When you travel far away, you have a time to return home.
Listen, the sound of gongs and drums is the expectation of a city to a ship, and the sound of the whistle is the greeting of a ship to a city.
On the morning of April 19, the wharf of Yantai Port was boiling: Yantai ship, welcome home again!
In the 13 years since the Yantai ship was listed, it returned to the named place for the second time to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Navy with the people of its hometown.
The city and the ship, because of the same name, do not take the mountains and seas as far, the spirit is blended, and the blood is connected. In the glorious tradition of "loving our people and loving our army", it has injected vitality and vitality into the high-quality development of Yantai's double-support work in the new era.
Meet, on a warship
"Welcome home again!"
At about 9:30 a.m. on April 19, the K11 wharf of Yantai Port was full of people and gongs and drums. In the breeze of the blue sky and blue sea, facing the cheers, the Yantai ship of the Navy followed the light and approached the port.
The magnificent Yantai ship slowly sailed into its hometown harbor, and the hull was hung with banners that read, "Jointly build and share the situation of the ship and the city, talk about patriotism and support the military" and "The army and the people work together to build a strong country and a strong army." The officers and men of the ship were full of spirit and waved their hands in unison.
"Cities and warships breathe the same breath, share the same fate, and are heart-to-heart. In your name, name me, Yantai ships chase dreams of the stars, to the sea to be strong, the motherland is proud of you, the hometown is proud of you, we are proud of you!"
"I am very happy to be able to go to the scene today to welcome the Yantai ship home, as the inheritor of Haiyang Yangge, I feel very honored to be able to greet the people's soldiers with Yantai's unique folk intangible cultural heritage. Jiang Kun, the head of the Haiyang Longteng Yangge art team, said.
A word, a greeting, a concern. My hometown, my Yantai ship, is the cheer of more than 7 million sons and daughters of Yantai from the bottom of their hearts.
"We have passed the registration this time, including more than 10 retired soldiers, and we are extremely happy and looking forward to seeing our comrades-in-arms again. Zhang Jian of the Yantai Port Workers' Phalanx said.
"I am very proud that China is so strong. When I grow up, I also want to be a glorious PLA soldier!" Xu Huanchen, a 12-year-old fifth-grade student at the Military and Civilian Primary School in Zhifu District, Yantai City, said excitedly waving the national flag in his hand.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Navy, and it is also the second time since the Yantai was listed 13 years ago that it has returned to the named place to celebrate the Navy Day with the people of its hometown.
The ship returned to his hometown, and "he" returned to his hometown. On the deck, the 2-year-old cute baby Feng Mengxu threw herself into the arms of her uncle Xu Jinjie. This time, Xu Jinjie was reunited with his family. Xu Jinjie, born in 2000, is a Yantai recruit who joined the army last year. "We set off from Zhaoyuan at 6 o'clock in the morning, and the children were very excited all the way, saying that they wanted to see the big warship and their uncle to hug them. Feng Mengxu's mother, Xu Jinfeng, said that the family had not seen her brother for more than half a year. At this meeting, Xu Jinjie and his parents, sister, and niece gathered on a warship.
Kong Xiangru, who also grew up on the beach in Yantai, enlisted in the army for more than 7 years and was assigned to the Yantai ship in 2017. "Now I am not the helmsman of an ordinary warship, but the helmsman of the ship in our hometown city of Yantai. With a sense of mission, I want to sail the Yantai ship to the deep blue!" said Kong Xiangru, the Yantai ship of the Navy.
During the Yantai warship's visit to Yantai, the two sides will hold a city light show, a shipboard exhibition of intangible cultural heritage, and a lecture on national defense education.
Cities and Ships –
Because of the same name, the spirit blends
The time is turned back to the morning of April 20, 2023, at the K11 wharf of Yantai Port, a whistle sounded, and the Yantai ship of the Navy slowly docked and lay quietly, which was the first visit to Yantai since the Yantai ship entered the list for 12 years, which fully reflected the deep friendship of the Yantai ship to the "second hometown".
During the first visit to Yantai, the two sides carried out a series of exchange and interactive activities——
On the evening of April 20, the lights and large screens of 11 buildings in Binhai Square, the large screen of Fisherman's Wharf, and the large screen of Cultural Square were lit up together, and slogans such as "Warmly celebrate the 74th anniversary of the founding of the People's Navy", "Warmly welcome the Yantai ship home", "The city is the hometown of the battleship, and the battleship is the business card of the city" were played in a loop;
On April 21, Jia Ping, the "Top Ten Soldier Mothers in Shandong Province", and a team of 8 volunteers boarded the Yantai ship to package Yantai's special delicacy "mackerel dumplings" for the officers and soldiers, and shared the deep affection of the military and civilians;
......On the afternoon of April 21, the officers and men of the Yantai ship came to Yantai No. 1 Middle School to carry out the activity of "Signing Ceremony of the Joint Construction of the Yantai Ship of the Navy Yantai No. 1 Middle School and National Defense Education Lecture......
"In the past few days when Yantai ship visited Yantai, what impressed me the most was that the mothers of the soldiers went to the ship to make dumplings, they prepared the ingredients themselves, and taught us to make dumplings by hand, the kind of intimacy is like making dumplings with my mother at home, and I feel very warm. The representative of the female crew of the Yantai said emotionally.
The city warships go in both directions, and the blood of the city ships is closely linked, which has become a vivid portrayal of Yantai's double support of "comrades and zeals, watching and helping each other" in the new era.
