Soldiers stationed in Heilongjiang Province, one of China's northernmost border provinces where many rivers run through large mountainous areas, carry out mass sports activities according to the natural conditions there.

　　Unique "mountain sports games"

　　Sports games are usually held on flat, open fields. But in the games of "the No. 4 Arctic Company", soldiers of the Heilongjiang Provincial Military Command(PMC) used natural large mountains and dense forests as their sports fields because they do not have those standard ones.

　　One afternoon, more than 30 servicemen gathered at the foot of the Qixing Mountain to hold a mountain obstacle relay race. "Ready, Set, Go!" as soon as Comrade Xiao, commander of the company, gave the order, his men immediately dashed toward a 300-meter-high hill. They returned after surmounting six obstacles.

　　Mei Laichang, political instructor of the company, said that in the past his company had to use concrete grounds as sports fields and the soldiers could not arouse enthusiasm, and what was more, soldiers were easy to get injury. According to Mei, the soldiers later built a course for track and field events. In order to make contests more difficult, they set up some obstacles. In the afternoons or on holidays, they would hold obstacle races.

　　Carrying logs contests

　　Another company stationed at the foot of the Wanda Mountain once held a carrying log contest with local lumbermen. The contest was held on a mountain path. Each group, consisting of two people, is to carry a log on their shoulders, and then contest to see which group manages to reach the destination first.

　　The soldiers and local lumbermen hold many kinds of contests to exercise their bodies and please themselves.

　　This contest of carrying logs has a moving story. One autumn, the local forestry center caught fire and the soldiers rushed to their rescue after receiving their phone call for help. They fought bravely to put out the fire, at the same time they quickly carried away more than 20,000 pieces of logs used to cultivate black fungus to a safe place. The fire was finally put out after three hours of fight and the state assets were protected. In order to mark this special day in which the army and civilians joined hands to put out fire, every autumn they would hold a carrying-log contest. Many other forms of carrying logs contests, such as "March in steps ", "weightlifting contest", etc were derived from the original one. These activities have not only built up soldiers' physique, but also promoted their friendship.

　　By Zhou Jun and Li Zhi

　　(November 10, PLA Daily)