A salt wind and the promise of a new year brought more than decoration and food to a modest courtyard on Dongshan Island. On the eve of the Lunar New Year’s preparatory day, local officials, volunteers and a supportive company arrived at the home of Liu Fushui to hang red lanterns, post spring couplets and cook a meal — an exercise in ceremony and social policy disguised as a family visit.
The event, billed as "I Spend the New Year with Military Families," was organised by the Dongshan County Veterans Affairs Bureau, the Kangmei town People’s Armed Forces Department, a red-clad volunteer eldercare team and the local enterprise Haifengyuan. They brought supplies and greetings, but perhaps more important than parcels was an entire morning of company: hanging banners, pasting fu characters, and preparing what the hosts called a "double‑flavour reunion" of dumplings and fresh island seafood.
The visit centred on the household of Liu, whose grandson Liu Xingye is serving in a unit under the Southern Theater Command. After Liu’s enlistment local authorities issued the family a military‑dependent certificate and placed the elderly couple on a priority roster for eldercare services — covering meals, medical help, companionship and emergency support. Volunteers and officials emphasised that such practical measures are part of a broader effort to ensure military families do not feel neglected when a member serves away from home.
A convivial lunch followed: locals showed how to prepare barang fish, squid and prawns — the maritime produce that underpins Dongshan’s identity — alongside traditional dumplings. The soldier on duty joined the gathering by phone, smiling on camera as relatives and visitors filled the room with well‑wishes. Organisers framed the gesture as reciprocal: "You guard the country, we guard the home," read the banners held up for photographs.
Dongshan, long nicknamed "Hero Island" in local lore, has become a stage for what the Chinese Communist Party calls shuang yong — dual support between civilians and the military. Events of this kind serve several functions: they are welfare delivery mechanisms, instruments of local governance and small but visible demonstrations of the bond between PLA personnel and their communities.
That combination of symbolism and service matters beyond the warmth of a shared meal. Beijing has in recent years elevated veterans' affairs on the policy agenda, creating institutional pathways for demobilised soldiers and tightening the social contract around those who serve. By ensuring families of servicemen receive visible support, local governments both reduce the social cost of service and burnish the state’s claim to care for citizens who shoulder national defence.
For international observers the scene on Dongshan offers a reminder that China’s civil‑military ties are maintained as much through quotidian social policy as through drills and defence white papers. The practice helps sustain recruitment incentives, steadies morale among troops, and projects an image of a responsive state that can mobilise community actors, enterprises and volunteers to meet social needs. As the population of veterans grows and expectations rise, these rituals of care are likely to be scaled and institutionalised — posing both administrative tests and opportunities for the Party to reinforce domestic legitimacy.