Communist Warrior Du Hongliang on the Pamir Plateau
This introduces a lively teaching material of communist ideological education, recommended by the various ethnic peoples of the Pamir Plateau during the movement of studying the theory of the dictatorship of the proletariat.
Du Hongliang, a communist warrior, is a doctor at the No. 706 Mine of the Xinjiang Non-metallic Mineral Company. In the health revolution, Du Hongliang selflessly and wholeheartedly served the people. He suffered from severe heart disease but did not tell anyone, and persisted for a long time on the high cold and oxygen-deficient Pamir Plateau, providing medical treatment and medicine for all ethnic groups, fighting until his last breath, sacrificing his life at only thirty-seven years old. After his death, the Tajik, Kyrgyz, Uighur, and other ethnic peoples on the Pamir Plateau wrote poems and songs praising his selfless revolutionary spirit, calling him a staunch fighter defending Chairman Mao's revolutionary health line, and the Baqiu'en (Béijī'ēn) of the Pamir Plateau.
Recently, minority cadres and herdsmen from the Karlong Commune of Akto County, where the mine is located, jointly wrote a letter to the responsible persons of the Autonomous Region Party Committee, praising this Han doctor and requesting activities to learn from Du Hongliang among the various peoples. The Non-metallic Mineral Company and its higher-level Party organization recently decided to award Du Hongliang the title of "Model Communist Party Member," to record him with first-class merit, and to widely carry out activities to learn from Du Hongliang as part of the study of the proletarian dictatorship theory.
"The doctor beside you, the person in your heart"
Most of the mine areas of No. 706 Mine are distributed among the towering mountains from Gogel Mountain, the highest peak of the Pamir, to Mustagh Ata, the father of glaciers, within a radius of over 300 kilometers. There are dangerous "Shuai Niu Cliff," steep "Feishi Slope," the snow-covered Dazhang in all seasons, and perennial glaciers. Du Hongliang has been saving lives and treating the wounded for all ethnic groups, working tirelessly on this snowy highland for fourteen years.
"Treat patients as if they were our own relatives," is a phrase praising Du Hongliang by the people of the Pamir Plateau. In June 1964, 50-year-old Kyrgyz herdsman Gaan from Bardalan Brigade injured his right leg, which caused severe infection, with his calf ulcerating and unbearable pain. Du Hongliang rushed to rescue him. Gaan earnestly told Dr. Du: "In the old society, I was a person oppressed by the mountains. I hope to contribute more to the new society. But now my leg is rotting like this, you must save this leg! Without a leg, I can't go up the mountain with my sheep-whip."
Moved by the revolutionary spirit of the old herdsman, Du Hongliang decided to do everything possible to cure Gaan's leg. The patient was taken to the mine area, where Du cleared out one of the two small stone houses, set up a temporary sickbed, and treated and cared for him day and night. He personally changed his clothes and served his meals. Seeing Dr. Du staying by his bedside all night, sometimes so tired that he sat on the cold ground wrapped in a sheepskin coat and fell asleep, the old man was so touched that tears streamed down his face.
Gaan's leg began to grow new flesh. Du Hongliang took out his mountain health care meat and health care sugar, and also sent a letter to his wife in the mining department to bring home sugar to Gaan to increase his nutrition. The miners also eagerly brought mutton, beef, snow chicken, and rock sugar. This warm care made Gaan feel very uneasy inside, not knowing what to say. He told Kyrgyz herdsman colleagues who came to visit him: "Dr. Du is closer to us than family!"
After exactly three months of treatment and care by Du Hongliang, Gaan's leg healed. On the day he left, Du Hongliang washed and folded his clothes. Gaan was deeply moved and said: "Dr. Du, how can I thank you and the comrades!" Du Hongliang said: "This is what Chairman Mao asked us to do." Gaan raised his hands high and shouted: "Yashaa, Chairman Mao (Long live Chairman Mao)!" The miners also shouted: "Long live Chairman Mao!" These voices echoed in the deep mountain valleys, tightly linking the hearts of all ethnic peoples.
