In October 2002, Xinhua News Agency released such a news: with 20 years painstaking efforts, a research institute of the Engineer Corps of the General Staff Headquarters of the PLA has developed 24 sets of field works of 16 generations. This definitely ended the history of the officers and men of the frontier defense unit's living in cat's-ear-shaped cave and staying in damp caves, enabled the field work and armaments to embark on a new path of standardization and modernization.

　　Researcher Zhou Zhenggu still remembered the trip to northwestern China. It was when he was just appointed to the field work research office that the leader sent him to make research on the frontier defense units. He found soldiers lived in simple, narrow and damp field works, where even stored armament got molded or rusted.

　　Strong sense of responsibility troubled Zhou, and he swore to develop the most advanced field works to free the officers and men from the physical hardship. With painstaking efforts, reinforced concrete assembly works and civilian container field works have been developed one after another. One generation after another advanced field works have come true. A great number of field works with high modifiability and powerful commanding automatization including group army commanding office works, portable single covering field works have met the requirements of the drilling and operation. A frontier defense soldier was moved by their spirit of hardworking and wrote a doggerel to praise the scientific and technological workers for their contributions.

　　China is a country with frequent flood disasters. How to bring the calamity prevention and reduction into the protection project system and provide the latest equipment for the army to fight against the flood have become the subject the Party committee has been pondering about.

　　With the support of the upper authority, the institute officially bring calamity prevention and reduction into protection research system and formed a flood fighting equipment project team with Zhou Fengjun, an academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering, as the team leader to tackle the problems of the urgently need equipment of flood fighting.

　　A series of flood fighting equipment such as assembly reinforced glass fiber flood control sub-dam and multi-purpose quick pneumatic pile driver have been developed and equipped the troops. The leaders of the upper authority were so excited that praised the institute for developing the equipment with their spirit of contribution and absolute sincerity and believed the protection project could play an important role in fighting flood.

　　In June 2000, the construction of the Dachao Mountain Hydro-power plant of south China's Yunnan Province, the second largest hydro-power station, had entered the critical stage. The task of re-enforcing the workshop was so difficult that no unit dared to take the project. Upon receiving phone call for help, the institute organized personnel to arrive at the Dachao Mountain with equipment. In order to ensure 100% success of the operation, Ren Huiqi, director of the institute went to the front line many times to direct the operation. And Zhang Fuming, deputy chief engineer and director-on-spot did not even leave the site before the completion of the project. They have modified the operation plan for more than 30 times and readjusted operation scheme for more than 10 times and completed the project successfully in the end.

　　The history has recorded that the institute has built the first seabed tunnel combining peace time purpose and wartime purpose, taken part in the rescue and assistance missions of more than 400 national major projects, initiated the first protection engineering research base and established the first anti-aircraft test research center of the PLA. 280 scientific and technological achievements of the institute have won prizes, of which, 70 won the first prize of the National Scientific and Technological Progress Awards and Military Scientific and Technological Progress Awards.

　　The scientific and technological workers in the mountains has　built a solid protection screen with their wisdom and spirit of contribution.

　　By Xi Luyao and Sun Xianfu

　　(October 29, PLA Daily)