CCTV News (Reporter Wang Jingyuan): When you walk into the Red Building located in the Bomi County Party Committee Courtyard in Tibet, the first thing you see is a photo wall, with more than 200 old people on the wall, and a line of words above the photo: Pay tribute to the "Eighteenth Army" and thank the "Old Tibet".
At the beginning of 1950, the Central Committee decided to liberate Tibet . At that time, the 18th Army, which was originally scheduled to be stationed in southern Fushuchuan, was urgently ordered to become the main force in carrying out this arduous task. In the construction of roads, bridges, suppression of rebellions, and construction, the officers and soldiers of the 18th Army dedicated their youth to the Tibetan Plateau, making great contributions to the liberation and construction of Tibet.
2018, Bomi County decided to transform the Red Building into a red history memorial hall. This was the beginning of an action to find veteran soldiers of the 18th Army and save historical memories.
(Photo wall inside the Bomi Red Building, CCTV reporter Wang Jingyuan)
An action to save historical memory
Zhang Qingchong was blocked out of the door for the seventh time. This time he has been on a business trip in Chengdu for more than three months, and time is limited, so he can't wait like this anymore.
The next day, he was originally planning to return to Linzhi , and he once again stood outside the door of an old soldier of the 18th Army. He was unwilling to give up and wanted to try his luck for the last time. Zhang Qing lived in the guesthouse opposite the old man's house. He would knock on the door every morning before going out. "If the door still doesn't open this time, I won't knock on it again for the ninth time. I can only say that we don't have this fate."
The eighth time, the door finally opened. Like the previous few times, the first thing that came was the nanny's scolding, "Are you annoying? You knocked on the door as soon as I cook in the morning. How many times have I said, the old man won't see you."
Zhang Qingchong and the nanny started arguing through a door. At this time, the old man walked over and said, "Open the door for him." Zhang Qingchong could hear that the old man's tone was not friendly, but he didn't care about so much. He was excited as if he had won the lottery. Before the nanny could open the door, he pushed the door open and entered.
This veteran of the 18th Army was a propaganda officer and war correspondent of the 155th Regiment of the 52nd Division of the 18th Army in Tibet. He was born in 1928 and joined the army in 1945. He has personally experienced many battles such as Hunan, Chambo , Lhasa and Shannan . The purpose of Zhang Qingchong's trip was to collect old photos and old objects from the old man after he joined the army in Tibet, and bring them back to the Red Building Memorial Hall in Bomi County, Linzhi, Tibet. If everything goes well, they will be exhibited as exhibits in the future.
(a corner of the exhibition hall in the Red Chamber, photo by CCTV reporter Wang Jingyuan)
There is a reason for the old man's resistance to Zhang Qingchong. In 2008, someone took away his treasured old photos in the name of a reporter. At that time, the other party said that he would send the originals back after a photocopy of the photo, but never appeared again. "Since I was cheated in 2008, I suddenly realized that I was really old. When I was young, I worked as an underground party. You must know that no one could deceive me." Since then, everyone who came for photos has been turned away by him.
At first, the old man was still prepared for Zhang Qingchong, but as he chatted, he suddenly got up and walked into the bedroom. When he returned to the living room, he had a bunch of old black and white photos on his hands, "You didn't know how happy I was at that moment."
Zhang Qingchong handed over his ID card and camera to the old man, promising to send the photo back immediately after printing the electronic version downstairs. As a result, he was stopped by the security guard as soon as he got off the floor. A few minutes later, the old man's son also rushed back from the unit and went to grab the photo of Zhang Qingchong without saying a word. During the period of pushing, the nanny ran down from the upper floor and pointed at Zhang Qingchong and called him a liar.
Fortunately, the misunderstanding was finally resolved. After returning to the guesthouse, Zhang Qingchong looked at the cars coming and going on the road, recalling the strange eyes a few hours ago, he couldn't help but burst into tears. He buried his head in the pillow, and tears soaked the bed sheets, "I'm obviously doing a good thing, why don't so many people understand?"
It is not easy to gain the trust of veterans and their families, and this is the most important task of Zhang Qing in the past three years.
