On the eve of the Lunar New Year, a delegation from a People’s Liberation Army Navy unit drove from base to village, carrying more than seasonal greetings. Their brief was both familiar and deliberate: visit two ageing veterans who once served in the unit’s predecessor formations, deliver condolences and gifts, and — if possible — fulfil a long-held wish to see old comrades again.
The first visit was to Zhangjiaquan village on the northern slopes of the Yimeng Mountains in Shandong, where 93‑year‑old Zhu Yanfu lives. His small courtyard was tidy, the plaques declaring the household a “National Civilised Family” and a “Glorious Home” polished to a shine. Zhu, who volunteered at 14 and fought through hundred‑plus engagements including the 1950 Battle of Chosin Reservoir (known in Chinese accounts as the Battle of Changjin Lake), bears the physical consequences: amputations below both knees and above both wrists, and the loss of his left eye.
Soldiers from the current unit — including the serving instructor from Zhu’s former battalion — knelt by his bedside and saluted. A recorded video of his old comrade, 96‑year‑old Fang Laiting, was played so the two could see one another. The men had served in adjacent battalions of the 231st Regiment in the volunteer corps that fought in Korea; the footage of their recognition and mutual salute moved the younger officers and enlisted personnel to tears.
The delegation then hurried to Fang’s home in Zoucheng. Fang, who had been badly wounded at Chosin and later lost touch with many comrades through unit reorganisations and the passage of decades, greeted the visiting soldiers warmly. When he watched the footage of Zhu, Fang wept and urged the current generation to train hard and protect the nation.
The event was organised under the slogan “Remember Merits, Salute Heroes,” part of a broader pattern of military visits to veterans and model citizens ahead of national holidays. Practically, the trip addressed veteran welfare and social gratitude; symbolically, it reaffirmed continuity between the PLA’s living memory of sacrifice and the modern force’s duties. The choice to bridge distance with pre‑recorded video — rather than live calls — reflected simple pragmatism: the infirmity of both men made filmed reunions a reliable way to accomplish a cherished encounter.
The human story sits against a larger institutional backdrop. The Chosin Reservoir battle occupies an outsized place in Chinese military memory, a narrative of endurance in bitter cold and heavy casualties that the PLA continues to reference when teaching cohesion and resilience. Commemorative acts like these serve multiple purposes: they are welfare gestures for veterans; they reinforce the moral authority of military service in public life; and they supply current troops with living exemplars for patriotic education.
For international observers, the episode is less about foreign policy than domestic consolidation. It underscores how the PLA and state media deploy veteran narratives to bolster legitimacy and morale, particularly around sensitive moments such as national holidays or geopolitical tensions. At the same time, the scene is a straightforward human drama: two elderly men, separated by geography and decades, reconnect through the care of a younger military generation and a small piece of technology.
The officers and soldiers left promising to return next year. For many in the unit, the visit crystallised a sense of inheritance — a pledge to “take up the rifle” metaphorically and to ensure that the peace older veterans sacrificed for is defended by the living.