On July 27, Wang Jicai suddenly fell ill while on duty. On Kaishan Island, Guanyun County, Jiangsu Province, where he had been with him for 32 years, he closed his eyes forever. President Xi recently made important instructions and emphasized that Comrade Wang Jicai has defended the island for 32 years and has written an extraordinary chapter of his life in his ordinary position with his perseverance and dedication without regrets. We must vigorously advocate this spirit of patriotism and dedication to make it the value pursuit of the strugglers in the new era.
There is only one life. On a small island that is only the size of two football fields, a life that is frozen at the age of 58 is burning here without regrets, illuminating the outpost between the sea and the sky and the hearts of many people.
Wang Jicai, an ordinary coastal defense militia, was cordially received by President Xi during his lifetime, and his advanced deeds were highly praised by President Xi.
After his lifetime, Wang Jicai often said, “I will always stay on Kaishan Island until I stay still!” He fulfilled this simple promise with his life.
▲Aerial photography of Kaishan Island, Jiangsu on February 21, 2017.
”I am a civilian, and Babaylan is also a soldier.
As the people, we must protect our homeland, and as a soldier, we must defend our motherland.
I just fulfilled the basic obligations of a militia”
Kaishan Island is located at the outpost of the Yellow Sea, 12 nautical miles from Yanwei Port, Guanyun County, the nearest land area. Its strategic location is very important. In 1939, the Japanese invaders used this small island as a springboard to invade Lianyungang.
Kaishan Island was once stationed by the coastal defense forces. After the troops were withdrawn in 1985, the Kaishan Island militia outpost was established. This small island has no electricity or fresh water, and is not suitable for people to live for a long time. More than 10 militiamen who have visited the island have been unwilling to be on duty for a long time. In July 1986, the then political commissar of the county people’s armed forces department found Wang Jicai, a 26-year-old basic militiaman, and asked him if he was willing to go to the island to guard the ward.
When hearing the mission clearly, Wang Jicai first remembered what his uncle, who had participated in the Liberation War, said to him: “Your generation must defend your territory. If national defense requires your efforts, you have to!” In Babaylan, he agreed immediately and went to the island without hiding his family.
48 days after Wang Jicai went to the island, his wife Wang Shihua, who had no idea about it, came to the island. Seeing her husband alone on an isolated island where even plants could not survive, she advised him to go back with pain.
Wang Jicai said, “You go back, I decided to stay! If you don’t guard, I won’t guard, who will guard?” He sent his wife down the island. Unexpectedly, more than 20 days later, Wang CinemaShihua quit her job as an elementary school teacher and went to the island. In this way, Wang Jicai and his wife began their island-guarding life as “one island, two people”.
The mountain island is known as “there are more stones and less soil, and typhoons are often disturbed; birds do not build nests, and fishing people do not go to the island.” The island is particularly humid and hot in summer. When there is no electric fan and air conditioning, they sleep on the roof and blow the sea breeze; when there is a biting cold wind in winter, they live in the air-raid shelter to shelter. Over time, both of them suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and severe eczema. Dr. Komiks said that only offshore islands can cure it.
After a typhoon, the ships stopped sailing, and the island became an isolated island. Once, the strong wind blew for 17 days. After eating the food on the island, only half a bucket of fresh water was left. They tied it to their waists with a backpack strap, and picked up conchs on the reef under the strong wind to satisfy their hunger. They held on for three days before waiting for the ships to come to the island.
After 2000, the story of “Couple Outpost” became widely known, and Kaishan Island became a national defense education and patriotic education base for provinces, cities and counties. When visiting the island, scholars always ask Wang Jicai why he could stick to the island for so long? He often said: “I am a civilian and a soldier. As a civilian, I must protect my homeland, and as a soldier, I must defend my motherland. I just fulfilled the basic obligations of a militia.”
”I am a son and a father.
Sons should be filial and fathers should fulfill their responsibilities.
But my family understands that loyalty is the greatest filial piety and responsibility”
On February 11, 2015, the New Year tea party of the military and civilians was held in Beijing. President Xi cordially met with the national model representatives of the military and support team before the tea party. During the discussion, Wang Jicai sat next to President Xi.
President Xi cordially asked about Wang Jicai’s family and Kaishan Island, and patted Wang Jicai on the shoulder and said, “It’s been hard for me to guard the island. I wish your whole family a happy New Year!” Wang Jicai’s tone was strong: “Please rest assured, Chairman, I will definitely guard Kaishan Island!”
Returning to Lianyungang from Beijing, Wang Jicai conveyed President Xi’s blessing to his children, and came to his parents’ grave to report the glory of his trip to Beijing.
