A radar troop garrisoned on a mountain top on southeast China’s coast has the job of seeing through the dense fog and clouds to protect the country’s air space.
Their world is shrouded with dense mist. Visibility is almost always less than 10 meters. Their duties are to guide and ensure the safety of the fastest aircraft with the help of radar.
The mountain peak, where the station is sited, is at an altitude of above 800 meters. The mountains rise one after another stretching for tens of kilometers, leaving the station almost entirely isolated from the outside world.
The brilliant sunshine here is transient. The milky fog will soon swirl from the hillside and swamp the peak, whether it is early morning, afternoon or evening.
The fog has decreased the troops’viewing distance , slowed their working and living pace, and even changed their lifestyle. In the hazy environment, they must queue and move slowly. Approaching each another, they must get close to recognize the other person. They can air their bedding during a fine spell, but they rush to take it in when the fog envelops them.
The first sun after days of fog is a delight and the troops must carry out three tasks when it appears. First, they gather all the personnel outdoors to bask in the sunshine. Troops are ordered out of their barracks for half an hour.
Second, they must dry their bedding and clothes in the sunlight to remove moisture and prevent mould. Third, they take the books from the reading room and dry them on the exercise ground.
Living here, they quickly learn how precious the sunshine is.
As in other high mountain radar stations, soldiers must pump water up the hill twice a week. This can take half a day or more.
Soldiers have to walk a rugged road for about eight kilometers to the pump station. They start at 9 a.m. and return at 4 p.m. in the afternoon. It takes more than an hour to reach the pumping point and they must traverse an overgrown trail through a lush and bushy valley, strewn with rocks and crawling with snakes and insects, about 3,000 meters from the pumping point.
In the woods, the soldiers come to the pumping station. Hou Along starts the pump. The whole process takes up to five hours. On the way back to the station, Hou says the trail was created in the last two years and is regularly maintained. Trees grow well here, especially in summer when the road is always covered by plants. Last month, Deng Qidang, an instructor at the station, and other soldiers spent a whole day clearing the road.
A stream next to the pumping station abounds with fish, shrimps and escargots. After pumping water, the soldiers catch shrimps and prepare lunch. With the enthusiasm of youth, they are more interested in catching rather than eating shrimps. If they are lucky, they can catch enough live fish and shrimps in less than half an hour. When they return to the base, their shoes and trousers are caked with mud and weeds. But they have left the memories of their youth on the road.
The dilapidated old dormitory building was dismantled and a new one is still under construction. Some soldiers sleep in a garage temporarily. They used plastic sheets to divide the garage into different function areas, such as a canteen, teaching room, meeting room, table tennis room and library.
However, it still lacks basic comforts. The vents must be sealed with plastic to exclude the humidity brought in by the fog and damp. The beds must avoid contact with the walls, where the humidity condenses, to avoid the damp getting into the bedding. The troops still feel clammy in the quilts, as though they are swaddled in damp cloth. Despite the harsh conditions, the soldiers keep their dorms clean and clear. They fold their green military quilts tidily, making them square and upright and angular.
The mountain is prone to thunderstorms, especially when a typhoon is coming. The thunder and lightning can last up to three hours.
Life can be tedious here, but the catering squad tries to break the monotony by cooking appetizing meals every day.
The standard meal comprises four dishes and a soup. The troops go down the mountain every Wednesday to purchase vegetables. The vegetables could only stay fresh for two or three days before mess officer Jin Zhou made a refrigerator box to solve the problem.
During extended periods of mist, soldiers can feel depressed. To deal with this, they “shout at the mountain.” They climb a hill and roar loudly, until anxiety, sorrow, and depression vanish into the haze along with the echoes in the valley. They have developed their own unique ways to overcome various difficulties of living and working in the heavy fog.
