Thank you to the "Snowy Veterans" platform for helping me realize my dream——
The first trip to Sichuan-Tibet for a descendant of "old Tibet".
Zhu Bo
1
In fact, I clearly knew that I was a descendant of "old Tibet", and it was after my father's death.
When I was a child, I only knew that my father joined the army before the founding of the People's Republic of China, and he was the first group of people to liberate and build Tibet.
In 2017, some media interviewed my father, mainly talking about the history of entering Tibet. After watching the video of the interview, I learned that he had walked from Ganzi to Lhasa on foot, and I was surprised and admired after listening to it. Because at that time, I had already entered middle age, and unlike when I was a child, I already knew first-hand what it meant to endure hunger, what it meant to travel dozens of kilometers a day, and what it meant to trek through mountains and rivers and sleep in the open.
If a person has not experienced these things firsthand, he will not have a very real feeling just by listening to other people's descriptions or just watching the film.
At the end of 2022, after my father passed away, I began to organize his belongings, read the diary he left behind, and a large number of articles and photos saved on my computer, and decided to string together his experiences and restore a young father that I never knew. He entered Tibet at the age of 20 and returned to Beijing at the age of 27, and he was 36 when I was born, and in the 20 years that I lived with him, he never systematically told me the stories of his youth.
Diary of my father in Tibet
I saw an article on my father's computer and learned why he kept his mouth shut about his experience.
“...... I have been working in the communications department, and in the army I belong to one of the three major confidential departments of the command. After joining the army, he received secrecy education in the army. When we were in Lhasa, we were not allowed to learn Tibetan or interact with the outside world, so as not to leak secrets.
Our department often has all kinds of leaked reports from military personnel, all kinds of things, friends talking, letters, etc., and the situation is very complicated. If someone goes back to their hometown, the local government will send a letter to the army informing them of the behavior of the soldiers on leave when they return home, and if they accidentally come into contact with people of different class positions, the person concerned will have to be severely reviewed.
...... Whenever I leave the environment of the army, whether I go home, on a business trip, or on the street to run errands, I pay great attention to secrecy. I am careful in everything I do, and I don't want my relatives and friends to know too much about me, so that people say that I am withdrawn. ”
It turns out that the habit of "secrecy" has been engraved in my father's bones. It's no wonder he kept quiet about his time in the army, and I didn't know much about his past.
It took me three months to read his manuscript, and then almost a year to put the stories together, and I didn't finish the work until before the Chinese New Year this year.
In the process, I first searched the Internet for all the documentaries and online articles related to the 18th Army's entry into Tibet, and purchased "The Long Song of the Snowy Land, Tibet 1949-1960" written by Zhang Xiaokang, the daughter of Zhang Guohua, the former commander of the 18th Army, who interviewed nearly 300 witnesses over eight years and compiled their "old Tibet" stories into a very detailed book. In addition to this, I read the memoirs written by my father's old comrades-in-arms, as well as the correspondence between my father and them.
Zhang Xiaokang: "Long Song of the Snowy Land" and Wang Jun: "Time is Like a Song"
But I'm still not satisfied. I kept searching for more details, such as what Lhasa was like at that time when he was in the communications office of the Lhasa Military Headquarters, where was the Mila Mountain mentioned when he participated in the road construction in Mozhugongka, where was the town of Zham, where he lived when he was the head of the repair department in Bomi and was responsible for training the signal troops, and what was the river where he and his comrades-in-arms planned to use hydroelectric power to generate electricity, and so on. and the People's Liberation Army suffered three food shortages when he entered Tibet, what mood did he spend those difficult years at that time......
Father and his comrades-in-arms at the correspondence office, on the banks of the Lhasa River in 1952
When I was digging deep into these details, I found the official account of "Snow Veteran", and I found that I could see a lot of stories from that era here, so I decided to pay attention.
As the number of articles I read gradually increased, I also saw the names of my father's old comrades-in-arms in the "Snowy Veteran's Bar", which made me feel very pleasantly surprised and kind. But I just read silently, not realizing that one day I would turn to it here. (This refers to Li Shuyu, one of my father's old comrades-in-arms, mentioned in the article "A Female Correspondence Soldier Told About Her Serving as a Soldier in Tibet in the Sixties of the Last Century" published on 2022-04-23).
