On September 13, the members of special working group stationed in Wanglaozhuang Village of Xiping County in Henan Province got up early to leave the village. But before they could get on the car, they were surrounded by the villagers. An old man presented Gou Yunfeng, deputy director of the People's Armed Force Department and leader of the special working group, a self-made honorary credential with following words on the credential "present to the special working group which has served the villagers whole-heartedly". There is no official seal on the credential but 281 red fingerprints of the villagers.

　　Several years ago, Wanglaozhuang Village was a famous poverty-stricken village in Xiping County. Due to its remote location, the annual per capita income was less than RMB500. In January 2000, upon the arrangement of the Party committee and the government of Xiping County, a special working group was sent by the People's Armed Force Department to station in Wanglaozhuang Village. In order to find projects suitable to the village so as to help the villager to get rid of poverty and lead a decent life, the members of the group sought help from agricultural experts and decided to start with planting green out-of-season vegetables. When the members of the working group were busy with seeking loans and experts, some villagers expressed their doubts, "is it workable to plant cucumber in winter and harvest carrot in summer?" For a time, there were a few attendees in the free scientific training class. However the working group did not lose heart and started from over-60-year-old Wang Mantang, whose son was in the army. Wang was a very experienced farmer and enjoyed great prestige in the village. First the members of the group asked his son to persuade Wang and then took him to visit Shouguang of Shandong Province, a famous vegetables base in north China. With the help of the working group, Wang planted one mu out-of-season vegetables and made a net profit of RMB5,000 on that year. Encouraged by his achievements, the villagers quickly started to follow suit and planted green out-of-season vegetables. In addition the working group also contacted various sources to provide technical support to the villagers and established the Information Station for Getting Rich under the charge of Zhang Xinhua, head of the political work section of the People's Armed Force Department. The station compiled the information brochures with collected sales information and distributed them to villagers free of charge. Now the green vegetables produced by Wanglaozhuang Village has become a famous brand in the locality.

　　Wanglaozhuang Village has now embarked on a road of prosperity and the group is to leave the village. To express their appreciation, the villagers presented each member a red envelop with RMB5,000 in it, but were politely declined by group members. In the end, the villagers decided to give each member of the working group honorary credential with their signatures and fingerprints. They said, behind each red fingerprint was an unforgettable story of the people's army helping the needed.

　　By Jiao Jinghong and Li Yongliang

　　(October 15, PLA Daily)