Sun Chao:26 Years of Service on the Pamir Plateau Frontier

By Ye Sicong

Khunjerab means "red wall" in Tajik and "blood ditch" in Uyghur,in either case referring to something insurmountable.A popular saying in the Khunjerab Pass has it that "Without grass on the land and bird in the sky,there is only howling gale in the thin air.Snow falls even in summer;the absence of warm clothes is a real bummer." This gives vivid expression to the "forbidden land." A poet even described Khunjerab as "a place empty but for stones,sunlight and winds."

Located on the highest point in the world,Khunjerab,a key pass on one of the Belt and Road routes connecting China with other Asian and European countries,offers a real test of ironclad faith and firm convictions.Sun Chao,43,is a deputy captain and second-grade sergeant of the Khunjerab Border Inspection Station in Xinjiang.Sun has engaged himself in defending China's border with Pakistan for 26 years on this land of endless desolation and destitution.His decades of excellent service has won him many honors and titles,including Merit Citation Class I (once),Merit Citation Class II (once),Merit Citation Class III (nine times),China's Most Honorable Veteran,Second-Class Hero Model of the National Public Security System,Role Model for the Nationwide Public Security Officers,Frontier Guard of the Autonomous Region,and Top Ten Frontier Guards of China.

Border Protection Service on the "Forbidden Land"

In December 1996,Sun Chao,aged 17,joined the army in his hometown of Gaobeidian,Hebei and was assigned to the Border Inspection Station at the Khunjerab Pass.Due to the harsh climate and resource scarcity on the Pamir Plateau,soldiers there were constantly challenged with a shortage of vegetables,meats,and eggs.These food supplies were usually transported from Kashgar,300 kilometers away.More often than not,however,these provisions turned stale or even decayed before their arrival as mudslides frequently cut off delivery routes.The already hard life of the soldiers was compounded by the unavailability of supplies and utter desolation.A glimpse of even yellowish green would be a luxury in the snowcovered landscape,let alone fresh vegetables.Once on the plateau,Sun was especially struck by the deprivation and determined to make vegetables available for all his fellow soldiers someday.

"I was born in the country and used to do farming before my army service,so leave it to me and I will do my best to grow vegetables for all," promised Sun at the age of 19.In 1998,the first makeshift greenhouse was put up at the Khunjerab Border Inspection Station.When the leadership was screening candidates for a person in charge of the planting,Sun volunteered.He had tremendous drive in his new position,every day immersed in the numerous tasks of land clearance and soil digging and composting before he could finally plant the seeds of potatoes,cabbages and other hardy vegetables.To his disappointment,a year's hard work bore no fruit:the seeds buried in the soil either failed to sprout or stopped growing as seedlings which soon withered.The potatoes,his only successful yielding,tasted as terrible as wood.His first attempt was a total failure,and similar troubles happened to his fellow soldiers:hair loss,gum ulcers and chapped skin due to a lack of fresh vegetables in their diet.

Though only a junior high school graduate,Sun set out to learn agronomy by himself.In the daytime,he stooped over the land to measure its temperature and pH value,and in the dark hours,he buried himself in farming-related books.In order to maintain its temperature,he even crashed in the greenhouse from time to time and rose to burn wood chips at midnight.Through trial and error for over 1000 days,he finally came up with a solution of raising vegetables in a potted nursery before transplanting.After he cracked the key technical code of growing vegetables in the alpine region,the survival rate of seedlings was noticeably increased.Now more than 30 kinds of vegetables are growing well in Khunjerab.

Over the past 26 years,many of his colleagues have left the station,but Sun Chao chose to stay put.His nursery is hailed as the "Shangri-La in the Land of Snow." It is his greenhouse that has been providing the warmest support for the soldiers defending the border.

Fresh Shades of Green on the Plateau

The Khunjerab border checkpoint is situated in Tashkurgan Tajik autonomous county of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.The local Tajik people live a traditional nomadic life in the physically and economically inhospitable environment,cut off from much of the outside world.

After his successful experiment,Sun Chao in his spare time would travel from house to house and introduce his planting techniques.Thanks to him,the locals have added not only vegetables to their cuisine,but also income to their pockets.Whenever they meet Sun,they will greet him with a thumbs-up.

In the eyes of the Tajik locals who have been living on the Pamir plateau for more than a century,growing vegetables in the hostile environment is no less than a miracle.A dozen of townships in the Tashikurgan Tajik autonomous county reached out to the Khunjerab Border Inspection Station for planting techniques,and Sun Chao,in response,helped build over 100 greenhouses and substantially benefitting the locals.

Hearing that the productivity of those townships was impaired by poor technical knowhow and management expertise,Sun offered to provide detailed planting instructions and firsthand experience.His unremitting efforts proved to be empowering.Different types of vegetables thrived in the greenhouses and high-yielding varieties survived in the open fields.Every year,he would be invited by local businesses and institutions to promote relevant knowledge and techniques on TV and has ever since become "Dr.Vegetables," who has endeavored to dot the snowcovered plateau with green.

Encouraged by his successful efforts to enrich the locals,Sun held his convictions even dearer.In his opinion,"As frontier guards,we should take care of both the border and the people."

A Staunch Frontier Guard

At nightfall,when the Pamir plateau retreated into serene solitude,Sun would stare out his window into the rolling snow-capped mountains.Looking back on his journey as a frontier guard on the plateau,he couldn't help getting emotional:26 years have passed unknowingly.What a decision back then! What a commitment till today!

"If I had chosen to leave Khunjerab,I would have got a big pension sum,but I would lose my spiritual support," said Sun,gazing at the towering pass in the distance.

In 2018,Chinese authorities made reforms to the law enforcement system,and many frontier soldiers had an opportunity to to leave.Sun Chao,as the most experienced veteran stationed at the Khunjerab checkpoint,could have filed for a retirement pension of almost 3 million yuan and been reunited with his family back in Hebei.However,after talking with his wife,he turned it down.He decided to stay on as an immigration officer and keep his oath to defend the border.Inspired by him,many of his colleagues made the same choice to continue to devote themselves to the frontier.

Staying on means sacrifices and risks.Life on the plateau is physically taxing.Sun has already suffered from severe lumbar muscle strain and rheumatism after years of work at such a high altitude.What's worse,his health screening report in 2019 showed that his breastbone has already deformed.Still,he couldn't bear the idea of leaving.

On January 1,2019,Sun put on his brand new police uniform that marked him one of the first immigration officers.To him,it entails not just a change of professional role,but an assumption of more honorable and demanding responsibilities.

At this new starting point in history,Sun and his comrades are standing ready to embrace the duty of border protection in their new positions.They are the most courageous and committed guards of China.They are holding ground at outposts,international channels and port terminals with loyalty and resolve;they are defending the critical pass along the China-Pakistan economic corridor to secure China's western door of opening up to the world.