Before the Spring Festival, I strung together the stories of my father when he was young for more than ten years, and added my own experience in the first half of his life, compiled them into a novel, and put them on the Tomato Novel platform. Actually, I didn't deliberately write a fascinating novel, but more like a real memoir, a collation of information. I put it on a public platform just so that I don't force anyone to read it. I just need to notify my friends and relatives of the link, who wants to see it.
The purpose of writing this "novel" is actually for myself. By sorting out the past, I have a clearer understanding of who I am and where I came from, so that I can decide where I want to go based on this.
My novel "Disappearing Father's Love, Out of Death" published on the Tomato Novel Platform
The job is not easy for me. It has been 70 years since the 50s of the last century, and I am completely unfamiliar with the geography, history, and humanities of Tibet. Just the names of places mentioned in my father's manuscripts, I had to find out whether they were states, cities, counties, towns, or villages, so I looked them up for a long time.
My father did not accompany the 18th Army at that time, but together with two other signal soldiers, he led a team of 100 yaks driven by Tibetan compatriots, carrying supplies, delivering gasoline and batteries to each military station, and repairing the communication equipment of each military station, including antennas, transceivers, and so on. They set out from Ganzi earlier than the main army and arrived in Lhasa later than the large army. My father counted that they had walked for 155 days, except for the days spent resting at the military station, and set out on July 1, 1951, arriving in Lhasa at the end of December.
I won't repeat the story of the 18th Army entering Tibet on the Internet, you can see a lot of stories about the 18th Army entering Tibet on the Internet, except that there is no need to march quickly, and the other hardships and hardships experienced by my father are the same as those of the large army.
After sorting out all his stories in Tibet, I also had countless impulses to go to Tibet and walk the path he walked, but I was always dispelled by various concerns.
First of all, I was actually fantasizing about going back to 1951 and going back in time with my 20-year-old father, which is unrealistic, and no one can really travel back in time today.
Secondly, although there are a lot of place names mentioned in my father's manuscript, they can't actually be threaded into a line, but can only be connected into a rough line, roughly the first half of the road is the current national highway 317, and the second half is the national highway 318, so I can't know how he actually walked.
I tried to look up all the military stations then and now, trying to get in touch. But these are important military places, and there are only a limited number of them that can be found on the Internet, and it is impossible for an ordinary person to go to see the military station, and if you take 10,000 steps back, you can see the military station is no longer what it was back then.
I saw on the Internet that two groups of people had "re-walked the road of the 18th Army fathers into Tibet", one in 2001 and the other in 2020, both of which were organized activities. I don't know where to find such an organization, so I can do it on my own.
2
Just when I didn't know how to plan this, in early March after the Spring Festival, the Hexiang Painting and Calligraphy Institute that I participated in began to promote the activities of the Sichuan-Tibet tour to the students. When I saw it, the route was to take National Highway 318! Moreover, the activities of the calligraphy and painting institute were aimed at middle-aged and elderly people, and they were more thoughtful about the high reaction, accommodation, food and clothing along the way.
I thought that even though I might only be able to take half of the route my father had taken, it would be much faster than planning and making my own trip, so I might as well take this opportunity to take a trip!
I immediately signed up, asked the teacher for a detailed route, and used the rice paper I usually draw a hand-drawn drawing of the route my father has walked and the route I will travel. As expected, only half of the place names mentioned by my father coincided.
My hand-drawn route map, the red thick line is the road my father has walked and the place where he has worked, and the black thick line is my travel route this time.
I thought, half is half, it's better than no action. At least when I arrived in Lhasa, I had to see the place where he had worked, that is, the original site of the military headquarters of the 18th Army. I searched the Internet for information, and all the documents mentioned a place name: Zizhong Linka on the banks of the Lhasa River, and the military headquarters of the 18th Army is next to Zizhong Linka. But when I continued to look for the current name of the place corresponding to the Zzhongrinka, I could no longer find it.
My search eventually led to the Military History Museum of the Tibet Military Region. I guess there might be more detailed information in the Military History Museum, so I came up with the idea of visiting the Military History Museum.
