July 1, 1997, an epoch-making focus moment - Hong Kong returned to ! On this day in Hong Kong, you can smell the breath of new life everywhere.
Compatriots at home and abroad are all immersed in the joy of Hong Kong's return. What they don't know is that at this moment, more than 500 Hong Kong garrison are crossing the Shenzhen Luohu Port and marching towards Hong Kong, beginning to take on the responsibility of defending the reunification of the motherland and maintaining the Hong Kong's prosperity and stability.
General Xiong Ziren, the political commissar who led the garrison in Hong Kong, was filled with emotions. He knew that this was a glorious and arduous task, but since he took over this important historical task, he had already decided to treat it as his lifelong career.
In December 1943, Xiong Ziren was born in Xinguan Village, Chengji Town, Jianli County, Hubei Province. There is a "Song Street" in the town that has lasted for thousands of years. The street is paved with blue stones, and there are ruts of different depths in the middle, full of traces of time. Xiong Ziren spent his teenage years on this street.
Xiong Ziren’s childhood life can be described in one word, that is “bitter”.
Although Xiong Ziren’s father, Xiong Fude, was a small businessman who always got up early and worked hard at night. However, since they had no tiles on the roof and no place to stand on, a large part of the meager profits from the business had to be paid for rent, which made the life of Xiong Fude’s family difficult. , I always had the last meal but not the next one.
Such a living environment made Xiong Ziren taste the hardships of life, but at the same time it also molded his character of being hard-working and able to endure humiliation and bear heavy burdens.
The first half of 1956 was the most difficult time for the Xiong family. His father, Xiong Fude, was seriously ill, and his three younger brothers had reached the age where they needed to spend money to study. The family could no longer spare any extra money for Xiong Ziren to study.
The parents wanted their children to succeed and did not want to see their eldest son drop out of school because of his hard work and excellent grades, so they discussed giving away their third child to reduce the family burden.
After Xiong Ziren learned about it, he cried and shook his mother's hand and shouted: "Mom, don't give away your third brother. I don't want to study anymore. I have to go to work!" The mother hugged her sensible eldest son and said, Tears fell like rain.
The house where Xiong Ziren lived when he was a child
In the end, the third brother was not sent away, but Xiong Ziren left school and embarked on a difficult road to make a living. He began to cut thatch from the wild and twist it into handfuls in exchange for some oil and salt money. Later, under the introduction of others, he came to work in a central restaurant run by a supply and marketing cooperative, earning 10 yuan a month to support his family.
In 1958, there was a craze for large-scale industrial development across the country, and Xiong Ziren signed up for the recruitment of the Bridge Bureau of the Ministry of Railways. Xiong Ziren, who was only 15 years old, said goodbye to his relatives and friends in his hometown and the familiar "Song Street". He packed his bags alone and headed to the Bridge Bureau of the Ministry of Railways in Guangzhou.
However, what Xiong Ziren did not expect was that he failed the physical examination. At that time, recruitment conditions required male workers to be over 1.5 meters tall, but Xiong Ziren was only 1.47 meters tall.
Seeing that his wish to become a worker was about to come to naught, Xiong Ziren became anxious. He said to the comrade in charge of recruiting: "Aspiration does not depend on age, and ability does not depend on height. Look, my arms are so strong." The comrade recruiting workers laughed. He asked Xiong Ziren to write a few words and see if he wrote well. He would make an exception and hire him.
Xiong Ziren had been studying for several years. He was full of confidence and wrote Chairman Mao's poems with a swipe of his pen. His handwriting was graceful and powerful. The comrades who recruited workers were greatly impressed when they saw it. They immediately said to Xiong Ziren: "You are hired."
After Xiong Ziren was hired, he became a welder at the bridge. He knows that opportunities are hard to come by, so he works very hard whether he is studying or working. Thanks to Xiong Ziren's hard work, his technical level has improved rapidly, and he has reached the level of a fourth-level welder in just over a year, which is rare in the entire bridge bureau.
