Focus Interview丨These workers in the desert and on the plateau deserve to be seen

We are all workers and dreamers. Only through labor can we create a better life, reap happiness and achieve our dreams. General Secretary Xi Jinping summarizes the connotation of the labor spirit by advocating labor, loving labor, hard work, and honest labor. Only by advocating and respecting labor can we love labor, and only by loving labor can we work hard and honestly without fear of hardship. This kind of labor spirit is inherited and upheld in all walks of life.

Guo Xi, a ranger at the Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County, Wuwei City, Gansu Province: My name is Guo Xi, and I am the third generation sand control person at the Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County. My grandfather is Guo Chaoming, who is the first generation sand control person. , my uncle Guo Wangang is the second generation of sand control people.

These days, Guo Xi and his colleagues are busy watering saplings at the Babusha Forest Farm in Gulang County, Wuwei, Gansu Province. Guo Xi was born in the 1980s. Seven years ago, he made a difficult decision: he ended his working life in Lanzhou and returned to the Babu Sand Forest Farm, becoming the third generation of the Guo family to control sand.

Guo Xi, a ranger at the Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County, Wuwei City, Gansu Province: My grandfather and father worked on sand control even when they were hungry. They also devoted their youth to the desert, so I wanted to stay. It's not as simple as I imagined. It's difficult to plant trees, difficult to water, everything is difficult.

Watering, planting trees, removing insects, pressing sand, and controlling sand in the desert, every work is truly hard work and hard work. Over the years, under the words and deeds of his predecessors, Guo Xi has gradually grown from a layman to a qualified forest manager.

Repeated work day after day, the most difficult thing for Guo Xi to overcome is boredom and loneliness. Many of his peers are living in big cities, with rich and colorful lives and better pay, which Guo Xi sometimes envy.

Guo Xi, a ranger at the Babusha Forest Farm in Gulang County, Wuwei City, Gansu Province: I work outside and can earn five to six thousand yuan a month driving heavy machinery. But when we come here, we are responsible for our own profits and losses. If there are benefits, we can get 3,000 yuan in salary this month. If there are no benefits, we will have no salary this month.

However, looking at this oasis that his fathers had spent a lifetime of hard work and sweat on, Guo Xi felt that as a younger generation in the forest farm, he had no reason to back down.

Guo Xi, a ranger at the Babu Sand Forest Farm in Gulang County, Wuwei City, Gansu Province: In the past, my grandfather and fathers managed the desert, but our generation is responsible for managing the desert well, because there is a saying in the desert: seven parts management and protection, three parts planting.

A few years ago, a special guest visited the forest farm, which gave Guo Xi more confidence and strength. On August 21, 2019, General Secretary Xi Jinping came to the Babu Sand Forest Farm to inspect local sand control, afforestation, ecological protection and other conditions. The General Secretary and three generations of desert control workers picked up the furrow plow and pressed down the grass squares.

Guo Xi, a ranger at the Babusha Forest Farm in Gulang County, Wuwei City, Gansu Province: The General Secretary told me that we should not bow down in the face of difficulties and dare to turn the desert into an oasis. We have to pass it on from generation to generation. The trees my grandfather and his family have planted over decades cannot die in our hands.

Advocating labor, loving labor, hard work, and honest labor are the General Secretary’s summary of the profound connotation of the labor spirit. They are also precious spiritual wealth passed down from generation to generation by those who control desertification at the Babu Sand Forest Farm.

The Babu Sand Forest Farm is located at the foot of the Qilian Mountains and on the southern edge of the Tengger Desert. In the early 1980s, there was no grass growing here and wind and sand were raging. Grandpa Guo Xi's generation of desert control people carried forward the spirit of hard work and began to control this desert using the method of "a tree, a handful of grass, to hold down the sand to prevent wind damage". The second generation of sand control people such as uncle Guo Wangang continued to work hard. , turning the 75,000 acres of yellow sand here into a lush oasis.

Now, a new generation of young people has taken over this heavy burden from their parents. To control the desert and manage the oases well requires patience and perseverance, and we must not relax for a moment. Once, Gulang encountered a severe drought. Seeing that the trees planted by his ancestors were about to die in the sun, Guo Xi and his colleagues were so anxious that they could not wait to live in the sprinkler truck, pulling water to water the trees day and night. Never bowing down in the face of difficulties, thanks to the efforts of Guo Xi and the forestry staff, the oasis in Babusha has been preserved intact.

Not only do we need to control desertification, but the young generation of active-thinking desertification controllers also want to find benefits from the desert. In 2017, at Guo Xi’s suggestion, Babusha Forest Farm began to use the vast desert and this oasis cultivated by the older generation to raise walking chickens. Not only will it not destroy the vegetation, but the chicken excrement can also promote better growth of vegetation. , and can also bring economic benefits to forest farms. In order not to delay the work of forest protection and sand control, Guo Xi deliberately arranged the work of raising chickens in the early morning. Every morning at 4:30, his day's work begins.