However, after checking and checking, I found that the Tibet Military History Museum was different from the military museum in Beijing, it was not open to the public, it was only open to the party, government, and military organs, and I could not find the telephone number for consultation.
More than a month after his father left, his closest old comrades-in-arms also left. Although some of the other comrades-in-arms are still alive, they are all 90+ years old, and they are not familiar with me. Although I know that he has the daughter of an old comrade-in-arms who works in the Tibet Armed Police Hospital, I really don't want to disturb their lives for the sake of my own attachment.
I saw that between 2009 and 2011, my father had a correspondence with an officer of the Tibet Military Region. According to the content, it seems that the newspaper station over there wants to build a historical archive or something, so I asked my father to collect information. This reminds me that the preparation for the establishment of the Military History Museum seems to be in 2011, so will the materials provided by my father also be seen in the Military History Museum?
I plucked up the courage to text the officer's phone number and asked my father's unit to call that number. Unfortunately, there was no reply.
Still, I saw here some useful conversations between my father and the young officer. In September 2009, on the occasion of commemorating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, my father wrote him an article entitled "Changes in the Correspondence of Our Army in the Past 60 Years", and then wrote an article entitled "Correspondence on the Tibet Military Region", and sent him all the information of his old comrades-in-arms, the poems he wrote at that time, and the photos he took.
I was very touched by some of the conversations in the correspondence between the two sides.
Letter from the father to the young officer:
Please understand that the spirit of struggle at that time was not a good part that the people at that time grew, but a spirit created by the Communist Party in that era, and it is still needed now.
...... There is no culture to learn culture, there is no technology to learn technology, and we are dedicated to overcoming difficulties. At that time, the invention of radio was only more than 50 years old, and there were too few things that could be translated and transmitted to China. Most of them crossed the river by feeling the stones in practice, and the flight attendants who went to Tibet later became engineers, professors, and some worked in cutting-edge departments after systematic study. Now that the army has a strong backing, what is lacking can be applied for supply according to the number of equipment maintenance parts. But if you don't take the initiative to work hard, you won't have skills, you won't take the initiative to attack, and you won't have skills. Now it is more necessary for the maintenance personnel to study and improve the performance of equipment and innovate equipment.
It is very good for you to make a historical material related to the unit, so that later people can quickly enter your historical train, become a member of the collective, unite and make progress, and struggle together, which will have an inspiring effect on a soldier's life.
Reply from the young officer:
...... After reading the materials you wrote to us, we seem to see the scene of you and your comrades-in-arms enduring hardships and standing hard work on the snowy plateau, and truly understand what the "old Tibetan spirit" is. You have worked and fought in Tibet for so many years, in extremely difficult years, and in an extremely complicated environment of struggle, with boundless loyalty to the party's cause, with deep feelings for the people of all nationalities in Tibet, with a strong sense of mission and responsibility, with rich revolutionary experience and superb wisdom, you have been of pioneering significance to Tibet's national defense telecommunications construction, and have laid a solid foundation for Tibet's national defense telecommunications construction. You have devoted your whole life to Tibet and the cause of national defense and telecommunications, and we are really ashamed of the superior conditions we have now and the work we are doing now.
Today, when Tibet's comprehensive construction is developing at a high speed, and when the national defense telecommunications undertaking is thriving, we should set an example for the veteran revolutionaries and veteran comrades who have made tremendous contributions to the Tibetan revolution and the national defense telecommunications construction. We will resolutely implement the relevant principles and policies of the party Central Committee and the Central Military Commission, continue to inherit and carry forward the "spirit of old Tibet," and make unremitting efforts to build a harmonious society in Tibet and a modern national defense telecommunications undertaking.
1955 Lhasa Dispatch Station Dispatch Room
3
Reading the conversation between my father and the young officer piqued my curiosity to learn more about Tibet today, especially about the young people there.
But even through my father's unit, I couldn't find a way to contact the Military History Museum, so I was a little discouraged. A week before I left, I wanted to make one last attempt, but told myself not to be attached to the result.
I thought about it for a long time, and sent a message to the two WeChat public accounts I followed, one was "Plateau Warrior", and the other was "Snowy Veteran", I explained the reason and asked if the official account knew how to contact and visit the Military History Museum.