The city is the homeland of the battleship, and the battleship is the calling card of the city. Since joining the People's Navy in June 2011, all the officers and men of the Yantai ship have kept in mind their mission, united as one, and fought against the wind and waves, and has successfully completed more than 60 major combat training tasks such as Sino-Russian joint exercises, SCO summit security, and the celebration of the 20th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland, and has gone to the Gulf of Aden twice to carry out escort missions.
Although this visit to Yantai is the second time to hold hands, Yantai and Yantai have already formed a deep friendship.
In September 2021, as a member of the 39th batch of escort formations of the Chinese Navy, the Yantai set sail from Qingdao to carry out escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters. On December 28, the escort group received an escort application from eight Chinese distant-water fishing boats, all of which belonged to China Fisheries Co., Ltd., with a total of 86 Chinese crew members on board, and most of them were Yantai fishermen.
In view of the small tonnage, low freeboard, slow speed and other factors of fishing vessels, the formation adopted a "two-way extension" escort method, extending the receiving point to the east by 100 nautical miles and the de-protection point by 55 nautical miles to the west to ensure the safe passage of fishing vessels through the Gulf of Aden. On January 1, 2022, after the escort formation converged with 8 fishing boats, the 1463rd escort mission began. After three days and four nights of escort, the formation successfully arrived at a safe sea area.
The Yantai ship's first "protection" of the new year made the hometown fishermen very grateful, and they thanked the escort officers and men by email: "With our hometown ship escorting, although we are far away from the motherland, we can still feel the warmth of our hometown, and we feel extremely proud and proud as Chinese!"
The city and the ship are closely connected by the same name.
Military & Civilian
Because of the hero's bloodline, the fish and water are deep-
Looking at the wharf of Yantai Port in the distance, the majestic Yantai ship docked here, the red national flag swaying in the wind and the white waves of the port city reflect each other. I can't help but sigh: a warship, a city, blood linked.
Yantai is an old revolutionary base area, a red hot land, and one of the first batch of "National Double-Support Model Cities" in the country, with a long and profound tradition of double-support.
From the period of the revolutionary war, 500,000 sons and daughters of Jiaodong joined the army to serve the country, 2.8 million people enthusiastically supported the front, to 39,600 registered martyrs in Yantai, which is the city with the largest number of martyrs in the province...... The history of revolution and the history of supporting the army that can be sung and cried witnesses the deep affection of the Yantai soldiers who help each other in life and death.
In the new era and new journey, Yantai innovatively practices the concept of "four good and four priorities" to support the army, carefully builds the double-support brand of "mountains and seas walk together, the army and the people are concentric", and makes every effort to relieve the worries of the soldiers, serve the troops, and add color to the party flag.
On Kongtong Island, a "special ticket for the garrison of Kongtong Island" connects officers and soldiers and military families. In the past 60 years, the friendship of the people of the island has always remained the same, and an old ticket can board the Kongtong Island passenger ship for free at any time;
The best resources are given priority to the troops, the most beautiful bay is given priority to build barracks, from Muping Yangma Island in the east to the golden coastline of Sanshan Island in Laizhou in the west, 12 pro-army buildings have been rebuilt, and one by one "pro-army buildings", and the military support has stretched for thousands of miles from generation to generation;
More than 100,000 yuan was invested to build the first double-support theme park in Yantai City, which integrates national defense education, double-support activities, and leisure and entertainment, and was completed and officially opened to the public, allowing the ancient coastal defense site to tell the "double-support story" in the new era......
A "double list" of work for the military and the local government to meet each other's needs and do practical things for each other, focusing on the center and strengthening the guarantee, accurately and efficiently solving the problems left over from history, turning the list of problems into a satisfactory list, serving the soldiers to warm the hearts of the army, and helping the officers and soldiers to serve wholeheartedly with heart and affection. Yantai has comprehensively carried out the six major activities of supporting the army of "warmth, policy, practical matters, culture, science and technology, and finance", innovatively implemented the "double list" of mutual practical things between the military and the locality, and solved more than 2,700 problems of urgency, hardship and longing for the troops, involving the schooling of military children, the placement and employment of family members, water supply and heating, road maintenance, traffic diversion, sea training support, combat readiness duty, and task fulfillment support.
The work of socializing and supporting the army has been carried out with high quality. Yantai took the lead in the country in promulgating and implementing the local standards of "Service Specifications for Military Support Stores" and "Classification and Evaluation of Military Support Stores", clarifying 7 categories and 5 magnitude evaluation indicators, so as to realize the institutionalization and precision of social support for the army. At present, the city has built more than 2,000 high-standard pro-military stores, built 20 pro-military streets, pro-military business districts, and double-support complexes, and implemented free city buses and visits to state-owned scenic spots for veterans across the country, and simultaneously launched 553 socialized preferential treatment projects in 10 categories, providing diversified preferential services for military personnel and military families in catering and accommodation, education and training, employment services, medical care, supermarket shopping, etc., so that the city's social affection and warmth flow in the hearts of military personnel and military families and retired soldiers.
The army loves the people, the people support the army, and every word is clear. In Yantai, this is not only the deep affection of the military and the people who have been moving forward side by side for a long time, but also a vivid portrayal of the military and civilian family.
YMG all-media reporter Mu Su, Qin Fei, Lai Haoyang, photographer, Tang Ke
Editor in charge: Yang Yunge