For desert control, the younger generation of sand control people still have many new plans. They are using a variety of new mechanical equipment to march into the larger desert. This year, Gulang County will complete the treatment of the last 90,000 acres of desertified land, and all 2.39 million acres of desertified land in the county will be initially controlled.

The seeds of love for labor and hard work have been sown in the hearts of the younger generation of sand control workers, just like this ever-expanding oasis, which will be passed down from generation to generation.

Love and hard work can not only turn deserts into oasis, but also turn natural chasms into roads. In mid-April, the lowest temperature in Amdo County, Nagqu City, Tibet was still close to minus 10°C. Two recent snowfalls have caused ice to form on the Amduo section of the Qinghai-Tibet Highway 109, leaving vehicles stranded for more than 20 kilometers.

Amdo County, Nagqu City is the northern gate of Tibet, and the Qinghai-Tibet Line of National Highway 109 passes through the city. As the main artery of land transportation in Tibet, National Highway 109 is responsible for 70% of the materials and 30% of the personnel transportation into Tibet. In order to relieve the congestion as soon as possible, members of the Anduo Traffic Police Team rushed to the scene as soon as possible.

The average altitude of the Anduo section of National Highway 109 is more than 4,800 meters, with a maximum altitude of more than 5,200 meters. The oxygen content is about half that of sea level. The meteorological conditions here are complex and the weather changes rapidly. There are more than 200 windy days of level 7 or above on average every year, and the lowest temperature can reach more than minus 40 degrees Celsius.

Because of the special environment, each of the traffic police members here has practiced various martial arts. In addition to directing traffic, they also have to do various tasks such as vehicle maintenance, road clearance, and rescue of high-resistance personnel to deal with various emergencies. . Because of the high altitude, drivers and tourists along the way often suffer from altitude sickness, headaches and hypoxia, which can even be life-threatening in severe cases. The Amdo Traffic Police Team will provide support vehicles in a timely manner and take rescue measures.

Dawa Yundan, captain of the Order Squadron of the Traffic Police Brigade of the Public Security Bureau of Amdo County, Nagqu City, Tibet: The first thing to do is to comfort people. After psychological stress, it may cause physical discomfort to varying degrees, so the mind must be calm. We were very trusting and gradually recovered.

Working day after day in extremely harsh environments, the team members never left anyone behind. In the past three years, the Anduo County Traffic Brigade has carried out 40 snow clearing operations, diverted traffic for 80 kilometers, cleared 800 broken down vehicles, and rescued more than 300 high-rebel people. Since 2017, one auxiliary police officer of the traffic police team has died in the line of duty, and two auxiliary police officers have been injured and disabled in the line of duty.

In 2022, the Traffic Police Brigade of the Anduo County Public Security Bureau was awarded the title of "National Model Public Security Unit" by the Party Central Committee and the State Council. Captain Qimei Yongzhong went to Beijing to receive the award as a representative and was received by General Secretary Xi Jinping. Every member of the team was very excited and inspired.

Qimei Yongzhong, Captain of the Traffic Police Brigade of the Public Security Bureau of Amdo County, Nagqu City, Tibet: This honor is not my personal honor, it is the honor of our brigade. In the future, we will continue to carry forward our dedication, hard work, and dedication to serve the masses well and protect the "Heavenly Road".

"Guard the 'Road to Heaven'", these simple words, behind them are hardships and sacrifices that ordinary people can't imagine. Because of the harsh conditions, it often takes several days or even ten days to clear a serious traffic jam here. Not being able to eat or sleep is something that Anduo traffic police members have long been accustomed to. Year-round high temperatures, lack of oxygen, and high-load work have also had an impact on the health of many Anduo traffic police members, and many have even suffered from altitude sickness.

Qimei Yongzhong, Captain of the Traffic Police Brigade of the Public Security Bureau of Amdo County, Nagchu City, Tibet: The body is definitely affected. The main reason for the gastrointestinal aspect is that we eat irregularly, sometimes even just one meal a day. No one has ever said that they have to go down the mountain due to personal or family reasons. Our team has the spirit of going up the mountain together and going down the mountain together.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the completion and opening of the Sichuan-Tibet and Qinghai-Tibet highways. Over the past 70 years, the smooth flow of this plateau lifeline is inseparable from the hard work and silent protection of generations of traffic police members.

Hard work creates the beauty of this world and outlines a happy life for everyone. Labor is the most exciting thing on earth, and workers are the noblest people in the world. We love labor, admire labor, and pay tribute to workers.

Editor丨Wang Meng, Liu Xiaochen, Jiang Yong, Li Xinman, Han Dong

Camera | Yang Qingbo, Li Penglin, Chen Fujun, Chen Yayu