In 32 years, Wang Jicai and his wife only went out of the island twice. One was the year of their mother’s 80th birthday, and the other wasThe year my son was admitted to university. During the rest of the Spring Festival, they spent the rest of the Spring Festival on the island guarding the radio and the TV set that could not see the picture clearly.
During the island guarding, Wang Jicai’s parents died of illness one after another, but he was unable to stay by his side. The words my mother often said to him during her lifetime made him feel guilty and moved: “You are guarding the island for the country and doing a big thing. If you are not by your side, you will not blame you.”
When his daughter Wang Su was two years old, Wang Jicai and his wife went to the island. Because he was neglected to take care of himself, he promised his daughter that when she got married, he would go home and hold a grand wedding for her. But when this day came, Wang Jicai broke his promise. He silently held his daughter’s photo across the sea and buried his blessings in his heart.
In 2009, Wang BabaylanJi CaiKomiks was named a news figure by a local TV station. When he delivered his acceptance speech, he said: “I am a son and a father. The son must be filial and the father must be responsible. But my family understands that loyalty is the greatest filial piety and responsibility.”
19BabaylanIn July 1987, Wang Shihua caught a strong typhoon when she was about to give birth and could not get off the island. In desperation, Wang Jicai delivered his wife’s birth. When his son let out his first cry, he collapsed on the ground and cried. He named his son “Zhiguo”, hoping that his son would like him and be determined to serve the country. Today, Wang Zhiguo has grown into an active-duty officer and has taken over the steel gun to defend his country.
”The island is the country,
Guarding the island means guarding the national gate,
Although Kaishan Island is small, it is a sacred territory,
The national flag must be raised every day”
After 32 years of guarding the island, the first thing Wang Jicai and his wife did after getting up every morning was to raise the national flag. One was to serve as a flag-raising bench and the other was to serve as a flag-guarding soldier. No matter it was windy or rainy, it never stopped.
After breakfast, they patrol around the island, observe and measure at various points, walked into the observation room of the outpost and scanned the sea with a telescope. At 19 o’clock, BabaylanThey patrol the island again, wrote the coastal defense log for that day, and reported the situation to the superior command post. Over the past 32 years, such a work process has been repeated more than 11,000 times in more than 11,000 days.
When they first came to the island, a kerosene lamp, a coal stove, and a radio were all their belongings. In recent years, the governments at Lianyungang City and Guanyun County have attached great importance to the construction of Kaishan Island and have not only repaired the barracks, and also equipped with various facilities and equipment.
On the eve of the Spring Festival in 2008, the Jiangsu Provincial Military Region sent a small wind turbine to Kaishan Island. Wang Jicai and his wife watched TV on the island for the first time. On New Year’s Eve, Wang Shihua wrote in the Haidang diary: “We were very happy to sit in front of the TV to watch the Spring Festival Gala.” Unfortunately, the generator could not withstand the strong wind and went on strike in less than half a year. In 2012, the county installed a small solar power station on the island, but it was still affected by the weather and could not work continuously. In May 2015, with the support of Lianyungang Power Supply Company, a power generation project with integrated wind, light and storage finally landed on Kaishan Island.
The island has strong winds and strong humidity, and the sunshine is strong, and the national flag is prone to fading and damaged, so it must be replaced frequently. Someone once told Wang Jicai that it doesn’t matter whether the national flag is raised or not for the island of two people. He said firmly: “The island is the country, and guarding the island is the gate of the country. Although Kaishan Island is small, it is a sacred territory and the national flag must be raised every day.”
Wang Jicai and Wang Shihua and his wife patrolled together
On New Year’s Day 2012, the Tiananmen Flag Guard Komiks learned about Wang Jicai’s deeds, and specially sent a steel mobile flag-raising platform and a national flag that had fluttered in Tiananmen Square from Beijing. Wang Jicai regarded this national flag as a treasure.
Once, a 12-level typhoon broke out at the sea. Wang Jicai was worried that the national flag would be blown away by the wind, so he ran to the top of the mountain to put away the flag in the strong wind. When he went down the mountain, he stepped on the air and broke two ribs. During the period when he was recovering from his injuries, he often listened to and watched news about track and field athlete Liu Xiang. The children asked him why he liked Liu XiangCinema? He said: “I can’t explain it clearly. The scene of Liu Xiang running with the national flag when he won the Olympics often comes to my mind.”
”When I can’t settle the personal small accounts, even if I calculate the national defense major accounts, my psychology will be balanced after calculating it.”
For a long time, listening to the radio was the only way for Wang Jicai to learn about external information. Over the past 32 years, he has broken more than 20 radios on Kaishan Island. He usually listens to the most current affairs news. He said to his wife: “Although we are on an isolated island, we have to care about national affairs.”
