Written by Yuan Guoxiang
Sun Defu is an old Eighth Road, a native of Wenshui, Shanxi, who has gone through the flames of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the War of Liberation, and has long been refined into steel and has become an excellent commander. He was formerly the political commissar of the Second Regiment of the Independent Cavalry Division of the Xinjiang Military Region stationed in Yutian; after the reorganization of the unit in 1952, he served as the political commissar of the 12th Regiment of the Fourth Division; in 1953, he was transferred to Tibet Ali to serve as political commissar of the cavalry detachment and secretary of the division of labor committee, taking over the work of An Zhiming, the former detachment leader, political commissar and secretary of the division of labor committee, and fully assumed the leadership responsibilities of the border defense troops and the local party committee in Tibet's Ali Prefecture.
Sun Defu gave full play to the revolutionary spirit of our army's arduous struggle and indomitable progress, rode a war horse, followed the camel brigade, braved the wind and snow, trekked hard, climbed over the 5,300-meter-high Kunlun Mountain, crossed the deserted Aksaiqin Snow Field, and climbed the Xiongcai Snow Mountain on the border of Xinzang, and after bypassing Pangong Lake for half a week, he came to Rituzong (quite a county), an important town in the north of Ali. He was warmly welcomed by the monks and lay officials headed by the Japanese and local Somoto (county magistrates), as well as by the local Tibetan compatriots and the commanders and fighters of our army. After learning about the local situation and greeting the officers and men of the Second Company, he hurriedly got on his horse and hurried on his way, walking for another seven days before arriving at Garkunsha, the capital of Ali, and completing the arduous task of taking up his post in January.
After the political commissar Sun Defu arrived at the Ali cavalry detachment, in addition to meeting cordially with his old comrade-in-arms An Zhiming, talking all night, and handing over the work, he arranged for the commander of the security detachment and his wife, Wang Junzhi, who had lost his youngest son, Wang Junzhi, to take his youngest daughter Ali, who had just given birth, down the mountain safely. After that, he went all out to do a good job in the work of the troops and localities. He set an example, maintained contact with the masses, endured hardships and stood hard work, handled affairs resolutely, and fought in unity with Wen Guangsheng, deputy detachment commander, He Jingfu, chief of staff, and Gao Feng, director of the political department sent by the Tibet Military Region. At that time, many cadres were transferred from Xinjiang and Tibet, and there were not enough houses, so they mobilized everyone to work together to dig soil and repair houses. At the same time, he also cultivated vegetables and thought of growing cabbage and radishes to improve his life. In July 1954, when I went to Garkunsha with the Xinjiang condolence group, I took pictures of them building houses and planting vegetables. I also photographed them collecting firewood and cutting grass, carrying them back to pile up into mountains, and struggling to survive the long winter.
Political Commissar Sun Defu and I really met and got along intimately during that month of condolence activities. Because I was a photojournalist of the condolence group at the time, I first participated in the report meeting of Sun Defu, secretary of the branch committee and political commissar of the detachment, on Ali's situation. This enabled me to open the floodgates of knowledge, understand the mysterious Ali, and write down in detail what he said: an area of 350,000 square kilometers (including Zhongba), divided into four sects, seven books, and more than a dozen nomadic areas; The population was 26,000, including more than 2,000 lamas and about 500 nuns, and the supreme power was "Galben", and the chief and deputy Kaben (commissioners) were sent from Lhasa, with two stewards, two Indian telegraph operators, and 11 soldiers. There is no radio station below the clan, and there are fewer soldiers, but there are gold officials and tax officials, so they collect taxes and money for the government. Ali stocked 200 guns and 4,000 rounds of ammunition, and the highest officer, "Ruben" (battalion commander), was hereditary, and in peacetime he only gave orders at the annual horse race, and only mobilized people from all over the country when there was an enemy situation, brought his own horses, rations, and weapons to fight. After the advance company entered Tibet, they organized such a group of Tibetan troops, but they have not yet seen most of our troops flee, and they have not yet recovered all their guns. As for Ali's religious beliefs, customs, production conditions, and border trade, he introduced them vividly and concretely. As for the situation of our army liberating Ali, exterminating bandits, garrisoning the borders, building its own barracks, clearing up wasteland for production, helping the masses, and strengthening military and political construction, Political Commissar Sun also gave a very detailed explanation. Then a grand condolence meeting was held, after Ma Gaowei, director of Xinjiang Customs and head of the condolence group, and Sun Defu delivered a speech of thanks on behalf of the Ali cavalry detachment and the comrades of the branch work committee, and Ding Zhijiang, the actress of the condolence group, presented him with a red flower made of paper. I took photos of these scenes, including sending condolence bags to the soldiers, hanging commemorative medals, and giving gifts to each company and a detachment pennant. After the meeting, we stayed in Garkunsha for a week, further in-depth discussions and interviews with various units, soliciting opinions, and a three-person performance team performed two shows, and one person brought a projector to play many films. In addition, basketball tournaments were organized and even ballroom dances were held. This made the commanders and fighters of the Ali detachment and the local cadres of the division work committee really happy for a few days.
