(Written by John, a high school student in Beijing)

          We had stayed at the army post for four days and had three days left. Thus far we had learned basic actions such as standing erect in the proper position for a soldier, goose steps, squatting, and quick marching. 

          We hated squatting the most, as it was painful if one had to do it very long. Our officers always used it for punishment and seemed so pleased to order us to do it.  We tried our best to avoid it, but some of us just weren’t lucky enough.  I was singled out just once, and it happened because of a classmate. Here’s what led up to it. 

          We had been told that we would learn something new again. This time the actions were to be quite different from those we’d learned before. 

          After breakfast, we were told to assemble at the playground, and the commander was waiting for us. He said, “You have learned many things thus far, and I hope that you are now experts in all of them.  Today our officers will teach you something much harder.  Female students will learn Army Boxing I and II.  Male students will learn what we call “Catching Fight” I and II.  Some of you, however, won’t be scheduled for these boxing techniques.  They will be taught how to use the gas mask.  You will be assigned to one of these programs based on how well you’ve learned the basic actions we’ve already taught you.  Is that clear?”

          “Sir, yes sir!” we shouted.

          “Officers…..Take over!”

          Zhao Zhigang took his place and said: “The ones whose names I call will learn about gas masks:  Wang Shengchen, Zhao Cong and Zhao Gian.”

          We watched as those three ran over to him. 

          Zhao continued, “The next ones I call will join Catching Fight I: Li Yang, Han Xu……”

          I wasn’t named!  That meant that I would have to join the Catching Fight II group.

          Zhao looked at his list and nodded: “That’s all for Catching Fight I.  Everyone else is to follow me.”

          I looked around, and there were only 4 of us left.  CF II would not be easy, but we followed Zhao as he walked to the commander and said, “Here they are, sir.” 

          “That’s good. Go and do your job, sarge.”

          “Yes sir”, he replied, and then he walked over to those who were going to learn CF I. 

          The commander called us to attention and said, ”CF II is harder than any other boxing.  Because your guys did well in the first four days, you have been chosen to learn CF II.  It’s the real kong fu.  I will now teach you how to use this kind of boxing.  It’s designed to kill your enemy with your hands. ”

          “Cool!” I found myself thinking excitedly. 

          “If you don’t do your job, I will reassign you. Do you get me?”

          “We get you, sir!” All of us were attracted by the idea of learning this new skill. .

          He then ranked us as he wished and began the instruction.  Kong fu has ten basic skills and we learned five of them that day. 

          When we were finished, and returning to the dormitory, Zhao Zhigang came over to Hu Guiqian and me and said, “It’s your turn to keep watch tonight.  You two are to get up before 1 a.m. as your mission time is from 1 to 2 a.m.  There must be no leaving of your post during the mission.  If you find or see anything strange, come and get me.”

          When he left, I said to Hu, “That’s cool! If I find any bad guys, I’ll be very pleased to use kong fu and kill him.”

          Then he laughingly agreed that would be a fun thing to do. He also said, “The only problem we have is that we have to get up so early.”

          “Don’t worry”, I said, “I’ll set the alarm.”

          That night – just as I seemed to have fallen to sleep – I heard “Bip. Bip. Bip.”  I opened my eyes and saw that it was time to get up.  I woke Hu up, and we walked silently out of our room. I asked him, “Did you get any sleep?”

          “Sh…”, he cautioned me, “Don’t forget that Zhao ordered us to keep quiet.” 

          So for an hour I walked through the hallways and found absolutely nothing.  I also walked to the gate and enjoyed the wind blowing in my face.  Hu came out there and we both felt comfortable.  We didn’t find any problems, and after an hour, we went back to bed and were soon fast asleep. 

          I wished that tomorrow would be a cool day as a today. I had no idea that I would be in trouble.

(Written by John, a high school student in Beijing)

I had lived in the army for three days, and all that time had been used in teaching us the basics.  Today was much like the others.

This morning, as we were practicing the goose step, the commander suddenly walked over to Zhao Zhigang and whispered something.  I saw Zhigang’s look become solemn, and he walked over to us and said, “All those living in room 1-010 are to come here.”

That was our room.  I didn’t know what might have happened and when I glanced at my classmates, they seemed as worried as I.  All of us ran to Zhao who said, “Follow me.”  He then said to everyone else, “Sit down and have a rest.”    

Wanting to know what had happened, I addressed him with a “Sir…?”, but he made no reply. 

            We followed him to our dormitory room where he suddenly yelled, “Get down!”

We squatted as he had ordered and heard him shouting, “How are you supposed to make your beds?  Haven’t I taught you how to fold your quilts?  The commander is very angry about the quilt in one of the lower bunks”.

“I want the person who sleeps in this bunk to stand up”, and he pointed at one of them.

A student named Wang Shengchen stood.  He was known as a selfish student.  During the last three days, he hadn’t helped us even one time with the hot water.  

            Zhao Zhigang stood close to him and yelled, “How did you fold your quilt?”

            “Just as you taught, sir.”

“Bull shit!  When did I teach you to fold like that?  Because of you, everyone else here will have to squat 10 more minutes.  Get down, you fool!”

            “Oh, no”, we shouted.

