Spring Festival at the Grassroots: "When Thousands of Families Reunite, the Soldiers Remain Mounted" This Spring Festival Guardian Witnesses the Deep Blue!

On the eve of the Spring Festival, at a military port in Shanghai, several naval warships set sail from the dock, heading towards their designated sea area. The command ship of this formation is the 075-class amphibious assault ship Guangxi, and reporters from the Central Broadcasting Station's "New Year on the Ground" accompanied the ship on its voyage. Following the reporters, we boarded the Guangxi and approached the naval officers and soldiers who are standing their posts during the Spring Festival.

On the eve of the Spring Festival in 2026, in a certain sea area of the East China Sea, the navy's Guangxi is carrying out a multi-subject, realistic comprehensive training mission. During the exercise, the personnel in yellow identification suits on the flight deck are the carrier-based aircraft directors, whose responsibility is to ensure that each aircraft can be safely launched and quickly recovered.

Naval Officer Cai Lan from the Guangxi: We are conducting training for the launch and recovery of carrier-based aircraft. The core goal of the training is to achieve efficient coordination between takeoff, recovery, and re-launch, focusing on the tacit understanding and collaborative ability between us and the pilots to improve launch efficiency.

Cai Lan: What we have in hand are command light sticks; red indicates standby, and green indicates permission for takeoff and landing. This action guides the carrier-based aircraft to move forward, and this action allows the carrier-based aircraft to land. These two actions are the release of mooring and the removal of wheel chocks, which are the steps to release the aircraft from the deck's securing devices before takeoff. This action is to disconnect the aircraft's cable, which is a necessary step before actual takeoff.

Cai Lan: This is already my fourth consecutive year celebrating the New Year on the ship. On our ship, the readiness awareness of being on standby at all times and ready to fight has long been ingrained in every officer and soldier. We have a saying on our ship: "Sailing thousands of miles, home is in our hearts; guarding the deep blue is like guarding the New Year's Eve dinner at home."

As people across the country hurriedly head home, in the cockpit of the Guangxi, the helmsman's wheel is charting a course for departure. Helmsman Wang He is the first female class leader on the ship; four years ago, she boarded the newly commissioned Guangxi as a new crew member.

Naval Officer Wang He from the Guangxi: The Guangxi has a maximum displacement of over 40,000 tons, and the flight deck can simultaneously launch and recover multiple carrier-based helicopters. The deck we are currently on can also carry hovercraft, tanks, armored vehicles, etc., showcasing the Guangxi's strong capabilities for three-dimensional landing operations and excellent air and sea control capabilities. When I first boarded the ship, facing such a majestic warship, I felt overwhelmed with knowledge every day. Over these four years, I feel I have undergone a transformation alongside the Guangxi.

As one of the first batch of new operational forces equipped with the 075-class ship, the Guangxi has become a symbolic piece of equipment for China's leapfrog development in amphibious operations. The track of the Guangxi sailing into the deep blue gathers the footprints of many officers and soldiers like Wang He who are running forward.

Wang He: On the Guangxi, I truly feel the navy has transformed from traditional flat landings to now synchronously advancing three landing modes: vertical, surpassing, and flat. This has led to a qualitative leap in the navy's long-range operations and amphibious delivery capabilities. For us helmsmen, mastering the helm of the Guangxi is the first guarantee for long-range operations.

With the confidence to brave the oceans, we must truly go out to the open sea to gain experience and hone our skills. In recent years, the Guangxi has ventured into the deep blue and made appearances in the Western Pacific, showcasing a new dimension of the Chinese navy's long-range delivery capabilities.

Naval Officer Qin Bingfeng from the Guangxi: I remember during one mission, my radar screen showed multiple unidentified targets approaching continuously. Through target identification, I realized they were foreign military aircraft. Facing foreign military forces "face to face" in the open sea was both tense and exciting. The tension came from the real confrontation in a combat environment, while the excitement was because we finally had the opportunity to test the results of our training! Watching my comrades take their positions and the weapon systems on standby, I suddenly felt a strong confidence—our training level and our equipment performance can fully handle such challenges. This experience made me deeply realize that training in the open sea is not just a "formality," but a real contest with real weapons. Each such "encounter" is the best test of our combat effectiveness.

In the eyes of Second Class Sergeant Qin Bingfeng, one can always see a spirited determination, a confidence forged through real combat experience. In the four years since the Guangxi was commissioned, the officers and soldiers on board have accumulated experience through numerous real combat training sessions, gradually building a training and combat tactics library that deeply aligns with the combat effectiveness generation rules of this type of ship, promoting the ship's combat capabilities from "experimental exploration" to a solid leap towards "system maturity."

Qin Bingfeng: Every time I carry out a mission with the Guangxi, controlling the advanced radar in my hands, I feel particularly lucky. The motherland has entrusted us with such advanced weaponry, and I must hone my professional skills to ensure that the warship becomes an amphibious blade guarding the peace of the country and the region.

As New Year's Eve approaches, even while carrying out maritime training tasks, the sense of ceremony for the traditional festival cannot be lacking on the Guangxi. On the cultural wall of the ship's passageway, crew members leave their thoughts of family here. Wang Jiaowei is the signal class leader on the Guangxi, and his wife is currently on another warship carrying out a mission, also as a signal soldier.

Naval Officer Wang Jiaowei from the Guangxi: We often carry out tasks such as long-range patrols and combat readiness training. I remember once during a formation meeting, her ship was a patrol vessel. At that time, the sea conditions were poor and visibility was low. I was in the cockpit using binoculars to look out when suddenly the radio received her identification message. Hearing that voice, I immediately knew it was her.

For this naval couple, who have made the sea their home, reunion is a brief intersection on the deep blue track, while the country is the unwavering beacon in their hearts. "When thousands of families are reunited, the soldiers remain mounted." This saying has been repeatedly interpreted by Wang Jiaowei and his comrades with their youth.

Wang Jiaowei: For ordinary people, the keyword for New Year's Eve might be reunion, but for us soldiers, I think it is more about responsibility and guardianship. While carrying out tasks at sea, even though we cannot be with our families, we can all feel each other's concern. As a soldier of the new era, we use the deep blue track to tell our motherland: Rest assured, the mountains and rivers are safe, I am here to escort you!