The condolence group will continue to travel south, not only to visit the leaders of the Kaben government, but also to visit the officers and soldiers of Puran. To this end, Political Commissar Sun Defu and Chief of Staff He Jingfu accompanied him, and Tian Wu, chief of staff of the Northern Tibet Transportation Command Post, also left a small camel team to carry the supplies and condolences sent to Pulan, and still ensured that the condolence group traveled together. We rode into the dense mangrove forest, walked to the Naburo Soldier Station to rest, and the next day we arrived at Garkunsha, the capital of Ali, which is also known as Kadak. We dismounted, unloaded our packs, set up tents, and gathered firewood, grass, and dried cow dung to boil water for cooking. The next morning, after walking through a small river, I went to the row of stone mud houses of the Kaben government, and met with the acting Kaben, who was the commissioner Ali at the time. His house--office is the size of three houses, with a Buddha statue on the front and carpet mats on both sides. Political Commissar Sun introduced the head and deputy head of the condolence group through Tu Huaying, head of the translation unit, and after exchanging gifts to Hada, the condolence group also sent the prepared portrait of Chairman Mao, the "People's Pictorial," as well as tea, sugar, and other items to the Kaben government, and expressed their condolences to the vast number of Tibetan compatriots. Then the Acting Kamoto invited the group to a Tibetan-style feast, and the long table was filled with more than 20 plates of various halo vegetarian dishes, including dried fruits from India and shark fins like vermicelli. In addition to a small bowl of sweetened yogurt, we had a small bowl of spiky white rice per person. After the meal, they also invited two artists, a man and a woman like husband and wife, to tap dance on the wooden plank, and then perform the ancient song and dance of Tibetan compatriots. All in all, the atmosphere of the meeting was friendly and warm, which opened our eyes.
In Kadak, we also visited the Ali Foreign Affairs Office, where they worked, and remembered that they had a loudspeaker on their gate, which could publicize the mainland's foreign policy to Tibetan compatriots from agricultural and pastoral areas and Indian and Nepalese businessmen who came to trade here. At the same time, we also visited a platoon of the detachment's spy company stationed there and played a friendly basketball game with them. At that time, the condolence group was not manpowered, so I was also pulled up to play a game. On the third day, we set off under the escort of two Tibetan soldiers, and when we rested for dry food on the way, I also ate the dried raw mutton of the Tibetan soldiers. After camping in Songgaza that night, the two Tibetan soldiers returned from their mission. We had Tibetan cadres such as the head of Tuhuaying leading the way, passing through the Menshi pastoral area and the Bagh grassland, looking up at the crystal snow peaks of the Ali Sacred Mountain Kailash Pochen, admiring the vast scenery of the holy lake Mafa Muco, and also admiring the blue sky and white clouds of the Ghost Lake Lanka Tso, and then passing through the foot of the Namunani Goddess Peak, and then passing through the Buddhist temple village in Gardong, and descending to the important town of Puranzong in the south of Ali in the deep Himalayan valley. The trek lasted another 6 days, and we rode fast and waited every day for the camel team to arrive before we could pitch our tents and cook. At night, when I was idle and bored, I listened to Zheng Ce, an actor of the art troupe, tell a story, and everyone sat in the big tent of the condolence group and listened to him say the martial arts novel "Three Heroes Sword". Political Commissar Sun, Chief of Staff He, and Chief of Staff Tian are all activists, and they must be there every night. At ten o'clock, everyone was attracted by the lively martial arts scene, and the candles in Commissar Sun's tent fell and burned out the quilt. After everyone was busy putting out the fire, Political Commissar Sun said wittily: "Zheng Ce, you said that the fire burned Fangjiaji, and as a result, it burned my quilt." What should I do if I can't sleep today? Zheng Ce replied: "Who told you to just listen to the book and not control the candles!" Sleep in my fur coat tonight! It can be seen that Sun Defu is approachable and has no leader's frame. We walked thousands of miles back and forth together, and formed a deep friendship.
