Good food, adventure and pride: It´s a soldier´s life

Source: China Daily | 07-17-2007 17:06

BEIJING, July 17 -- People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldiers stationed in some of China's most remote areas get home comforts.

More than 10 billion yuan ($1.3 billion) has been spent improving their quality of life and working conditions, according to an exhibition in Beijing to mark 80th anniversary of the PLA yesterday.

The exhibition "Our troops march toward the sun", held at the Military Museum of Chinese People's Revolution, displays photos of soldiers in Tibet enjoying fresh water, vegetables and warm showers. When the mercury plummets to sub-zero levels outside, soldiers are kept warm in the temperature-controlled barracks above 20C.

The exhibition features 970 photos, 1,750 military items, and 57 graphics. On display are also the latest weaponry including 20 armored vehicles and other military logistics equipment. In a new kind of bakery truck, just six operators can bake 250 loaves of bread with 75kg of flour in one hour. In a cooking car, five operators can prepare meals for up to 300 people in one hour.

Also on display is a bathing truck and medical vehicles.

About 800 distant medical stations provide health services to defense troops from Mohe County of Heilongjiang Province to Xisha Islands of Hainan Province.

In Nansha Islands, Chinese troops have built new generation fixed-reef forts equipped with air-conditioners and satellite communications technology. Self-sustaining, the forts can desalinate seawater for soldiers stationed there.

The PLA has raised soldiers' daily food standard to 11 yuan ($1.44) per person. Even in distant areas, soldiers can enjoy specially-preserved foods such as shrimp, rice pudding, vegetables and even spirulina-mooncake, also on display at the exhibition.

Editor:Du Xiaodan