Soon, I received a reply from Mao Ge, the manager of the "Snowy Veteran Bar", who directly pushed the WeChat of the former director of the Military History Museum to me, saying that he wanted to help me realize my wish, I was overjoyed, and I didn't know how to express my gratitude.
At first, I thought that they were all in Lhasa, and I thought that if Lhasa had the opportunity to meet them, I would invite them to dinner, and if they did not have the opportunity to meet, I would send a gift to express my gratitude.
As a result, I only figured out on the way to 318 that they were all in Chengdu...... This forced me to finish my journey and make plans.
In the past half of my life, I also had a flash of thoughts about accompanying my father to Tibet, but my father never mentioned it to me, and I never put this matter on the agenda, but I regretted it for the rest of my life!
Now, my heart tells me that I have no regrets in life above all else, so I put aside my work and family affairs and set out on a journey to Tibet desperately.
I have three journeys planned for myself. The first section is a tour group that joins the Calligraphy and Painting Society, which departs from Chengdu and arrives in Lhasa along Route 318 and then disbands, the second section is a tour group from Lhasa to the base camp of Mount Everest, and the third section is in Lhasa. I want to see the places mentioned by my father and his old comrades-in-arms in the article, including the place where my father repaired electric lights for the Dalai Lama in the Potala Palace, including the Lhasa Bridge they walked on and the Lhasa River where they frolicked, as well as the original site of the military headquarters where these old signal soldiers once worked.
The road to the Tibet Military Region mentioned in the book of my father's old comrade-in-arms Uncle Wang Jun is the current Barkhor Street. The red line is where I want to confirm when I go to Lhasa.
On the National Highway 318 line, I was really shocked by the magic of nature, those huge snow-capped mountains, continuous peaks, all of which I have never seen in my life.
Thinking of my father's generation, only in the early 20s, he and his comrades-in-arms opened mountains and bridges here, and in the precipitous nature, under the difficult conditions of lack of food and clothing, they used simple tools to open up one road after another with a hammer and an axe, and I was even more full of admiration.
Although everyone has seen all kinds of landscapes, they are still full of praise for the thousands of mountains on the plateau, which are majestic, stretching for thousands of miles, praising their majestic grandeur, and admiring the great human engineering seen on the road to heaven.
Not only did we shoot the beautiful nature along the way, but we didn't miss the slogans on the roadside and on the mountains.
"To support the army is to support the Great Wall, and to love the army is to love national defense"
"Lucid waters and lush mountains are invaluable assets, and ice and snow are also invaluable assets"
"Lack of oxygen does not lack spirit, hardship is not afraid of hardship, high altitude and higher realm"
……
Every time I see such a slogan, I will have a touch of my heart. I wonder if my fathers will be satisfied when they see Tibet today? This is the future they are striving for!
Before arriving in Lhasa, I couldn't help but say to my companions, "My father built a road ...... here", and they also helped me take a complete video of the Mira Mountain Tunnel.
Father's diary
Here I have to mention the members of the calligraphy and painting club tour group I joined. There were 20 people in the car, at least five of whom were military dependents and two of whom were demobilized soldiers, and they all played a cohesive and positive role in the group activities.
Thanks to God's grace, my roommate and my neighbors were two demobilized soldiers, which allowed me to talk about my father's past with them without fear during the trip.
My roommate, like me, grew up in the army headquarters, and our two compounds are only 1 subway station away in Beijing. She herself has been a soldier for more than ten years, and she told me the story of her training as a soldier, as well as the story of her father, who guided me to forget my sorrows and helped me open my closed heart and integrate into the collective.
My neighbor showed the steady character he had learned in the army, not complaining, no temper, and a sentence or two that made my pickiness instantly disintegrate.
I am very grateful to have them with me this time, which allowed me to maintain my emotional uplift and stability during the ten-day journey, and broke the "little self" shrunk in the armor little by little. I have respect and admiration for them.
318 The feeling of coming down this way, Tibet was not only built by my father's generation. Their generation is indeed the first batch of Tibetans who have gone through arduous hardships, but their descendants have also come here one after another, inheriting and carrying forward the spirit of "old Tibet" and continuing to build and defend Tibet. This is why we ordinary people can come here and see the intoxicating scenery of the mountains and rivers.