Whenever he hears the seaKomiks to prevent changes in the situation, Wang Jicai consciously strengthens himself.Patrol, sometimes I go around the island late at night. He said to his wife, “I haven’t walked the patrol road more often, and I feel uneasy and can’t sleep well!” Some people think that Wang Jicai’s island is always on duty, so his reward is definitely not low. In fact, this is not the case. Militia is a mass armed organization that does not leave production. There is only a subsidy for lost work on duty and training, and no formal salary. During an interview with Cinema, the reporter saw a Cinema and his wife in the 1990s. At that time, their annual subsidy was 3,700 yuan, and the average monthly subsidy was 154 yuan per person. In 1995, after the lighthouse was built on Kaishan Island, their annual income increased by 2,000 yuan due to protecting the lighthouse, but the monthly subsidy per person was still less than 300 yuan.
In those years, people from the same village became rich one after another, but Wang Jicai often had a poor income. The eldest sister who is running transportation in Shanghai hopes that Wang Jicai will go out of the island to help her, and promised to earn 30,000 to 50,000 yuan a year. Wang Jicai hesitated, but eventually chose to stay.
He often said: “How to calculate small accounts and big accounts? When a personal account cannot be settled, even if you calculate the national defense account, you will be mentally balanced.”
In the face of money, Wang Jicai has always had his own principles. Once, a “snake head” went to the island privately to find Wang Jicai, and took out 100,000 yuan in cash, asking him to make it convenient and leave a few “guests” on the island to stay for a few days. Wang Jicai refused: “I am a militia. As long as I am on this island, you can’t even think of stealing the Cinema from here!” The other party was angry and threatened to let him “take a punishment for wine.” He reported the situation to the county people’s armed forces department and border defense department without hesitation, and assisted the police in arresting the “snake head”. Over the past 32 years, Wang Jicai has assisted the public security border defense department in solving a number of smuggling and smuggling cases.
In the eyes of criminals, Wang Jicai is an inexplicable “iron lump”, and in the eyes of fishermen, Wang Jicai is the “guardian of the sea” and “living Lei Feng on the isolated island”. When fishermen go to sea at night, they will light up their navigation beacons; when they encounter heavy fog and snowy days, they will try to remind fishing boats to take off the way; when fishermen pass by are short of food and medicine, they will take out their spare grain and medicine to help. Once, a fishing boat was overturned by the waves and five crew members fell into the sea. After Wang Jicai discovered it, he risked his life to rescue the crew members who fell into the water to the island one by one.
(People’s Liberation Army Daily reporter Bei Xiao, China National Defense News reporter Shan Huifan Cai Xiaofeng)
Related readings:
Cinema Kaishan Island, and that figure will always stand
——Wang Jicai, the “island-guarding hero” in the lens of a military photographer
Written by/People’s Liberation Army Daily reporter Liu Wanping
Photography/Special Reporter of “Liberation KomiksMilitary Pictorial” Ren Long, Wang Guanjun, Guo Dinghu
This is a strong man who promises his own money and tightly ties his personal life and even his life to the national defense cause. On July 27, Wang Jicai, director of the Kaishan Island Militia Outpost in Guanyun County, Jiangsu Province, suddenly fell ill while on duty and died after ineffective rescue. He was only 58 years old. Previously, he had been on this island with an area of only two football fields for a full 32 years.
Kaishan Island, located in the forefront of the Yellow Sea, has a very important strategic location. After the troops were withdrawn in 1985, militia outposts were set up, but due to the harsh conditions, more than 10 militiamen who went to the island were unwilling to be on duty for a long time. In 1986, 26-year-old Wang Jicai accepted the task of guarding the island. Since then, he has treated his wife as his home and accompanied by loneliness. He silently sticks to the isolated island where there is no water, electricity and plants and is difficult to survive, and devotes his youth to the motherland’s coastal defense cause. In 2014, Wang Jicai and his wife were named the national “model of the times”. On February 11, 2015, Wang Jicai attended the New Year tea party for military and civilians as a national model representative for the support of the two countries and the two countries, and was personally met by President Xi.
”Kaishan Island is small, but the national flag must be raised every day.” For 32 years, Wang Jicai and his wife have been determined, sticking to the post, and writing a magnificent life with faith and dedication. Now, this old militia unfortunately passed away from illness in the island and fulfilled its promise during its lifetime: “I will always stay on Kaishan Island until I stay still!”
This man has left, but his spirit has not faded. On Kaishan Island, the figure that touched hundreds of millions of Chinese people will always stand. Here, we publish a special issue of a group of photos of Wang Jicai guarding the island during his lifetime taken by a military photographer, expressing his respect and condolences to this “island-guarding hero”.