The winter is approaching.

　　The severe winter will "close off" the Duoxiongla Mountain that is 5,000m above sea level. And Motuo County will be cut off from the outside world for 8 months. Soldiers stationed there would begin their frontier defense life isolated from the outside world.

　　How will they manage to spend these 200 days in isolation? The Party committee of the Linzhi Military Sub-Command decided to extend the new upsurge of studying and implementing the important thought of the"Three Represents" to the frontier troops there. Bearing in mind cultural requirements of these officers and men, the Party committee decided to lay more stress on "culture storage" for the winter, apart from frontier defense combat preparations and food and daily necessities for winter consumption. With this in mind, the Party committee actively prepared cultural foods for officers and men and made cultural life in Motuo barracks tinged with features of the times.

　　October 8th　was a fine day, soldiers on the "isolated island" were very jubilant. They vied with one another to carry the newly arrived winter materials into barracks. What was different from the past was, the newly arrived materials included not only provisions and clothing, but also cultural facilities and materials, such as computers, closed circuit televisions, newspapers and sports equipment.

　　Today, soldiers sitting in the study room have already said goodbye to the boring life. With the help of computers and TVs, it is very convenient for officers and men to find relevant data needed in their study. In the old days, soldiers had nothing to play but balls or cards at their leisure time. Now their　cultural life is very rich, there are speech contests, knowledge contest on studying and implementing the important thought of the"Three Represents", knowledge contests on national defense and army building as well as cultural performances and photography contests, etc.　　 Soldiers'calligraphies and drawings made with the help of computer are really very beautiful. The cultural activities have been extended from playgrounds to computer rooms and physical fitness rooms. Cultural activities in the barracks are rich and colorful, and full of technical knowledge and information of the times.

　　Xie Hongwei, Su Wen and Wen Mingqi, the three college student cadres, studied hard at the frontier defense unit. Recently they traveled on foot for 3 days to the city to register for postgraduate entrance examination. When the news spread in the "isolated island", officers and men were greatly encouraged and became more active in learning languages of local ethnic groups and English. They all said that life was very rich in barracks this winter.

　　By Zhang Wenheng and Wan Yuan

　　(December 5, PLA Daily)