If you were an island guard living on an isolated island with no water, no electricity, and no residents, how many days could you last?
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On the Yellow Sea, about 12 nautical miles away from Lianyungang, Jiangsu Province, there is a small island with an area of only 0.013 square kilometers, called " Kaishan Island ". Although the island is small, it is the right-wing outpost of the military fortress Lianyungang . It is also an important national defense strategic island in our country.
During the Anti-Japanese War, the Japanese army used this island as a springboard to capture parts of Jiangsu, my country.
Therefore, coastal defense troops were stationed on the island until 1985, when the troops were disbanded and the Jiangsu Provincial Military Region decided to set up a militia post on the island.
The environment on the island is harsh, with no water or electricity all year round, overgrown weeds, and bitten by snakes, insects, and rats. It is like a "water prison." After the establishment of the
civilian outpost, the People's Armed Forces sent more than a dozen island guards.
But the longest one lasted only 13 days, and some people even followed the ship back to land on the same day.
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In desperation, Wang Changjie, the Minister of the Armed Forces, found Wang Jicai, who was the production captain and militia platoon leader at the age of 27, and asked him to temporarily guard the island for 15 days.
Without saying a word, he went to the island without telling his wife and 2-year-old daughter, and became the "island owner" of Kaishan Island.
In July 1986, in the midst of unimaginable hardship, Wang Jicai initially promised 15 days, then complained and persisted until 48 days, and then his wife Wang Shihua quit her job and went to the island to be with her. The two persisted for 32 years.
So, how is their life on the island? What unknown stories have you experienced?
Smoking and drinking to build courage
Time goes back to July 14, 1987. On this day, Wang Jicai set foot on Kaishan Island with dry food, 6 cartons of cigarettes and 30 bottles of liquor.
Apart from a few rows of empty barracks, the most abundant things on the island are icy rocks and howling sea breeze.
Especially after it rains, the entire island is damp and full of snakes, insects, rats, and ants.
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This shocked Wang Jicai. He never smoked or drank, so he could only stay in the room, drinking to relieve boredom and strengthen his courage.
On the fourth day, he saw the sun. At this time, he looked towards the opposite side of the island, and his heart was filled with his wife and children.
He endured loneliness and isolation just because he promised the minister to persist for 15 days.
15 days later, because Minister Wang could not find a replacement, Wang Jicai gritted his teeth and persisted for more than 40 days.
Wife resigned to accompany
html On August 30, under the arrangement of Wang Jicai’s leadership, his wife Wang Shihua landed on Kaishan Island to visit her husband.She brought her husband daily necessities and some puppies to keep him company.
Wang Shihua recalled that when she saw Wang Jicai, she burst into tears.
After not seeing him for just 48 days, he became dark and thin, with an unkempt beard and mosquito bite scars all over his body. He looked like a "savage".
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That day, Wang Shihua picked up the scissors and cut his hair, helped him take a hot bath, and persuaded him to go ashore with her. The children all missed him.
At this time, Wang Jicai was full of guilt for his family, but he could not get away because of the tasks on his shoulders.
He said: "Everyone knows that it is difficult to defend the island, but if I don't defend the island, who will? If Minister Wang Changjie finds the next person to defend the island, I will leave."
Wang Shihua knew that she could not defeat him, so she swallowed all the words she had prepared for a long time, and left the island after a brief reunion.
Unexpectedly, more than 20 days later, Wang Shihua returned to the island.
She quit her job as a primary school teacher and left her daughter with the elderly. She came to Kaishan Island and guarded this deserted island side by side with Wang Jicai.
Everyone asked her why? She said, he guards the island, and I guard him.
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The conditions on the island were very simple at first. Later, the couple grew vegetables and trees together, making Kaishan Island full of life.
Since then, the sentry post has become a couple post.
They stand on a small platform facing the sea and hold a flag-raising ceremony every day, just like in the photo.
Wang Jicai and his wife, one of them was the flag raiser and the other was the flag guard, no matter it was windy or rainy, they never stopped.