The Tajik, Kyrgyz, Uighur, and Han peoples near the mine area praised Du Hongliang in different ethnic languages as "the doctor beside you, the person in your heart." A young Uighur suffered from acute pneumonia, dehydration, and urgently needed infusion. Due to imperfect medical equipment in the mine area, Du Hongliang supported the infusion bottle with his hand and administered the infusion from the night until the early morning of the next day. The patient's father, Iming Ahong, stayed vigilantly outside the window all night. Seeing this touching scene in the ward and his son lying peacefully in bed, he couldn't help but burst into tears. The old man said emotionally: "Dr. Du, you! You and us are truly heart to heart!"
Karlong Commune Tajik postman and Communist Party member Kramchak, fell from a snow mountain while crossing an ice cliff, fracturing his right hip and pelvis, injuring his head and waist, and losing consciousness. After hearing the news, Du Hongliang rushed out in the middle of the night to rescue him. It was nearly a hundred miles of mountain roads from the mine to Karlong Commune, crossing thirty-three ice rivers. Du Hongliang had already worked all day seeing patients, and his health was not good. He trekked this mountain road in a snowstorm and fatigue, spitting blood. With a spirit of sacrificing himself, he courageously pressed on. Usually, this route took eight or nine hours, but that day he struggled for more than fourteen hours until dusk the next day. Seeing him covered in ice and mud, supporting a stick, with a pale face suddenly appearing at the patient's door, everyone was deeply moved. They scolded and loved him: "Dr. Du, you are treating our Tajiks, you really don’t care about your life." Seeing the patient, Du Hongliang forgot his fatigue. He pushed aside the bowl of food handed to him, immediately began diagnosing the injury, bandaging, reducing swelling, setting bones overnight, and then carried the patient back to the mine for care. After long-term treatment, Kramchak is now back to carrying mail and traveling across the Pamir Plateau.
How many times has Du Hongliang gone on such medical missions? Seventy-five-year-old Uighur old peasant Kalmula Hong said: "I have climbed all the high mountains here; I have crossed all the glaciers here; I have entered all the farms and felt tents here. He is our doctor beside us, the person in our hearts. He is the Baqiu'en of the Pamir Plateau!"
Charging Forward for Chairman Mao's Revolutionary Health Line
Du Hongliang is a member of the mine area's theoretical study group and a counselor for the workers' reading class. He studies Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought diligently, seriously transforming his worldview. Combining his struggle practice, he repeatedly studies Chairman Mao's instructions on "focusing medical and health work on rural areas," always thinking about how he is doing and how well the people's problems are solved. He believes that implementing Chairman Mao's instructions is not only a profound revolution in the health and medical field but also a guiding light for the ideological revolution of medical workers.
One thing that he has not forgotten for many years and has become a driving force is an incident involving veteran worker Chen Xuanzhang. When crossing the 4,800-meter-high Dazhang, he experienced a high-altitude pulmonary edema relapse, with chest tightness, difficulty breathing, and large amounts of pink mucus foam from his mouth, fainting several times. This veteran worker, under the threat of death, climbed the snow mountain wilderness alone for eight or nine hours until dawn before struggling to Du Hongliang’s residence. During rescue, he thought only of revolution. He told Du Hongliang: "My illness is nothing, I can still climb mountains and mine for the revolution in a few days." Because of his serious condition, Du Hongliang wanted to hospitalize him, but Chen Xuanzhang resolutely refused, saying: "This is a common disease in the mine. Just treat it boldly. If it’s cured, we will summarize the experience; if not, we will learn from the lessons. Sending him out on horseback or by car takes four or five days and affects production. Treat him, I trust you." These words deeply imprinted on his heart. He often thought: "What a good teacher! The spirit of the working class is something we cannot learn from any medical book."
The miners and various ethnic peoples of the Pamir Plateau need versatile doctors, so Du Hongliang strives to develop his skills for the revolution. He studies surgery at the hospital, learns delivery from midwives, learns bone setting from old herdsmen in felt tents, practices acupuncture on himself, and studies traditional Chinese medicine books. To better serve the poor herdsmen of all ethnic groups, he also diligently studies ethnic languages. After several years of effort, Du Hongliang has transformed from a pediatrician into a versatile doctor capable of treating general internal medicine, surgery, gynecology, orthopedics, ENT diseases with both Chinese and Western medicine, and also mastering techniques such as laboratory testing, fluoroscopy, X-ray, rinsing, identification, acupuncture, and electrotherapy.