Bomi Red Building refers to the Red Building of Zamu Center County Party Committee. It was built in 1953 and is located in the Bomi County Government Courtyard. This red wooden building witnessed the development of the revolutionary history of Tibet and has successively undertaken functions such as government offices, employee dormitories, and war command centers. In 2018, Bomi County decided to transform the Red Building into a Red History Memorial Hall, and the exhibition was handed over to Zhang Qingchong, who was a journalist.
(Bomi Red Building surrounded by mountains, CCTV reporter Wang Jingyuan)
Zhang Qingchong has been very interested in history since he was a child. After hearing the news that the Red Building was about to be launched, he took the initiative to apply to the county leaders to participate. Originally, he thought the work was very simple, but until he started preparing, Zhang Qingchong discovered that because Bomi started to revise local chronicles in 2007, there was a very lack of historical information during the revolutionary period. The most recent photo of the Red Mansion was taken in 2004.
"We went all over the archives and libraries of Linzhi, Chamdo and even the entire autonomous region, and as a result, we sorted out only one and a half pages of A4 paper related to Bomi." It is not easy to find red remains. Either there is no information or there is a different statement. It is just a battle to defend Zamu. At first, 28 versions were sorted out, which is difficult to confirm between each other.
Zhang Qingchong was worried that he could not complete the tasks assigned by his leader, and always had the Red Chamber exhibition in his heart, "I was worried, anxious, and I didn't know what to do." During that time, no matter how late he got off work every day, he would go around the county party committee compound to take a look at the Red Building. Once he worked overtime until 4 a.m., on the way home, he unconsciously walked to the Red Building. He looked at the Red Building in a daze, thinking about how to start.
Until later, Zhang Qingchong accidentally saw a message about descendants of the 18th Army going to Henan to seek roots, which inspired him. On the way home from the Red Mansion that night, he suddenly thought: Why don’t you go to find the surviving old soldiers to do oral history?
In this way, an action to save historical memory began.
Forget-forget-year-old friends
Born in 1992, Zhang Qingchong is a 3-year-old , Henan Junxian, and went to Tibet to work after graduating from university in 2016. In November of the same year, he became a grassroots civil servant in Guxiang, Bomi County, Linzhi City, Tibet.
The reason why he chose to work in Tibet is not only because of the heavy work pressure of big cities, but also because of the magnificent natural scenery of the local area. Zhang Qingchong had planned to work in Tibet in the past five years. In addition to completing the work assigned by the organization, he also had to travel around and travel around Tibet. At that time, Tibet was just his first temporary residence after entering society. His parents and girlfriend were both in his hometown, and Tibet was not in his vision of his future life.
"In this picture, the People's Liberation Army took off their cotton pants when they crossed the ice river. Do you know why?" Zhang Qingchong pointed to a black and white photo in the exhibition hall and looked at the audience opposite with interest. "In fact, when I crossed the river for the first time, the People's Liberation Army wore cotton pants. They saw the water flowing on the river, thinking that the water temperature must be above zero degrees. Who knew that when I got on the shore, the pants turned into ice pants and couldn't take a step. Later, when encountering ice rivers, gay men would take off their cotton pants and put them on their heads. The lesbians would change their cotton pants to their clothes, either swim across the river or swim with wood. The biting cold river water left many soldiers with lifelong illnesses, and many female soldiers lost the opportunity to be mothers from then on. "
(Zhang Qingchong is explaining the history of the 18th Army entering Tibet Photo by CCTV reporter Wang Jingyuan)
29-year-old Zhang Qingchong now knows Bomi's history and geography. More than once, after listening to his explanation, someone went to ask him if he was a Bomi native. Whenever someone praises him for his good words, he will always reply to the other party, "The old comrade is the creator of the story. I am just a porter. It's not how well I tell, but the old comrade's story itself is enough to touch people."
But at first Zhang Qingchong didn't go for these stories.
For Zhang Qingchong, the initial search for veterans of the 18th Army was just a task.Every time they arrive at the old man's house, they always pull Zhang Qingchong to tell him the story behind each photo, but Zhang Qingchong was not attentive to listen. He was dealing with it on the surface, but he just wanted to take the photos to complete the exhibition early. Even later, when he heard that the other party had never worked in Bomi, he gave up contacting the interview directly, "What does it have to do with me if he is an old soldier of the 18th Army? He is not in Bomi, what can it help us to set up the exhibition?"