            Wang squatted but assumed a lazy pose.

Zhao Zhigang saw him and became angrier.  “Look at him”, he yelled.  “Twenty minutes more!”

“Oh, shit!”  This time it was Hu Guiqian, one of our classmates, who had become angry.  He stopped squatting, ran over to Wang and hit him.  Zhao Zhigang was very surprised, and rushed to separate them, but Hu was too excited to be separated.  He was biting Wang’s face when Zhao finally managed to stop the fight. 

Wang’s face was badly damaged and, as Zhao started to take the two of them into his room, he ordered us, “Stand by.  Wait for me to return.”

            As soon as he left, everyone began to discuss the event:

            “Cool, man.  Hu’s my hero.”

            “Did you see Wang Shengchen’s look?  He was afraid!”

“Yeah, year, but Hu will have troubles now.  The school may punish him now.”

            “Poor guy.  What’s going to happen next?”   

            “I’ve no idea, but let’s hope that Hu doesn’t get punished.”

            “Look!  Zhao is coming.”

We all became very quiet, and he ordered us to return to the other students outside.

It wasn’t long after we were all reassembled that everyone knew what had happened.  They all felt that it was pretty cool that Hu had bit Wang.

By noon, Hu was back with us, and he said that he wouldn’t be punished this time, but that he wouldn’t be given a rank at the end of training.  He also told us that Wang’s mouth was in pretty bad condition.  One of us said that he’d deserved to be hurt, but he looked at Hu as he said it, and it was clear that Hu felt guilty about what he had done.  He told me later that he shouldn’t have lost his temper.

That afternoon was also spent in reviewing the goose step, and I was happy that no punishments were meted out.  The officer in charge said that we’d be learning something new tomorrow and I’m hoping that it won’t be too hard.

(Written by John, a high school student in Beijing)

          After the early morning drill, we were ordered to assemble in front of our dormitory.  The officer-in-charge stood there waiting for us, and after we formed ranks he called us to attention and said, "You've finish the drill.  Now I'm going to give you some new orders."

          We continued to stand as straight as possible with our eyes directly in front and heard him say, "For two days now, your rooms have been cleaned by soldiers.  You came here to learn more about the military so today you will be taught something new; in addition to cleaning your own rooms, our officers will teach you how to fold your quilt.  They're both different from the way they are done in your home.  We have a special way to fold the quilt.  Now get in the mess hall.  It's time for breakfast."

          After breakfast, we returned to our rooms and cleaned them but worried about what was to be done with the quilt.  Our room was closest to Zhao Zhigang's so we were the first ones to be taught.

          He noted that the room had been cleaned, but the quilts were folded several different ways.  He took one of them and demonstrated the proper technique.  It was a complicated process.  The first step was to crease it in the middle and then shake it out.  The same procedure was to be used at both ends, and then it was to be rolled up tightly.

          The technique seemed easy enough, and we expected to finish it quickly.  Unfortunately, I failed to do it exactly right several times as did my classmates, but eventually we all finished the task and passed the officer's inspection. 

          It was then about 9 o'clock, and we could hear the commander blowing his whistle outside the dormitory so we all rushed out and assembled once again.  The commander said, "You should have finished cleaning your rooms so you will now move out to the grounds to continue your training.

          Once there, he said, "Today you will learn how to do the goose step.  It's used in military parades.  You are to extend the legs sharply from the hips while keeping the knees locked."

          I had never done anything like that and felt it was a strange way of walking.

          Zhao Zhigang demonstrated how to do it, and was not at all happy with our first attempts.  He ordered us to stretch one leg out in front while staying at attention.  It's very difficult to do that so some of us couldn't help moving.

          He seemed to want us to move so that he could punish us.  We heard him say, "Don't move....don't move...Do you wanna be punished?"

          One of my classmates moaned, "Sir, I can't....I can't keep this position", and he dropped the leg that was supposed to be stretched out in front of him.

          "You fool!"  Get down!"

          That order meant he had to squat, and he wasn't happy about it, but on the other hand, he couldn't defy an order.

          "You all saw that.  If you don't want to be punished, keep that leg out there", he yelled.

          I don't know how I managed to live through that ordeal.  It was a terrible morning.  If there is a God in heaven, he certainly didn't support us that day.

          Before we were dismissed for lunch, we heard his voice again, "You have learned the army song.  We just have time to sing it before lunch.

          "Oh, Jesus", I heard someone whisper.

          "Does someone have a problem?  There is to be no complaining.  Ready now:  Sing!"

          "Jun hao liao liang..."

          "You're all doing a bad job.  Are you listening?  Get down!"

          When we were all squatting thee, he continued, "I'll give you one more chance.  If you sing well this time, you can go in and have lunch.  If you don't, you can stay right here in your present position."

          We heard Zhao Zhigang whispering to us, "Come on...Let's hear ya."

          We liked him and determined to do well.  When the order to sing was given again, I used all my force to shout the song.  I wasn't the only one; all the others did the same.  That time we passed and were able to have lunch.

          After training that afternoon, we were assembled in front of the hall again, and this time we knew we'd have to sing.  We passed the very first time.

          We were fortunate there was no training that night, and as I went to sleep, I hoped that the next day would be better.