Xiong Ziren's hard work and ability were noticed by the leaders. In order to further improve Xiong Ziren's technical skills, the leaders recommended him to attend a technical school for one year in the second year. After returning from technical school, Xiong Ziren became more humble and cautious, and worked more actively and hard.
Xiong Ziren contributed all the knowledge he had learned. He overcame many technical difficulties and created many new records for welding technology innovation. For this reason, he was named a youth model and attended the National Youth Technician Advanced Deeds Congress with honor.
Xiong Ziren was very happy. What made him even more excited was that he also met the commander-in-chief of the country's three armed forces. Marshal Zhu De. When Xiong Ziren felt that Mr. Zhu's strong and strong hands were holding his hands affectionately, his heart was so excited that he almost jumped out of his chest.
At this time, Xiong Ziren secretly decided that he must redouble his efforts in the future and repay the cordial care of the party and Mr. Zhu with practical actions. If he has the opportunity to join the people's army in the future, he must take over Mr. Zhu's carrying pole and serve the people again. Make new contributions.
Xiong Ziren was a man who kept his word. Later, when he moved to the construction of the Taizi River Bridge in Northeast China and the Xiangjiang River Bridge in Hunan, he was twice named a youth model and became one of the few influential figures in the Bridge Bureau. Moreover, his wish to take over "Mr. Zhu's carrying pole" was soon realized.
In 1962, Chiang Kai-shek , who was living in Taiwan, kept clamoring to counterattack the mainland. Xiong Ziren, who was 19 years old at the time, immediately decided to join the army to protect his family and country. At this point, Xiong Ziren became a glorious PLA soldier.
Xiong Ziren's 37-year military career was spent in the Pearl River basin. At first, Xiong Ziren followed his troops to reclaim land from the sea at Baiteng Lake in Doumen County, Zhuhai.
This was not too difficult for Xiong Ziren, because he had worked at the "Sanzhi" construction site in the countryside, and later at the bridge construction site.
Xiong Ziren
In addition to reclaiming land from the sea, what Xiong Ziren did most was to observe the shining points of his comrades. The reason for this is because he is the deputy squad leader, and he wants to use good themes such as "Zhu De's Carrying Pole" to speak out from his own experience, carry out the company's ideological and political work, and play a role in educating and inspiring people.
Xiong Ziren, who had first-hand information, picked up the pen in his hand after taking a break and wrote a touching story about the soldiers. These stories achieved excellent results and were not only widely circulated in the company, but also later appeared in the military newspaper and were praised by the regimental commander and battalion commander many times. In view of Xiong Ziren's outstanding contributions in work and propaganda, he soon became a party member with honor.
In 1979, Xiong Ziren went to the battlefield for the first time. At that time, the Vietnamese authorities repaid with kindness and continued to provoke many times on our border. When we could not bear it, carried out self-defense and counterattack. As a regimental cadre, Xiong Ziren led the working group to the front line with the avant-garde regiment.
Xiong Ziren gave full play to his ingenuity, went deep into the enemy's rear, cleverly maneuvered and charged forward, completed the insertion mission, and even uncovered a large amount of intelligence such as the enemy's missile positions.
After that, he led his troops to destroy the enemy's missile positions and seized a large number of missile weapons. This brilliant result removed the obstacle to our army's progress. As a result, he achieved great military exploits.
At the same time, Xiong Ziren also wrote a large number of battlefield diaries and news works between battles. For example, "First Class Combat Hero Lan Yanchun" was his work. After it was published in the "People's Liberation Army Daily", it caused a lot of stir. Big response.
In 1983, Xiong Ziren got the opportunity to study at Beijing Political College for one year. He eagerly learns theoretical knowledge and combines theoretical knowledge with his decades of practical experience, which makes him more comfortable when dealing with problems at work in the future.
