Changed and unchanged - the PLA 30 years

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2008-12-18 10:40

People's army

Some things changed, but some things remain unchanged.

"The Party controls guns. This guiding principle has never changed since the era of Chairman Mao," said Liu Zhihe in Wenshan.

Local people bids a farewell to a PLA officer as his unit prepares to leave Hongbai Town in Shifang, Sichuan province July 20 2008. [Xinhua]

He said militaries in different countries have lots of common things -- their function and mission are basically the same, and their training and management are all strict.

"But the Chinese Army is different from those of many other countries. that is, the Communist Party of China has an absolute leadership of the army," he said.

"The servicemen are always learning the latest theories proposed by the Party, such as the Scientific Outlook on Development," he said.

The Scientific Outlook on Development has been a new doctrine of the Communist Party of China that stresses sustainable economic growth and harmony between man and the nature.

Meanwhile, the nature of "people's army" -- a more common name for PLA in China -- remains unchanged.

"We come from the people and therefore we serve them, that's my understanding about 'people's army,'" said 25-year-old Gong Guodong, a non-commissioned officer (Class 2) at the PLA Yunnan Military Area Command.

"Take for example, we army men often pitch in with disaster-relief operations," he said.

After the devastating 8.0-magnitude earthquake struck southwestern Sichuan Province on May 12, China mobilized 146,000 troops for relief operation.

"I spent a night in Yingxiu Town and saw PLA soldiers busy with repairing roads and saving survivors. A look at their green uniforms indeed reassured me," a journalist from Singapore's Lianhe Zaobao daily wrote in a report on May 18.

For a long time, the Chinese troops stationed in different regions have also helped local governments to develop the economy and strengthen their relationship with residents, which is different from the militaries of many other countries. That is another explanation of "people's army."

Another unique feature of the Chinese Army is that the servicemen still plant vegetable and raise pigs today, which has not changed since Chairman Mao's era.

"In my eyes, raising pigs is also a philosophy of life. Frankly speaking, we won't be hungry even if we don't plant vegetable and raise pigs by ourselves," said 31-year-old Yang Meng, an officer at the PLA Yunnan Military Area Command.

"But the point is, in this way, we're inheriting the glorious tradition of the Chinese Army and foster a spirit of working hard and living plainly among young officers and soldiers," he said.

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