When the barefoot doctor system emerged, Du Hongliang actively supported it. He selected some ethnic youth from the local poor herdsmen and trained them. He and these youths studied "Serving the People," "Commemorating Bai Qiuen," and Mao Zedong’s instructions on medicine and health, and taught them face-to-face, explaining prevention and treatment methods for common and frequently-occurring diseases in the mountains. Over the years, he trained seventeen barefoot doctors for the mine and nearby production brigades.
The commune implements cooperative medical care, and Du Hongliang uses various methods to help it consolidate and improve. He actively promotes integrated Chinese and Western medicine treatment, personally collects herbs from the mountains, experiments with Chinese herbal medicine, and collects specimens, seeds, and various prescriptions and secret recipes from elsewhere, introducing and promoting them among the masses.
Implementing Chairman Mao's revolutionary health line also involves constantly fighting against old traditional ideas. Du Hongliang, with a spirit of wholehearted service to the people, promotes scientific knowledge and helps people break feudal superstitions and traditional concepts.
One late autumn evening, Du Hongliang returned from a clinic and was told that Saida Fu Khan had been in difficult labor for five days, and the baby had not been born. Du Hongliang immediately took his delivery kit and rushed over, but the family of the parturient did not even let him in.
After returning home, Du Hongliang felt uneasy and went again to the woman's house. The woman was pale, breathing weakly, covered below, and did not allow the doctor to move her. Someone whispered nearby: "Mother's disaster in giving birth, the melon falls from the vine, it’s fate." Du Hongliang could no longer bear it and immediately went to persuade the team leaders to convince them. The operation was finally allowed, but due to the delay, the woman was saved, but the baby died in the womb.
Although the woman was saved, the phrase "fate" kept ringing in Du Hongliang’s mind. He thought that as a doctor, he must first be a revolutionary, a white-clothed warrior, and use Marxism-Leninism and Mao Zedong Thought to educate people to break with traditional ideas, and to take a fighting stance to occupy the rural medical and health front.
From then on, Du Hongliang treated patients while conducting social investigations. He wrote a family history of the changes before and after the liberation of Sha Yina Han, a poor Uighur peasant, made a slide show, and showed it to miners and members of various ethnic groups. When people heard about the small film screening, they came from afar, and Du Hongliang personally explained. Before liberation, Sha Yina Han’s husband was forced to work for the landlord, was beaten badly, and then fled with his family. He was later captured by the Kuomintang reactionaries and forced to do hard labor, fell seriously ill, and returned home with hatred. Later, her eldest son also died. After liberation, her second son became the brigade party branch secretary, and her third son even met Chairman Mao in Beijing. The whole family lives happily. Du Hongliang excitedly explained: "In the old society, how many Sha Yina Hans struggled on the brink of death? Are all of them doomed? No! This fate is just lies used by landlords and Bais (Baiyis). Today, under the leadership of the Party and Chairman Mao, we must control our own destiny and thoroughly break with the decadent ideas and traditional concepts of the exploiting class." The slide show was played twice, and cheers of "Long live Chairman Mao" rang out. This propaganda had a great impact and effect. From then on, people no longer go to seek "Hu Da" (Allah) when they are sick, but go to see doctors.
Revolutionary Work Has No "Inside" or "Outside"
People all say: "Dr. Du does his job well and also volunteers for extra work." The miners calculated his social work: evening theory tutors, cultural teachers for reading classes, art propagandists, news reporters, safety officers, holiday cooks, volunteer barbers, and voluntary instructors... Du Hongliang considers all these as part of his regular duties. He said: "Lei Feng does good wherever he goes. A person with two words in his heart, there’s endless work to do."
In the remote Pamir Plateau, newspapers arrive late. Du Hongliang proposed to the mine leadership to establish the "Miner’s Newspaper" and took the initiative to undertake this task. Using mobile medical services, he learned about new things in the mine, and when going out, he carried a mimeograph machine on yaks. At night, he listened carefully to the news broadcast by the Central People's Radio Station, then personally compiled and printed the "Miner’s Newspaper." This small paper widely promoted the advanced deeds of miners and spread progressive ideas.
