Chinese Straw Hats

by PLA Daily

Three musts for soldiers...

The temperature of Bukavu climbs up after breakfast. Standing outdoors for less than five minutes, you will sweat all over. And ultraviolet radiation is extremely strong here. Exposed under the sun for less than two hours, your skin will be seriously burnt, and then it will turn black and even peels. To enforce labor protection, the engineering company stipulated that anyone who works outdoors must wear battle fatigues, sunglasses and straw hat. And that has become one of the features of their work and life.

Despite multiple protections, the Chinese servicemen who grown up in the northern hemisphere could not "enjoy" the special "treatment" of such a tropical climate. Outdoor operation for a long time had turned most officers and men "black". "Why afraid of being black? That will help you mix with local people." The most "black" man must be Huang Wenfeng, the deputy commander of the company. With his face almost all black except the part around his eyes for protection by sunglasses, his comrades in arms could not recognize him for the first sight. "Thank sunglasses. It turned me into national treasure, the giant panda. Even you cannot recognize me, eh?" Huang often joked when taking off his sunglasses indoors.

Officers and men of the peacekeeping engineering company had made preparation for the torrid climate of Africa. They had brought some straw hats from China. To their surprise, scarcity enhances value, and those straw hats were very welcomed in local area. Uruguayan peacekeeping servicemen in the same barracks regarded the straw hat as rare "treasure", and wanted to exchange it with the blue beret many times. Native Congolese also asked them for the hats. "If we knew that, we could have brought more straw hats here." Zhang Jixing, the combat staff officer told the translator Li Feng with regret.

"How about running a newspaper?" Xu Shoumin proposed on a meeting of the company. "Why didn't I think of that? Yes, let's run a newspaper." Yuan Chunguo, the commander of the company agreed at once. "That's great. It will record our peacekeeping experiences in the Congo." The translator Zhao Xuezhong said. When the first issue of the battlefield bulletin "Chinese Blue Helmet" was born on April 18, officers and men contended for reading it.

Sunglasses, straw hat and blue helmet bulletin had become the "three musts" for peacekeeping servicemen when going for an outdoor operation. When taking a break, officers and men would take out their own bulletin to read for a while. It had become a spiritual food for them in a foreign country.