In 1985, Xiong Ziren was transferred to a certain division as a political commissar. This term lasted for 8 years. This was also an important period in his life.
In June of this year, the Military Commission made a major decision: to implement a strategic change in the guiding ideology of military construction, that is, from a strategic state based on "strike early and fight big" to a track of peace-building period.
Xiong Ziren thought hard about how the army could adapt to this change. Finally, he believed that if a big war could not be fought, then he should consider the long-term, basic and comprehensive construction of the army.
To this end, Xiong Ziren focused on three things: first, improving the construction of military camps and military camp meals; second, focusing on the reform of military training and martial arts, and making training methods more diverse; third, enriching the amateur cultural life of soldiers.
Three major events have enlivened the troops and achieved remarkable results. The unit where Xiong Ziren serves has been rated as "Advanced Trainer" and "Comprehensive Advanced Unit" by Guangzhou Military Region , and has been commended by the Military Commission many times. Even so, Xiong Ziren is not arrogant but works more conscientiously.
His style was unanimously praised by the entire army. It is precisely because of this that an important task was handed over to Xiong Ziren. Beginning in 1993, the central government decided to form a garrison in Hong Kong to prepare for Hong Kong's return and implement Deng Gong's great concept of " one country, two systems ".
It can be seen that this is a very special force, so a person who is extremely capable and can build the force must be selected to lead it. After much thought, the central government felt that Xiong Ziren was the perfect candidate.
In February 1994, Xiong Ziren was appointed as the political commissar of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Garrison in Hong Kong. His heart was filled with pride and he knew that he was carrying a heavy burden on his shoulders, but he did not flinch.
In order to create a "mighty and civilized division", Xiong Ziren put forward the solemn slogan "Mission is more important than Mount Tai, discipline is more important than life, and the image represents the might of the country and the military".
The eight characters "seize the day and fulfill the mission" can be seen everywhere in the military camp. All officers and soldiers are enthusiastic about learning and training. They regard dark days as day, rainy days as sunny days, and one day as two days, racing against time...
In 1997, the day of Hong Kong's return finally arrived. At 21:00 on the evening of June 30, Xiong Ziren said to the soldiers with a serious expression: "Hong Kong will return soon. We must keep our mission in mind, safeguard the reunification of the motherland, and maintain the prosperity and stability of Hong Kong!" After hearing this, the soldiers straightened their backs. Straighter, with a resolute expression.
Xiong Ziren was quite pleased, and then he led more than 500 advance troops stationed in Hong Kong to prepare for the attack and waited until 0:00 on July 1 to arrive in Hong Kong to accept the change of defense.
Time passed by minute by second, and at 23:52, the advance soldiers moved: two soldiers from the Hong Kong garrison walked in goose steps, carrying steel guns on their shoulders, and came to the gate of the Welsh military camp, replacing the British soldiers who were standing guard here. Army, assuming guard duties - the handover ceremony officially began.
23:57, three People's Liberation Army soldiers in military uniforms, guarding the five-star red flag, solemnly walked to the flagpole, preparing to raise the bright five-star red flag.
23:59, the national flag guard raised the national flag, and the surrounding people could not help but cheer and applaud excitedly. Some even hugged each other tightly and shed tears of joy.
When the hands moved to 0:00:00, the troops stationed in Hong Kong also successfully completed the handover ceremony. At the same time, the national anthem resounded through Hong Kong, and the bright five-star red flag fluttered in the wind over Hong Kong. Hong Kong has finally returned!
Since then, Xiong Ziren has led the garrison in Hong Kong and written legends in Hong Kong. He worked humbly and had a heart-to-heart connection with the Hong Kong compatriots, making the garrison in Hong Kong unanimously appreciated by the Hong Kong compatriots.
In 2003, Xiong Ziren was transferred to Nanjing Military Region as deputy political commissar. Although he left Hong Kong, he always paid attention to the development of Hong Kong and cared about Hong Kong compatriots...