A group of young intellectuals transferred from the city to the mine for re-education. Du Hongliang suggested to the Party organization to carry out activities to recall the history of the mine’s founding with the back of the box, and to educate the youth about self-reliance and hard work. In the early days of the mine, miners relied on carrying boxes to start their business. They transported supplies and grain on steep slopes and snow cliffs, and also carried ore down the mountain on their backs. This arduous entrepreneurial scene deeply educated the young. They vowed to take over the old generation’s tradition of carrying boxes, carry forward the revolutionary spirit of hard work, and dedicate their youth to the Pamir.
Tudi Baike, a 23-year-old Kyrgyz herdsman and poor herdsman of the Karlong Commune, is a close friend of Du Hongliang. After being elected as the brigade party branch secretary, Du Hongliang went more than twenty kilometers to deliver "gifts" to Tudi Baike. He kindly told the new cadre: "The burden of revolution cannot be overwhelmed, but the candy-coated shells can beat people down. Some young people become 'officials' one day, and the next day they ride horses and gradually detach from labor and the masses. This path must not be taken!" Du Hongliang also introduced his social investigation over the years to Tudi Baike, and they analyzed the situation of the brigade’s class struggle. Before leaving, Tudi Baike expressed his determination: he would not detach from labor or the masses, and would not disappoint the Party and the people's expectations, and would do a good job in the Party’s work.
All these matters that should not be under Du Hongliang’s responsibility, he still manages and does his best. What is his ultimate goal? In his own poem, Du Hongliang wrote: "With my blood and hands, I pave the way to communism!"
"Living to Fight Hard"
In April 1971, Du Hongliang conducted silicosis examinations for mineral workers, including X-ray, X-ray photography, rinsing, and identification, working four days and nights, finally fainting in the darkroom.
Leaders and miners insisted on taking him down the mountain to the hospital. After examination, it was found that Du Hongliang suffered from severe arteriosclerotic heart disease and a recurrence of lung disease.
As a doctor, Du Hongliang understood that his illness was not suitable for working in the cold high-altitude areas. But he loved the Pamir and never thought of leaving this snowy plateau. He hid the medical records, ECG, hospital diagnosis, and sick leave note from the hospital, and after discharge, he submitted an application to join the Party.
People did not know he had coronary heart disease, only that he often fainted. Comrades advised him to transfer to Urumqi, but he said: "Isn’t it good in the Pamir?" The mine leaders also suggested to the higher authorities to transfer him, but he resolutely refused, saying: "A person’s life is always short compared to the Party’s cause, living to fight hard!"
Du Hongliang continued to fight on the plateau. Once, when the Yelqiang River’s water surged, a three-year-old Uighur child was swept away by the flood. Du Hongliang disregarded his own illness and jumped into the rushing stream to rescue him. As a result, he and the child were pushed downstream by the flood. When people arrived, they rescued him and the child ashore. The child was already suffocating, but Du Hongliang, regardless of himself, immediately began artificial respiration and abdominal pumping, finally saving the child.
After that, Du Hongliang’s condition worsened. But his fighting spirit became even stronger. Wherever there was a call, he would go on a medical mission; when studying theory, he was the first to speak. On March 15, 1973, Du Hongliang was honorably admitted to the Chinese Communist Party, taking a new step on the revolutionary journey.
The glaciers and snow on the high mountains melted, and miners prepared to go up the mountain to mine. Considering Du Hongliang’s poor health, the leadership decided to keep him at the mine headquarters. Du Hongliang repeatedly requested: "I am a new Party member and must fight on the front line." He insisted on carrying his medicine box and went up the mountain with everyone.
One day in July, Du Hongliang rode a yak on patrol. Suddenly, he felt his heartbeat accelerate, his vision darkened, and he fell from the yak. His head was injured in several places, and his left elbow was dislocated. Comrades rushed over, helped him reattach his arm, and supported him back to the tent. He was sweating all over and gasping for breath. At this moment, a Kyrgyz child ran over and asked Du to treat his uncle. Hearing this, Du Hongliang disregarded everyone’s advice and his own health, and rode the yak again to continue.
After this medical mission, Du Hongliang’s condition worsened again. Coupled with the dislocated left arm not being properly set, he was once again taken to the hospital for thorough treatment. But after a few days of hospitalization, he heard that an epidemic had broken out in a nearby mountain village. He was restless and resolutely asked the mine leaders to let him return to the mountain. With his insistence, the hospital doctors had to give him a full two-and-a-half-month sick leave, repeatedly reminding him: "You are a doctor. You know your condition well. Now you must rest and treat properly." He agreed with his mouth but immediately returned to the fight.
