One big family in faraway land

To provide some respite to his soldiers, Zhang Yong would often organize basketball and tug-war-matches for them. Mostly, he was a good listener, helping them to vent steam.

As food and other daily necessities had to be airlifted from China, Zhang encouraged them to plant vegetables in the barracks and even involved the locals in this.

Zhang had a record of every soldier's birthday and made sure that they each got a birthday card and a hot bowl of instant noodles with an egg on their special day.