Until the sudden death of an old soldier of the 18th Army, it was like a stone being thrown into a calm lake. Some previously deliberate and heavy facts surfaced, and Zhang Qingchong had to rethink the meaning of this job.
"I was listening to him telling a story at noon the day before, and the next day I received a call from his daughter saying that the old man had passed away." Zhang Qingchong began to realize that the search for the veteran was in a hurry. These meritorious old people who have climbed snow-capped mountains, crossed ice rivers, and built roads have been left at the end of the new era. They are eager to tell, and what they cannot let go of most at the last moment of their lives is the youth dedicated to the snowy plateau. "I think I was vulgar before and was too utilitarian."
changes occur from here. When he came to Chengdu's retiring house again, Zhang Qingchong would have to chat with the other party regardless of whether he had worked in Bomi before. Even though some revolutionary elderly people had never entered Tibet, Zhang Qingchong wanted to buy some fruit to see them. Some old people don’t have an old photo, but Zhang Qingchong still carries over with the camera, “I don’t have an interview outline, I just listen to him tell stories and chat with him.” Later, Zhang Qingchong took two months to visit the old man who had only asked for photos from the other party before.
(Photo provided by Zhang Qingchong and the old soldier Yan Jiaqi)
Facing the story of these veterans, Zhang Qingchong went from not wanting to hear it at first to deal with it later, and then finally listening with his ears on his back. "These old people are like a river. At first, it may be difficult for you to approach them, but once you touch that point, the river will 'break the dam'. At this time, they will tell you crazy that it is difficult for you not to let him talk." Every time the old people open their hearts to Zhang Qingchong, he will feel happy from the bottom of his heart.
Every time you go on a business trip to visit a veteran, Zhang Qingchong will be stimulated by some details. He is moved by the pure Tibetan complex and profound revolutionary sentiment of the older generation. He found that many old comrades who had been away from Tibet for decades still liked to eat tsampa and drink butter tea. They could speak fluent Tibetan and write standard Tibetan. There was a portrait of Potala Palace on the wall at home, there was a Tibet Daily on the table, and the first channel on the TV was Tibet TV .
The 18th Army veteran Meng Xianmin descendant Meng Guilin once told Zhang Qingchong that every time news related to Bomi appears in the news broadcast, her father would always ask her to record it on her mobile phone, and then wear reading glasses , hold a magnifying glass and watch it over and over again, pausing for a second, and not wanting to miss any frame of the picture.
Zhang Qingchong felt that he was guarding Tibet and Bomi for his old friends thousands of miles away. "Working and living in the deep mountains, the reason why I don't feel lonely is because I have so many friends forgot my years." In this operation to rescue historical memories, Zhang Qingchong visited a total of 212 veteran soldiers of the 18th Army and their descendants. He regarded these old people as soulmates and confidants, "A soulmate is an appropriate tacit understanding, and a confidant is a perfect deep friendship."
From "Old Tibet" to "Little Tibet"
Among the many friends who have forgotten their age, Lian Youxiang is the most special one to Zhang Qingchong.
Luoyu region is located in the southeast of Tibet, starting from Chayu in the east, ending at Menyu in the west, reaching the traditional custom line of the Sino-Indian border in the south, and reaching the vast area south of the Yarlung Zangbo River in the north, involving the entire territory of Medog County, Tibet, and its geographical location is extremely important. In the summer of 1952, the Chinese People's Liberation Army entered the Luoyu area for the first time, and Lian Youxiang was the leader of the People's Liberation Army's working group to enter the Luoyu area at that time.
At that time, the People's Liberation Army did not understand Luo Yu's situation, and did not even have an administrative division map.Lian Youxiang led the soldiers to climb Suila Mountain and walk on the ice slope like a knife. When passing through some areas, the heads of the people behind almost pressed against the heels of the people in front. The more you climb, the steeper the mountain, and it is difficult to stand firm. You can climb up and slide down, then climb up and slide down again. They pressed their bodies against the cliff, clenched the rock cracks with their hands, and tried to step on stone wand with their toes. They were so nervous that they didn't even dare to say anything, and they didn't dare to look down, moving slowly like gecko . Many years later, when Lian Youxiang recalled this scene with Zhang Qingchong again, he was still in fear.