"Pamir Can Do Without Me, But Pamir Needs You"
Du Hongliang worked tirelessly for the Party until his last breath. On the night of October 8, 1973, at more than eleven o’clock, he went out to deliver the last packet of medicine to a patient. When he returned home, his coronary heart disease suddenly struck, and his heart stopped.
People from all directions rushed over in grief. They found a small bottle of emergency medicine for heart disease in his coat pocket, and also found his medical records, ECG, diagnosis, and sick leave note from two years ago. Only then did they realize that Dr. Du suffered from severe arteriosclerotic heart disease. But he had kept it secret from leaders, relatives, and everyone, in order to continue fighting on the Pamir Plateau and dedicate his passion to all ethnic peoples.
People remembered that on that very noon, while working, he had said: "Learn from Wang Guofu, to pull the revolution cart without loosening the harness, until communism; learn from Yang Shuicai, to push the small cart without falling, just keep pushing!" Everyone was moved to tears and said: "Comrade Du Hongliang, you are Wang Guofu, you are Yang Shuicai!"
All the ethnic miners and local peoples came to pay their respects to Comrade Du Hongliang’s body. The 93-year-old Uyghur old peasant Sai Li Ahong and the 78-year-old wife rode donkeys from five ten miles away to mourn the good doctor in their hearts.
Mother of five children, Mai Leimu Han, came hurriedly, threw herself on Du Hongliang’s body, held his hand and cried: "Dr. Du, you cured so many of our illnesses, you worked so hard for us, and now we are all healthy, but you have left us...".
The 94-year-old Uyghur old peasant Iming Ahong, who was blind, was brought by his two sons, crying bitterly: "Dr. Du, you worked yourself to death, and you are so young. I am old now, Pamir can do without me, but Pamir needs you!..."
What was Du Hongliang thinking at the moment of life and death? People recalled an event six days before he died:
October 2, Karlong Commune Deputy Secretary Wu Hong came to Kulsraf for inspection. Du Hongliang, dragging his sick body, specifically discussed a matter that weighed on his heart with Wu Hong.
Du Hongliang said: "Our commune is in the mountains, with inconvenient transportation and dispersed villages. Relying solely on the commune hospital cannot solve the problem of disease prevention and treatment in remote mountain villages. Can we set up three health stations in Kulsraf, Talu, and Bardalan, where the population is concentrated? Start with a pilot, you decide the staff, I will do the specific work, and then promote it with experience."
He also said: "There are many medicinal herbs in the mountains. The Chinese herbs I am trying to cultivate are also growing well. Can we hold a Chinese herbal medicine training class to cultivate backbone personnel, and then mobilize the masses to collect and plant herbs? This will save costs and facilitate the people. In this way, each team will have barefoot doctors, each area will have health stations, and by adopting integrated Chinese and Western medicine treatment, the people’s problem of disease prevention and treatment will be basically solved. Even if I am not here, they can be assured...".
"Even if I am not here, they can be assured!" This sentence embodies Du Hongliang’s deep proletarian feelings for the border peoples! It reveals how lofty the spirit of a communist warrior is!
When the news of Du Hongliang’s death reached Karlong Commune, the commune Party committee was holding a meeting to study his suggestions. The meeting fell silent, and everyone was overwhelmed with grief. To commemorate him, the meeting decided: We will implement each of Dr. Du’s words and ideas one by one, so that he can rest assured!
On the tenth, the mine Party committee held a memorial service. Over a thousand members of various ethnic groups from the commune rushed over the mountains and through the valleys to attend. They collected fresh flowers from Kunlun Mountain, made more than eighty wreaths, and elected the oldest and most respected poor farmers (herdsmen) to preside over the funeral with the mine.
Workers of the Non-metallic Mineral Company and the peoples of the Pamir Plateau launched activities to learn from Communist Warrior Du Hongliang. His advanced deeds inspire people to better study the theory of proletarian dictatorship and encourage them to forge ahead on the path of continued revolution.
Xinhua News Agency Correspondent, Xinhua News Agency
(This article has been edited)