And when I arrived at the Everest base camp from Lhasa, I was even more emotional. How fortunate I am to be lifted up to the roof of the world, the closest place to heaven, by the backbone of many nations.
Looking back at high school geography, we know that the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau is China's "faucet" and a "giant exhaust fan" that regulates the climate, and it is with the towering Qinghai-Tibet Plateau that the Yangtze River basin on the mainland can become the land of fish and rice, and the South Asian subcontinent can feed more than one billion people. This is also the reason why all provinces on the mainland have actively come to Tibet's aid, and this is also the reason why people, including our fathers, have to build and defend Tibet from generation to generation.
The fresh air we breathe, the water we drink, the road under our feet, and our comfortable journey life are all planted by our predecessors and shaded by our descendants.
I am grateful that the highest and most beautiful scenery in the world is in the mainland, I am grateful for the sacrifice and dedication of my fathers, I am grateful for the protection of today's frontier soldiers, and I am grateful that I was indeed not born in an era of peace, but in a peaceful country guarded by the backbone of many countries!
The vast majority of the people who went to the Everest base camp to check in were 20+ young people, and I saw here that young people are inheriting the perseverance of our nation in their way. Some people were topless in the bitter cold, revealing their strong and toned muscles; some people carried the national flag and took pictures to "plant the national flag on Mount Everest"; under the scorching cold and strong winds on the plateau, they could only take a photo of punching in for one hour in line, and no one complained, and everyone consciously maintained the order of the queue; and they paid respect to the volunteers who cleaned up the garbage......
I wonder if my father would smile with satisfaction if he also saw the prosperous times for which he was fighting? The places where he and his comrades-in-arms worked hard are getting better day by day, and the "old Tibetan spirit" they left behind has been inherited and carried forward, would they be gratified?
The "Spirit of Old Tibet" on display at the Tibet Museum
4
After returning to Lhasa from the Everest base camp, I went to the Potala Palace and told the tour guide the story of my father being sent to repair electric lights for the Dalai Lama, and asked the guide which floor of the palace he thought this incident was most likely to take place. The Dalai Lama, who was 17 years old at the time, was slapped by his master with a ring ruler because he spoke a Chinese language to his father (Jinzhu Mami).
The tour guide told me with certainty that it was most likely on the 12th floor, because that was where the Dalai Lama asked for political advice. When I got to the twelfth floor, I saw that the room was being repaired and was forbidden to enter, so I had to give up.
I also deliberately looked at the toilet of the Potala Palace, because it was mentioned in "The Long Song of the Snowy Land" that the feces that had accumulated for hundreds of years in the Potala Palace were all cleaned up by the soldiers after the 18th Army entered Tibet.
The "dung carrying movement" of the soldiers of the 18th Army mentioned in "The Long Song of the Snowy Land"
Also, about Tibetan Buddhism, I have been learning about what religion is, Buddhism, and the core content of Tibetan Buddhism over the past year, so I don't get confused when I see any appearance.
I don't want to say too much about this, I just want to quote a passage from "People who have served as soldiers in Tibet" published on March 18, 2024 by "Snowy Veteran", and I very much agree with the author's point of view:
"There is a legend in society that Tibet is a paradise, but in fact, heaven also needs to be guarded. Perhaps people praise Tibet as a paradise, because Tibet is a land where faith prevails, and piety takes root here. On the road of pilgrimage, we crawl forward, not afraid of fatigue, dare to challenge the distance of the road, dare to challenge the limit of life, are not afraid of wind, snow and cold, and endure with extraordinary perseverance what is not available in the hinterland, only the hardships unique to Tibet, and do not fear the fatigue of clouds and clouds, and are not afraid of the slimness that cannot be seen at a glance. ”
Yes, having faith can overcome long distances and not be afraid of rain, snow, wind and frost, but what is the faith that has really improved the lives of the Tibetan people? This sentence of the author is the finishing touch:
“...... The most realistic and greatest belief in Tibet is that without the Communist Party, there would be no peacefully liberated new Tibet. ”
That's why when I was on the bus, the tour guide asked everyone if they would be very moved to see the people who turned around the mountain along the way, and did they ask themselves if they could do it? Zhuan Shanren believe that walking in this way can make them have a better life in the next life, and their fathers hiking into Tibet is a belief that can make others have a better life in this life. Which faith is more realistic and greater, the wise will know for themselves.