When they arrived at Puranzong, the soldiers of the first company beat gongs and gongs to welcome the condolence group, and helped the head of the condolence group and Political Commissar Sun to climb up to the barracks on the mountain. The climate there is better, there are fresh vegetables, and Political Commissar Sun suggested that the condolence group work slowly and take care of their health. Therefore, in addition to climbing to the top of the mountain to visit the government of the Puranzong and the temple of Xian Berlin, we also attended a banquet at the house of the main family at the foot of the mountain, and watched the Reba dance performed by the Tibetan compatriots. At the same time, I also went to Tangga International Market to visit and shop, and at that time it was forbidden to outflow silver yuan, and it was not allowed to buy large things. But I still bought a Hong Kong-made flashlight and an Italian-made blanket because I needed them very much. Later, Political Commissar Sun said: "It is not easy for the comrades of the condolence group to come to Ali, you can order a high-end watch and a Parker pen", I participated in the registration at that time, but I never saw anything. In the end, the 200 silver dollars of my half-year's salary that I kept were borrowed by Chief of Staff Tian, saying that he had bought cloth and other things for the transportation command post, and when we walked for another two months and returned to Sangzhu Town, he only gave me 200 yuan.
At the end of 1954, Sun Defu rode a horse for 40 days along the upper reaches of the Maquan River and the Brahmaputra River, and reached Lhasa with great hardships and dangers to attend the first party congress of the Tibet Military Region. When he returned, he returned to Xinjiang by car along the newly built Qinghai-Tibet Highway and through the Qinghai and Hexi corridors. After reporting to the Xinjiang Military Region and the Southern Xinjiang Military Region and putting forward some suggestions, he brought a group of cadres to aid Tibet and returned to Ali's post with the camel brigade in May 1955. At that time, Sun Defu's wife, Zhang Jianxian, was a female cadre assigned by Southwest Military and Political University, and she also traveled thousands of miles, endured the wind and cold, and came to Ali Plateau to support the work of Sun Political Commissar, but because she was unwell, she was transferred down the mountain to work when she had to give birth to a child.
By 1957, Sun Defu had been fighting on the Ali border defense for 5 years, and he was elected as a representative of the "Eighth National Congress" of the Chinese Communist Party. When he was notified of the meeting, he hurried to Xinjiang on a mule, and the conference had already begun. For this reason, Dong Biwu said in the report on the examination of the qualifications of deputies, "There is another deputy on the way," and he was talking about him. When Sun Defu arrived in Beijing by plane from Kashgar, the congress was about to close, and the vast number of party members representing the Xinjiang border guards finally cast the sacred vote of Mao Zedong and other leaders.
In the winter of 1962, after the Sino-Indian border self-defense counterattack operation, he was appointed deputy director of the Political Department of the Kangxiwa Front Command of the Xinjiang Military Region. In 1953, we spent a few months together in an elementary school in Yecheng and met several times. In 1954, the front command was abolished, and he returned to the 12th Regiment of the 4th Division as a political commissar. In 1955, when the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region established the Ministry of Finance, Trade and Politics, Sun Defu was transferred to serve as director. He has worked in Urumqi for many years, going deep into the grassroots, maintaining contact with the masses, vigorously strengthening political and ideological work, and making contributions to local economic construction. I didn't see him again for many years, but his voice and smile still stuck in my mind.
Sun Defu passed away about 10 years ago because the Political Department of the Southern Xinjiang Military Region called me and asked Sun Defu what position he held in our unit, saying that he would send a telegram of condolences when he died of illness. When I told the veteran chief about his previous positions and said, "He is still a representative to the Eighth National Congress of our Party," I said on the phone, "Ah! He said: "This situation is very important, and we will add it to the telegram to express our deep condolences to Comrade Sun Defu!"