As the Qingming Festival approaches in 2026, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) has once again turned its gaze toward the charcoal kilns of 1944. The ritualized commemoration of Zhang Side, a soldier whose death in a mundane work accident became the catalyst for the Chinese Communist Party’s most enduring slogan, serves as more than a simple history lesson. It is a calculated reinforcement of the 'Red Gene' that the Central Military Commission deems essential for a modernizing force.
Zhang Side’s importance lies not in his combat record, but in his death while firing charcoal in Yan'an. In his eulogy for Zhang, Mao Zedong penned the essay 'Serve the People,' transforming a low-ranking soldier into the personification of selfless sacrifice. Today, Zhang is one of the elite 'Portrait Heroes' whose image is mandated to be displayed in every company-level barracks across the country, serving as a silent supervisor of the troops’ ideological purity.
In the current era of military reform, the PLA is transitioning toward high-tech, informationized warfare that requires a more educated and technically proficient soldier. However, the leadership remains wary that professionalization might lead to a detachment from the Party’s political foundations. By elevating figures like Zhang Side, the military leadership seeks to bridge the gap between the primitive revolutionary past and the digitized future, ensuring that silicon-era soldiers retain the peasant-army’s loyalty.
This 'dialogue across time and space' is a key component of the military’s psychological and political work. During these commemorations, young soldiers are encouraged to measure their own dedication against Zhang’s total submission to the collective. In the eyes of the CCP, a soldier who can master a drone but lacks the 'Zhang Side spirit' is a liability rather than an asset. The message is clear: while weapons may change, the requirement for absolute sacrifice remains the bedrock of the Chinese martial identity.