The Chinese Blue Helmet Troops have worked in Africa for months. The Chinese servicemen, far away from their homeland and relatives, have demonstrated that the Chinese army is a mighty force, a civilized force and a peaceful force.

"Homeland in my heart" built on flag pedestal

May 27 in the morning, there was not a speck of cloud in the sky. In the dawn of the Congo, with resonant national anthem, the peacekeeping engineering company in Congo raised the flag for the first time since they entered the Congo.

Seeing the national flag of China rising solemnly on the remote land of Africa, officers and men were filled with excitement. What they saw and heard recently made them feel the pride of being Chinese. Compared with the chaos caused by war, plague, poverty and backwardness in the Congo, China, through about 20 years of reform and opening up to the outside world, has entered WTO, and the Olympic bid triumph of Beijing and World Expo bid triumph of Shanghai, have all demonstrated the might and prosperity of our great motherland.

Staying in a foreign country, officers and men cherished homeland more. Officers and men of the building element spent a whole day to build Chinese characters of "homeland in my heart" with red bricks on the flag pedestal. One afternoon, a middle-aged couple approached the barracks. "We are Chinese!" The couple introduced themselves almost at the same time when Li Xinhua, a member of road and bridge team, greeted them. They are from northeast China, and have run a Chinese medicine clinic in Bukavu for years. "We have heard that China would dispatch peace-keeping force here, but we did not expect you will come so soon. We were so happy to see our Chinese troops here. It shows that China's position in the international community has been raised. We are very proud of it." Seeing fellowmen in a foreign country, the forthright couple felt extremely excited. From then on, the Chinese couple often came to the engineering company to feel the warmth of "home".

The "International Labor Day" of the "Chinese Village" was very interesting. It was the first festival since officers and men had arrived. In the evening, light illuminated the square of the barracks. In the ardent applause, the Karaoke competition in celebration of "International Labor Day" started by Lake Kivu. Our Great China, Five-Starred Red Flag, Love China… At the most touching part, officer and men under the platform began to hum with the music. The hum changed from little to loud, and solo gradually became chorus. People expressed their longing and blessing for their homeland and relatives with songs. The voice of many people became hoarse that night.

Three musts for soldiers

The temperature of Bukavu climbs up after breakfast.

Standing outdoors for less than five minutes, you will sweat all over. And ultraviolet radiation is extremely strong here. Exposed under the sun for less than two hours, your skin will be seriously burnt, and then it will turn black and even peels. To enforce labor protection, the engineering company stipulated that anyone who works outdoors must wear battle fatigues, sunglasses and straw hat. And that has become one of the features of their work and life.

Despite multiple protections, the Chinese servicemen who grown up in the northern hemisphere could not "enjoy" the special "treatment" of such a tropical climate. Outdoor operation for a long time had turned most officers and men "black". "Why afraid of being black? That will help you mix with local people." The most "black" man must be Huang Wenfeng, the deputy commander of the company. With his face almost all black except the part around his eyes for protection by sunglasses, his comrades in arms could not recognize him for the first sight. "Thank sunglasses. It turned me into national treasure, the giant panda. Even you cannot recognize me, eh?" Huang often joked when taking off his sunglasses indoors.

Officers and men of the peacekeeping engineering company had made preparation for the torrid climate of Africa. They had brought some straw hats from China. To their surprise, scarcity enhances value, and those straw hats were very welcomed in local area. Uruguayan peacekeeping servicemen in the same barracks regarded the straw hat as rare "treasure", and wanted to exchange it with the blue beret many times. Native Congolese also asked them for the hats. "If we knew that, we could have brought more straw hats here." Zhang Jixing, the combat staff officer told the translator Li Feng with regret.

"How about running a newspaper?" Xu Shoumin proposed on a meeting of the company. "Why didn't I think of that? Yes, let's run a newspaper." Yuan Chunguo, the commander of the company agreed at once. "That's great. It will record our peacekeeping experiences in the Congo." The translator Zhao Xuezhong said. When the first issue of the battlefield bulletin "Chinese Blue Helmet" was born on April 18, officers and men contended for reading it.

Sunglasses, straw hat and blue helmet bulletin had become the "three musts" for peacekeeping servicemen when going for an outdoor operation. When taking a break, officers and men would take out their own bulletin to read for a while. It had become a spiritual food for them in a foreign country.

　　Chinese servicemen - No. 1

As an advance party for UN mission in the Congo, the engineer company bore heavy tasks. Besides making road and building bridges, tasks might be adjusted at any time as the situation changes. They might be asked to build an airport or other infrastructure, and even dismantle ammunitions. In recent days, the engineering company has helped Uruguayan safeguarding company rebuild their barracks with high standard, and finished the infrastructure construction of Bukavu headquarters of UN mission in the Congo. Before they had any time to take a rest, they began the project for restoring the highway from Bukavu City to the Kavumu Airport. Since they had to ride on truck to and fro for about 40 kilometers every day, plus a tight schedule, heavy task and high standard, they had to eat some field rations on the building site　for lunch.

While accomplishing various tasks assigned by the UN mission in Congo, the engineering company also had to deal with various examinations. It was not difficult for Chinese peacekeepers, who were selected from many volunteers. Before they came to the Congo, they had all received training in professional training, light armament, field survival, vehicle driving and physical capabilities. Of the 142 soldiers in the engineer company, 90% were noncommissioned officers. They were all technical backbones in specialties of vehicle driving, machine operating, civil construction operating and mine removal operations. Everyone was a generalist. They had just arrived for a few days before the UN mission in the Congo sent a 7-person team to examine the personnel strength, material equipment, self-suopport capacity of the engineering company for 7 days. The examiners were extremely strict.

At last they left with a 100-page examination file with satisfaction. On May 14, when an examiner from the　transportation section of UN mission in the Congo was examining the drivers of mechanical cars, he was startled to find that many soldiers could communicate with him in English. In fact, officers and men of the company kept learning English all year round. "Memorizing one English word a day and one sentence per week" had become a compulsory course like conventional military training and technical training. 56 examinees had all passed the examination. When awarding them UN driving qualification certificates, the examiner joked that he should have given them an "omnipotent certificate".

When the Chief Administration Officer of Bukavu Command for UN mission in the Congo had inspected the Chinese peace-keepers, he praised, "I have participated in UN peacekeeping activity for 16 times. It is my first time, and the only time, to see such a perfect established unit. Your outstanding performance has deeply impressed and moved me and my colleagues in UN mission in the Congo."

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