Due to various historical reasons, even Youxiang's situation was not smooth during his years in Tibet, but this old man was always optimistic about his life. "The two most meaningful things in my life are: one is meeting my lover, and the other is meeting this old man. Every time I feel stressed and can't get out of work, as long as I call him, I will immediately sing songs and humming songs and walk home happily. Compared with Mr. Lian's tortuous life, the grievances I experienced are nothing."
(Descendants of the 18th Army returned to Bomi Red Building, photo provided by the interviewee)
When obtaining photos is no longer the only purpose, Zhang Qingchong gained more things outside of the interview. Once, Zhang Qing rushed to Chengdu to interview an old soldier. The other party's daughter asked to charge a fee based on the year of the photo taken. "This old man was sitting on a rattan chair in the living room, fanning leisurely. At that time, I wondered why he was so unintentional, and he didn't say a few words for me." When he was about to leave, the old man called Zhang Qingchong and asked him to leave his contact information, "I am 'Old Tibet', you are ' Little Tibet '. When I think about Bomi, I will ask you to take some photos and videos for me."
Half a month later, Zhang Qingchong received a WeChat message from the old man, "Xiao Zhang, my daughter is not at home today." Zhang Qingchong quickly dialed the phone. The old man said he would donate the photos to Bomi. The two quickly reached a consensus. He remotely guided the old man to open the computer, pack the photos, and log in to his email. After the photo was successfully sent, the old man specifically told him: "We are working underground, don't let my daughter know about this." Every time he told this story, Zhang Qingchong couldn't help but sigh at the completely different attitudes of the two generations facing money.
Every time he returns to Bomi after an interview, he always spends a lot of time organizing recordings and videos. This job requires people to calm down. For this reason, he almost turned down all the parties and devoted himself to these veterans. "When I was in college, I was a student union cadre, and what I was most passionate about was social engagements."
Zhang Qingchong could clearly sense that his life was changing. He found that he had fewer and fewer common languages with the people around him, but his old friends in the distance always made him worry. Enter "Eighteen Army" in Zhang Qingchong's WeChat search bar, and there are more than 20 group chats alone. When he returns to the mainland for vacation, he will always stay in Chengdu for a few days, drinking tea and chatting with the elderly.
(Photo provided by Zhang Qingchong and the old soldier Dai Yixin and his descendants)
In two and a half years, Zhang Qingchong has traveled more than 400 days in total, collecting 24 million words of information, more than 140 physical materials, more than 40 manuscripts of old comrades, and more than 1,800 old photos, basically sorting out the red historical context of Bomi County and even Linzhi City .
Although he put all his thoughts on this, time is still not enough. Many times, Zhang Qingchong feels that he is racing against time. "The 212 old people we visited have gone 12 in 2018, and the number has increased to more than 30 in 2019. At the end of 2020, we counted 71. Have you noticed that if these numbers are connected into a line chart, the line will be steeper and steeper."
A stack of yellowed diaries are displayed in the Red Building, with a total of 17 books, with a time span from 1949 to 1966. The historical context of the Bomi area was not clear enough, but the diary was clearly recorded, and the characters, time and events were like a local historical record. The owner of the diary of
is an old soldier named Wang Xiaoyu, who once served as the secretary-general of the Bomi Division of Working Committee.When Zhang Qingchong found Wang Xiaoyu, the 99-year-old man was already a advanced cancer patient. On his desk, he was a memoir manuscript that he had just started writing but had no time to complete.
(17 diaries of old man Wang Xiaoyu, photo provided by the interviewee)
After contacting these old people, Zhang Qingchong found that life is actually more than one way to live. Sometimes when he returns to his residence alone after get off work, he will find out the old man’s interview video. Once he saw Yan Jiaqi’s video at 4 a.m., “Actually, I can recite these videos. After they say the previous sentence, I will know the next sentence, but I don’t know why I just like to listen to them, as if life has returned to a very quiet state.”
.13 million kilometers of itinerary. In three years, Zhang Qingchong has visited Lhasa, Changdu, Linzhi, Chengdu, Zhengzhou, Beijing, Xianyang and other places many times. After searching for 212 old soldiers, he found that he did not want to leave Tibet anymore.
In July this year, the original five-year work in Tibet expired, but Zhang Qingchong chose to stay in Bomi and continue to search for veterans. "I had only had 5 years of fate with Tibet, but now it may become a lifetime."