During the 32 years they guarded the island, the couple raised the flag more than 11,000 times, and they were affectionately known as the "Couple Sentence on Kaishan Island".
Because Kaishan Island is often hit by violent storms, the red flags are easily lost or damaged.
So the two bought more than 200 red flags at their own expense. In Wang Jicai's words, they wanted the five-star red flag to fly over Kaishan Island forever.
Experienced hardships
With the company of his wife, Wang Jicai is no longer lonely, and Kaishan Island gradually feels like home.
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When Wang Shihua first came to the island, she was not used to it. The bedding was so damp that she couldn't sleep, and she was woken up by the waves every night.
Later, accompanied by Wang Jicai, she gradually overcame these problems and gradually adapted to the life of the island guards.
They arranged life on the island in an orderly manner.
raises flags, patrols islands, observes the sky, escorts navigation marks, and also plays important roles in preventing smuggling, rescuing people, reminding sailboats to avoid running aground on rocks, etc.
Sometimes, when Wang Jicai had to leave the island to do business or report, Wang Shihua could also handle the tasks of guarding military facilities, identifying ships, and observing sea conditions in an orderly manner.
Skin Disease
The island's year-round sea breeze and humidity seriously damaged Wang Jicai's body.
In his sixth year on the island, he suffered from a skin disease. It is extremely itchy all year round, especially in winter, when it is unbearable and he will scratch it.
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The head of the provincial military region once took him to Nanjing Military Region General Hospital for examination by a dermatologist.
Experts say that this is a humidity syndrome caused by the climate on the island being too humid. It will get better automatically as long as you leave the island for two or three years.
Wang Jicai knew that the only way to cure his skin disease was to leave the island, but he did not do so.
Even though he endured physical torture every day, he still persisted.
He said that his illness was nothing compared with that of his wife.
The Gate of Hell
On the night of July 9, 1987, my wife almost died.
On that day, Wang Shihua was about to give birth, but just in time for Typhoon No. 10, no fishing boats dared to go out to sea.
At that moment, the sky was really at a loss, and the earth and the earth were at a loss.
Because Kaishan Island is very windy and the waves are very strong in the summer, and then there is a typhoon, and my wife is about to give birth.
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Wang Shihua cried and beat Wang Jicai, complaining that it would be better if he was not on the island, because he might be dead.
But there was no communication tool on the island, only a hand-cranked walkie-talkie left behind by the troops when they left.
At dawn the next day, Wang Jicai shook his walkie-talkie and contacted the political minister. The minister arrived at the pier, but because of the typhoon, there was no way to get to the island.
Then the minister’s family members were on the other end of the phone, instructing Wang Jicai on how to deliver the baby.
While listening, Wang Jicai started to operate by himself, heating water, disinfecting the scissors, and cutting the umbilical cord...
It wasn't until the baby fell to the ground that Wang Jicai breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed on the ground.
Wang Shihua named her son Wang Zhiguo, hoping that when he grows up, he will have the motherland in his heart like his father.
The threat of criminals
's long-term persistence not only needs to overcome the environmental factors on the island, but also prevent some rampant criminals from landing on the island.
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From 1993 to 1999, Wang Jicai and his wife discovered a total of 9 smuggling and smuggling cases, and successfully cracked 6 of them.
Wang Shihua said that it was relatively rampant at that time, but it is much better now.
The couple still feel frightened when talking about the scene back then.
During a stowaway trip in 1996, a total of 48 people came and were sent to a cave on the island where Wang Jicai was located.
In the name of traveling to the island, he wanted to stay on the island for a day and pick him up at night. As long as Wang Jicai agreed, he would give him 100,000 yuan.
This was an astronomical figure for them, but Wang Jicai resolutely refused.
He told his wife that this money is not clean. We will suffer a little and be tired, but we cannot take this money.
Afterwards, the smugglers began to threaten Wang Jicai, threatening to attack their children if they did not compromise.
But Wang Jicai still gritted his teeth and refused to let go.
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The criminals saw that Wang Jicai was unwilling to take any advice, so they took him to the beach and beat him, and even set fire to the duty room of the post.