My father's comrades-in-arms photographed local children by the Lhasa River in 1952
On my last day in Lhasa, I went to the Tibet Museum to see the Memorial Hall of the Liberation of One Million Serfs in Tibet, where I felt as if I had traveled back to 70 years ago and saw how people living in the last slave society in the world were reborn from hell. Even though I was familiar with that history, I still felt inexplicably eerie when I walked from the ground floor to the underground. It wasn't until I watched the liberation of Tibet by the 18th Army along the arrow on the ground that the road returned to the first floor, and the mood began to clear.
If you visit the Cloth Palace, you will see human skull vessels, human skin drums, and tantric double cultivation, and if you visit the Tibet Museum, you will see the hell on earth under slavery.
In the afternoon, under the coordination of the former director, I finally came to the Military History Museum of the Tibet Military Region. It's just for my little obsession, in addition to the original curator, there may also be one or two officers involved in the assistance.
In this way, with the help of many soldiers I didn't know, I finally confirmed the location of the gate of the former military headquarters that I had in mind.
The stone monument standing in front of the gate of the Military History Museum indicates that this is the gate of the former Tibet Military Region
The construction of the Military History Museum is very modern, and it is on a par with the level of the Tibet Museum. The docent, a young female soldier, also proudly said that this place may not be comparable to the scale of the Beijing Military Museum, but from a national perspective, it can be said that the level of the exhibition hall is second only to the Beijing Military Museum.
In the Military History Museum, I saw the thin military uniforms worn by my fathers, the backpacks used to pick up dung, the rudimentary tools used to open the mountain, and the sunglasses that could not be compared with today's products in terms of performance......
I chatted with the young docent, and learned that she used to work as a docent at the Beijing Military Expo, and I asked her why she came to Lhasa knowing that life on the plateau was hard, that she would be deprived of oxygen when she came to the plateau, that she would be drunk with oxygen when she returned to her hometown, and that she would always be protected from sunburn on the plateau, not to mention that some irreversible physical diseases might occur in her long-term life?
She said: "Some people are born with the feeling of protecting their families and defending the country, and some people are born with a dream of being a soldier", I looked at her clear and determined eyes, and understood that she was talking about herself.
This sentence is the strongest healing I have received on this journey!
In Lhasa, I would also casually ask the locals for their opinions, such as the overall standard of living, the situation of tourism, the perception of tourists, the views of religion, the military, and so on. In my limited short conversations with locals, I heard at least more than one say: "The military is the highest quality group".
I don't comment, but I'm satisfied.
Finally, the gratitude along the way is indescribable, only this article to record the most real feelings, to the unknown life but the achievement of my dream journey, the highest respect!
A descendant of old Tibet
Written in the year of Jiachen Qing and the month
Attached: My father's resume -
August 1949 - February 1950: Operator in the Communication Battalion of the Second Field and Third Corps
February 1950 - October 1952: Aircraft Operator in the Communications Section of the Military Department of the 18th Army
October 1952 - December 1953: Operator of the 155th Regiment Radio of the 18th Army
From January 1954 to October 1955, he served as an operator in the Communications Department of the Tibet Military Region
From October 1955 to September 1957, he served as the head of the repair department of the 53rd Division of the Communications Battalion of the Tibet Military Region
From October 1957 to 1958, he served as the head of the repair department of the 34th Artillery Division of the Beijing Military Region
From September 1958 to 1962, he served as an instructor in the cadre training team of the artillery department of the Beijing Military Region
From April 1962 to 1987, he served as a staff officer in the Communication Department of the Artillery Department of the Military Commission of the Beijing Military Region
(During that special ten-year period, I was forced to leave Beijing for a few years)
September 1987: Retired.
Before his death in 2022, the unit was the garrison cadre rest house.
(Note: All illustrations in this article are provided by the author)
About the Author:
Zhu Bo: Born in February 1968 in the artillery compound of the Beijing Military Region. He is currently a senior consultant of Xi (Beijing) Translation Co., Ltd.
Author: Zhu Bo