Liu Jinsheng, a 93-year-old retired worker, sat hand in hand with his wife, wearing a big red flower on his chest and a smile on his face...... Yan Xinqiu, a 94-year-old retired cadre, held a camera in his hand and froze the "sweet" moment of this moment.
Nowadays, more and more veterans have taken the initiative to come to the door, hoping that Yan Xinqiu will take pictures of himself and his wife. Photo by Yang Junqin
On the 3rd, this scene happened at the home of Yan Xinqiu, an elderly man from the 66th Regiment of the Fourth Division of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps. A reporter from Chinanews noticed that Yan Xinqiu was thin and wore reading glasses. The old man held the camera in his hand and pressed the shutter, his fingers were a little stiff. When reminiscing about his life, he always has an amiable smile on his face.
"Make up your mind" after being saved
In May 1949, Yan Xinqiu joined the army in Taiyuan, Shanxi, and entered Xinjiang with the army the following year. Soon he was placed in the publicity department and came into contact with the first camera in his life. In those years, he took his camera and traveled around the pastoral areas around Salbulak and Lucaogou in Huocheng County to record the land reform work at that time.
Once, while filming the horse game "Diao Yang" after work, Yan Xinqiu's horse was frightened and ran to the edge of the cliff. "A young Kazakh man rode up and grabbed the reins and saved my life." The old man recalled.
"At that time, I made up my mind to take root here and use all my ability to serve the people of all ethnic groups." Yan Xinqiu said.
In 1954, Yan Xinqiu was transferred to the 66th Regiment with the army. After a period of time in the company's land reclamation, he was transferred to the regimental propaganda section.
In his 36 years of work, he has taken a large number of photos to record the work and life of the workers in the regimental field.
Yan Xinqiu retired in 1990. At the farewell tea party held by the regiment, Yan Xinqiu was appointed as the director of the Youth League Customs Working Committee and the Committee on Aging. "From that day on, I embarked on another new journey with my camera."
Yan Xinqiu always kept the "three treasures" he issued when he enlisted in the army - a satchel, a towel, and a legging cloth. Photo by Shi Yujiang
After retirement, he often preaches with "three treasures"
When he was still in good health, Yan Xinqiu and other retired cadres would go to the fields to help when the workers were busy with farming. "As long as there is a need, everyone rushes to do any work, and desperately wants to do it well." Yan Xinqiu recalled that in 1991, the 66th Youth League Committee on Aging was rated as an advanced collective for the work of veteran cadres in the country, which made him more motivated.
Under the leadership of his organization, more than a dozen elderly organizations, including the 66th Regiment Volunteer Service Team for the Elderly, the People's Propaganda Group, the Elderly Traffic Safety Coordinator Team, and the Conduct Supervisor Team, were established one after another.
Yan Xinqiu is not only the organizer, but also the recorder of the event. "Through my story, many people have personally felt the difficulty of the first generation of XPCC people working hard to start a business, and they also cherish their current life more and work harder to study and work."
During the preaching, Yan Xinqiu would introduce the "three treasures" he gave out when he enlisted in the army - a satchel, a towel, and a legging cloth one by one. According to incomplete statistics, Yan Xinqiu organized and participated in more than 2,000 lectures after his retirement.
At the same time, Yan Xinqiu's love for taking pictures became more and more intense. The photos taken by the camera also record his struggle after his retirement.
"I've used 11 cameras in my life. The one in my hand was awarded to me by the TV station when I went to Beijing to participate in the recording of a TV program. Yan Xinqiu said.
Capture the "father-daughter" story behind a touching scene
On December 30, 2015, at the award ceremony of the third "Top Ten People of the Fourth Division", Yan Xinqiu, who is good at photography, captured such a touching scene: when the awardee was about to take the stage, a girl saw that the collar of an old man who was on stage at the same time was not turned up, and hurriedly stepped forward to help tidy it up.
Yan Xinqiu and Nurgul Jumahan often appear in schools and communities to preach stories of national unity. Photo by Yang Junqin
Through this photo, Yan Xinqiu and the girl named Nurgul Jumahan were paired to become "father and daughter". Since then, the 66th Regiment People's Propaganda Group has added a young "special preacher". Together with Yan Xinqiu, she often appears in the school community to preach stories of national unity.
As the years passed, Yan Xinqiu found that the old comrades-in-arms around him were "withering" one by one, and he came up with the idea of taking wedding photos for the old military reclamation couple.
At first, he bought props such as big red flowers at his own expense, and rode his bicycle to various companies to find the old army Kenken who wanted to take pictures. Nowadays, more and more veterans have taken the initiative to come to the door, hoping that Yan Xinqiu will take pictures of them.
Just a few days ago, Liu Jinsheng found Yan Xinqiu and expressed his desire to take wedding commemorative photos.
The moment he saw the image of himself and his lover in the camera, Liu Jinsheng's tears swirled in his eyes, as if his whole life was fixed in it.
According to the information provided by the Party Construction Office of the 66th Regiment, in the 34 years since his retirement, Yan Xinqiu has volunteered to take wedding commemorative photos for 180 pairs of veteran soldiers; There are tens of thousands of photos in the computer that record the update of the group's appearance; He has invested more than 40,000 yuan to purchase materials and books for the workers in difficulty. He has successively won the Northwest Liberation Medal, the third-class merit certificate issued by the Xinjiang Military Region, the medal celebrating the 70th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, the most beautiful veteran cadre of the Corps, and the advanced worker of the veteran cadres of the Corps. He has also been to Beijing three times to participate in the commendation and award conference.
Yan Xinqiu said that he hopes to continue to use the camera for the rest of his life to serve the people of all ethnic groups and "encourage" more people to write a life of struggle on the border of the motherland.
Source: China News Network