The two flatly rejected the 100,000 yuan, but their annual salary was only 3,700 yuan. They built the lighthouse in 1995 and added another 2,000 yuan in maintenance fees.
But they have a mother and three children. With just this little money, it is difficult to maintain the minimum expenses for the whole family.
Although their family conditions were so difficult, they never bowed their heads before interests and never took any money that was unconscionable.
How valuable this is!
In the 32 years they have lived on Kaishan Island, they have never watched TV and can only relieve their loneliness by listening to the radio.
But because of the shortage of power, they are reluctant to use it. They usually only listen to the news, not even songs and operas.
This radio is solar-powered and cannot be charged when the weather changes. It can only be listened to for 40 minutes every morning. It is their only medium to communicate with the outside world.
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In addition to listening to the radio, Wang Jicai would also conscientiously comb his wife's hair, while Wang Shihua would sing to Wang Jicai.
The two of them depended on each other, caring and loving each other, and they had never had a quarrel.
It is worth mentioning that in order to defend the island, they missed their eldest daughter's wedding, their mother's birthday, and their father's death.
In these 32 years, I have only left Kaishan Island 6 times to go home for the New Year.
His behavior of leaving his own family to take care of everyone shows us his determination to stick to the island.
Wang Jicai passed away, but his wife continued to stick to it.
Wang Jicai once said: "I will always stay on Kaishan Island until I can't stand anymore!"
On July 27, 2018, Wang Jicai suddenly fell ill while on duty. Unfortunately, the rescue efforts failed. Passed away at the age of 58.
This island has lost its most loyal guardian forever.
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On the tenth day after Wang Jicai's death, Wang Shihua submitted an application to the organization to defend the island. She chose to stay to fulfill her husband's unfinished wish. Taking her physical condition and age into consideration, the
organization decided to hire her as the director of the Sentinel Station.
When she returned to Kaishan Island again, she remembered every bit of her time on the island with her husband.
While she was watering the water, he sat next to her and smoked. She sang to him, but he would never hear it again.
The island is never lonely, and the lighthouse never goes out
This just confirms the saying: "There are no quiet years, it's just that there are people carrying the burden for us."
Kaishan Island is the sentry that Wang Jicai and his wife are waiting for Gang, every plant and tree here bears witness to their unwavering, uncompromising loyalty.
In the past, on Kaishan Island, birds did not make nests and fishermen did not go to the island.
Today's Kaishan Island has undergone earth-shaking changes.
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This place is not only equipped with a seawater desalination system, but also uses solar energy and wind power to generate electricity .
At the same time, many household appliances were purchased and the pier was rebuilt.
At the same time, Kaishan Island has changed to a shift duty, which will be rotated every 10-15 days.
In addition, a new auditorium, reception room and a patriotic education base have been built here. The objects of the couple who have been guarding the island for more than 30 years are displayed for future generations to admire.
Nowadays, Kaishan Island has been rated as a 3A-level red scenic spot. If you are interested, you can visit the island.
Inspector Long said
I checked specifically and found that our country has more than 11,000 islands.
No matter in the northeastern corner of the motherland, the winter lasts for eight months and the lowest temperature is minus 40 degrees Celsius. Heixiazi Island .
It is still Huayang Reef which is more than 1,000 kilometers away from the mainland of the motherland, with long summers and no winter, and an isolated reef hanging outside.
Or the East Maozhou Island , which is surrounded by cliffs and numerous reefs, or the Beizhou Island , which is narrow and sparsely populated and has a vast water supply...
There are selfless and dedicated "island defenders" like Wang Jicai.
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They dedicated their youth and youth to the coastal defense of the motherland. For decades, our unyielding island guards made us stand in awe.
They let us see that in this society full of materialistic desires, there are still people who stick to their beliefs and spend their entire lives guarding them.
Although they live an ordinary life, their spirit is extremely luxurious and noble.
The peace of the motherland and the tranquility of the people depend on this strong and protective spirit.
pays tribute to Wang Jicai and all the island defenders!
