Submission email: [email protected] From Jingxi to Nanning, transfer to a flight to Kashgar, Xinjiang, and then take a car for more than 8 hours to Datong Township, located in the depths of Pamir, in 3 days, more than 5,000 kilometers away, Li Guangxi, a police officer from the Datong Border Police Station of the Kashgar Border Management Detachment of the Xinjiang Entry-Exit Border Inspection Station, in addition to his luggage, also carried back three sugar orange trees, three jackfruit trees and two lychee trees.
It was already past two o'clock in the morning when he returned to the unit, and he didn't care about fatigue, so he and his comrades planted trees in the sunny greenhouse overnight.
It is the habit of the police of the Datong border police station to bring saplings from their hometown, and now, there are tree species planted here from different provinces and regions across the country, and some people call it "the five lakes and seas in the sunshine greenhouse".
For the police guarding the depths of the plateau, the tree in their hometown is not only a kind of sustenance, but also a belief, "If the tree can take root here, so can we." ”
"Depend on the villagers for your life"
"Datong" means gorge in Tajik. A series of rivers and gorges form a series of oases deep in the Pamirs, where 1,784 Tajik herders are scattered around.
The Datong border police station is standing by the herdsmen's side, and in the words of the director, Huang Jiameng, "depends on the villagers for their lives".
"Choke the Tasha Ancient Road, Guard the Yarkand River", the self-introduction of the policemen is full of feelings and poetry, but in fact it is not only these, just the road into the mountain makes people almost despair. From the nearest Tashkurgan Tajik Autonomous County, the 150-kilometre road weaves up and down the Pamir mountains in a seemingly never-ending sight. There is an abyss under the feet, and there are often falling rocks rolling down the top of their heads, and the biggest feeling of the policemen when they come here is, "I don't want to come out when I go in, and I don't want to go in when I come out."
Li Guangxi's first visit to Datong was in the winter of 2019, when he and Cui Jingsong from Zhangjiakou, Hebei Province, came to Xinjiang from the mainland as soldiers-turned-policemen. Starting from Kashgar by car, passing through villages and Gobi, he soon plunged headlong into the snow-capped mountains, from day to night, from few people to deserted, he was still drowsy, but finally became extraordinarily awake.
As night fell, the two looked at the endless darkness outside the car window, listening to the "creaking" and "crackling" sounds of the wheels running over the snow and stones, and were silent. "It's five classes more than the fifth class of the grassland, and we are all more than three." Recalling the scene at that time, Lee Kwang-hee said with a smile.
Not only them, but even Huang Jiameng, who has been on the border of Xinjiang all the year round, is also afraid of the road of Datong. On the twenty-eighth day of the lunar month of 2022, he was appointed as the director of the Datong Border Police Station, and on the way to the mountain sent him by the detachment leader, he asked "how far is it" over and over again, and was told "It's still early", and then he didn't bother to ask again. He was the former instructor of the Tashkurgan Border Police Station, "Taxian County is biased enough, but I didn't expect Datong to be even more biased." ”
There are times when it is harder. Roads built along the mountains and rivers are often washed away by the summer floods of the Yarkand River, disrupting communication with the outside world. The longest disruption was in July 2022, when floods washed away the roadbed and a boulder fell down the hill in the middle of the road. The police station kept some of the remaining provisions, and distributed the rest to the herders who had run out of food. Seeing that all the supplies were about to run out, the police contacted the mountain to send the supplies to the place where the road was interrupted, and the police and border guards of the police office on the opposite bank carried the supplies to a rope bridge on the Yarkand River and transported them in through the ropeway......
I remember that the night I arrived at the police station, Li Guangxi had insomnia, "I thought, why did I come to this place?" At one point, he even doubted his choice. But later, he became one of the most deeply integrated police officers in Datong.
"Do more meaningful things"
Another major "feature" of Datong is the mountain. The police station was sandwiched between three huge peaks, and the cold peaks of the Pamirs hung overhead at all times, overwhelming people. Every year from July to August is the rainy season in Datong, and the torrents carry huge boulders on the mountain, making loud noises day and night, disturbing people all night.
In addition to psychological depression, the mountains also threaten the lives and property of police officers and herdsmen. In July 2022, a mudslide struck Keqiketong village in the jurisdiction, but fortunately, the police evacuated in time and there were no casualties. However, the houses of the eight herders were almost submerged in the mud and sand, and the police and border guards worked hard for a week to clean up all the mud and sand.
Together with Lu Yuan, Shangao has become the most distinctive label of Datong. Once, Huang Jiameng showed a video of his work environment to his hometown comrades-in-arms, and the other party joked, "What's the point of you being there?" Are you afraid of losing the mountain? He was speechless for a moment.
But the young policemen have their own ideas, and what they talk about the most together is "do more meaningful things", and everyone has a different harvest in life here. Cui Jingsong, who was born in 1998, was originally a military driver, but before coming to Xinjiang, "he could only drive and rarely did housework." Here, in the process of getting along with the herdsmen, he learned simple Tajik language, as well as naan, milk tea, wheat planting, and pasture, which is the "secret" of his relationship with the people in the area.
