him to read it and propose revisions. Because he is a veteran propaganda officer of the Southern Xinjiang Military Region, he has been to the Kunlun Mountains, to the Ali Plateau to learn a lot about the past, and he has also taken some photos. It was not until the 70s of the last century that he was transferred to the "Shengli Bao" office of the Xinjiang Military Region, where he served as an art editor for a long time, giving full play to his specialty of loving the art of painting. Around the 80s, Xu Kechang was transferred to the deputy director of the Propaganda Department of the Political Department of the Eastern Xinjiang Military Region, and worked until he was in his 60s. After the abolition of the Eastern Xinjiang Military Region in 1985, he left his post and went to rest at the No. 2 Military Cadres Rest Center in Urumqi.
Comrade Kechang and I have known each other for a long time. Shortly after the liberation of Kashgar in December 1949, a car of about 30 college and middle school students who had just joined the army was brought from Dihua (Urumqi). Most of them were recommended by the Xinjiang revolutionary and progressive organizations at that time, the "Pioneer Society" and the "Combat Society", approved by Guo Peng, commander of the Second Army, and led by Yan Changfa, an officer of the Propaganda Department, and after a seven-day long march, they arrived in the city of Laining in Kashgar, where the headquarters of the Second Army in Kashgar was located. I remember that when the leaders of the Propaganda Department welcomed and received this group of male and female student soldiers, they also invited them to perform some talents in singing, dancing, painting, and so on. Except for the two Uyghur comrades who were able to speak the Uyghur language, most of them went to the newly established Second Army Propaganda Corps (the former Propaganda Corps was transferred to the First Corps, which is now the Xinjiang Army Art Troupe), and a small number went to the journalism training class. The Political Department of the Second Army published the "People's Army" newspaper, and many editors and reporters produced student soldiers trained by famous Xinhua News Agency reporters such as Du Pengcheng and Wang Boqing; while Zhao Yunfu and Xu Kechang, who had expertise in painting, were successively transferred to the art group of the Propaganda Department to work, and undertook the arduous tasks of writing slogans, painting propaganda posters, and setting up venues for the meetings of model workers and party congresses, as well as for greeting the heroic representatives of the Chinese People's Volunteers and the central condolence group.
I was doing photography at the time, zooming in on the photos, and naturally I fought with them and formed a deep friendship. It was not until 1955 that the army was reorganized and the establishment of photography cadres was abolished, and I changed my career to the organization section as an officer, and photography work was indispensable, and at the beginning I was asked to undertake it, such as the activities of Chairman Zhu De and Marshal He Long in Kashgar, and later Xu Kechang, who had already served as an officer of the Propaganda Department, took up the role. In short, Xu Kechang worked for a long time to write political slogans, paint propaganda posters, and engage in photography work, giving full play to his artistic talents, and was later selected and transferred to work in the Xinjiang Military Region's "Shengli Bao". At that time, we were all young and energetic. At the end of the day, he drew a sketch for me, and now I find it and look at it, and it really leaves an image of my youth, as well as a memory of our friendly relationship. At that time, we were all busy finding a partner and falling in love. But he talked very successfully, and won Jiang Chongfang, a model nurse in the 12th Hospital, in one fell swoop, that is, the beautiful Shandong girl who often performs in theatrical programs. When the two of them got married, I also sent a diary, which read: "Kechang Kefang, Chongfang Chongchang, born a couple, love each other for a hundred years" congratulatory words. Sure enough, they got along harmoniously and gave birth to two daughters in a row, and now they have grown up and become talents, each married and had children, forming a happy family, inheriting the family style of loyalty, filial piety, benevolence, harmony and reunion in the mainland.
In 1954, I rode a camel to Tibet Ali Gaoyuan for half a year, got severe rheumatoid arthritis, and later suffered from cavitary tuberculosis. My girlfriend is afraid that I won't live long, and I don't blame her. It was not until I was 29 years old that my brother and sister-in-law in Sichuan introduced me to Dai Guifang, an inspector of a mica factory, who had been in love by aviation (letter) and got married in 1961. She went to Xinjiang to work as a primary school teacher, and I fought on the border defense line for a long time, and my husband and wife were harmonious, and I had both children and daughters, and I also formed a happy family. My husband and wife were familiar with Xu Kechang and Jiang Chongfang as early as the Southern Xinjiang Military Region, and they also corresponded with each other when they went to Urumqi later, and it can be said that they formed a lifelong friendship.
When I first went to Urumqi for a meeting in 1953, I went to a large courtyard on the west side of Nanliang Road to visit his parents, and learned that their predecessors were also hard-working residents in Xinjiang from Yangliuqing in Tianjin. It is not easy for them to provide for their sons to go to school and be liberated. In the 70s, when I went to Urumqi again, I saw Xu Kechang's parents again in the family courtyard of the Political Department of the Xinjiang Military Region. Obviously, they have three generations in the same house, their fathers are kind and filial, and they are happy. The elderly grandparents did their best to take care of their two granddaughters, and there were also some potted flowers on the wooden shelves in front of their house, the lush green and bright red flowers showed the vibrant, happy atmosphere of the family.
Jiang Chongfang is a Shandong girl who joined the army in Xinjiang in 1952. She went from hygienist to nurse in the 12th Hospital, and later studied to become a doctor. In 1993, after we moved to the Urumqi Dry Retreat Center, she was in charge of the treatment of hyperbaric oxygen chambers in the General Hospital of the Xinjiang Military Region. When I was in the hospital, I went into her hyperbaric oxygen chamber many times to treat my illness. My wife, Dai Guifang, has Parkinson's disease and has been kindly helped and treated by her.
Jiang Chongfang was a model nurse and head nurse, and he was an advanced worker as a doctor and attending doctor, who received many awards for meritorious service, never cared about personal gains and losses, and retired from the regimental post. When I met the couple this time, I didn't expect that Xu Kechang and I were the same age and 88 years old, but they had a leg disease and had difficulty walking, while Jiang Chongfang was also 82 years old, but she was in good health, and she walked as briskly as when she danced the "Flowers" dance, not only participated in various activities, but also took good care of her wife, and became a pair of "model old couple" praised by old comrades.