Li Guangxi, who speaks with an obvious Guangxi accent, has difficulty communicating with herdsmen when he first arrives in the district, but he has won everyone's support with his solid mass work: taking care of two Tajik elderly people in their 80s, helping disabled children to treat diseases, and helping migrant workers get back more than 50,000 yuan in wages...... He has also become the "old watch of Guangxi" in the mouth of the people in the jurisdiction. "When you walk on the road, the villagers greet you from afar, asking you to go to your home to drink a bowl of milk tea and eat a mouthful of naan, which is the most fulfilling time." Lee Kwang Hee said.
Li Mingyang, 27 years old this year, was assigned to Datong in 2016 and is one of the oldest police officers in the police station. "You can't cook for a lifetime", with this thought, he studied hard and grew from a cook to an internal staff member who could take charge of the police station. "Staying here with everyone and doing something tangible is a meaning in itself."
After experiencing the initial fluctuations of thought, Huang Jiameng thought of "at least worthy of the masses in the jurisdiction", he was determined to do a better job of the masses, under his advocacy, the police helped to chop firewood, plough land, and forage grass when visiting the household, brought some brick tea for the villagers from Ta County, and cared for the lonely and widowed elderly in the jurisdiction one-on-one, and took the initiative to participate in the herdsmen's red and white ceremonies, and helped the herdsmen develop the tourism economy......
This little thing has accumulated the greatest trust of the masses in the police station. The herdsmen will not only take the lead in seeking help from the police station when they encounter difficulties, but also express their gratitude in the most simple way, and every time the fruit is ripe, the police station will receive apricots, mulberries and apples sent by the herdsmen every day, and the police will also give back flour and vegetables to express their gratitude.
"Being affirmed by the masses and that the 1,784 Tajik villagers can be safe and sound, this is the greatest significance of our here." Huang Jiameng said.
"Someone Must Be Here"
On social platforms, Datong is famous for its apricot blossoms. Apricot blossoms are in full bloom in mid-April, and tourists from other places flock to the city, but the excitement is only for a week. When the apricot blossoms wither, the tourists disperse, Datong will return to silence.
Especially in the long and boring winter, once the snow covers the mountain, after 8 o'clock every night, the whole township "hardly sees a human figure", only the occasional barking of dogs. People who have been to Datong say that it is bitter here, but the police are reluctant to say bitter, "Whether it is bitter or not, someone must guard here." ”
In the depths of this almost isolated canyon, everyone learns to make fun of suffering. Huang Jiameng used the rest time to finish watching the TV series "Jiao Yulu" and "Red Flag Canal...... The people and events in the TV series are the spiritual source of his persistence in Datong.
Young police officers have their own way of life. Climbing, exercising, skating on the Yarkand River, and the happiest thing is celebrating a group birthday. Due to the inconvenience of transportation, the police station will buy cakes from the county seat every month to celebrate the birthday of the police officers that month. In the process of making longevity noodles, others will add various seasonings for the birthday stars, and the most added are sour, sweet and spicy, and few people add "bitter".
Of course, there are bitter times. On one occasion, Datong's communication with the outside world was cut off, and the police could only go to Kukesiluk Township, more than 10 kilometers away, to call their families to report their safety. Another time, the policeman Iliar had a dislocated cervical vertebrae and could barely walk, so he rode all the way to Taxian County to see a doctor, but after arriving, "his neck was upside down".
On August 1, 2023, Cui Jingsong's lover came from Hebei to visit relatives, and experienced the novelty of seeing snow-capped mountains, the pain of altitude sickness and the despair of a long journey along the way, before she understood the hardships of her husband's working environment, and finally she hugged Cui Jingsong and cried, "I won't quarrel with you again."
Every time Li Guangxi goes home, he is nicknamed "Xinjiang man" by everyone, but in Datong, he is what everyone calls "Guangxi old watch", "In fact, it is quite normal, the time at home is not as much as in the unit, and everyone regards Datong as their home." ”
In 2023, the superiors will build a glass sunshine conservatory for the police station, which is equipped with a book bar, a tea bar and a jukebox. Whenever night falls and the day's tasks are completed, the police read books, drink tea, and "roar songs" here, and the highest on-demand rate is "Brothers Hug".
In addition to relaxation, the conservatory also has a "laboratory" function. The police took advantage of the vacation to bring special plants from their hometown and planted them in the sunny greenhouse, which is now full of tree species from all over the country. "If they can survive, I will recommend these trees to the villagers to plant." Lee Kwang Hee said.
In fact, earlier on, the herdsmen noticed that the flowers and vegetables at the police station were well planted, and often came to ask for some seeds, and the police were happy to pass on their experience. Every year in the middle of summer, the herdsmen can eat the fresh vegetables they grow, and the gorge of Datong is full of flowers from the police station.
Source丨Gladiolus Literature丨Author丨Zhang Jia
Editor丨Lu Zhixin
Audit丨Saiwei
Issued 丨Xu Hongcheng