Sea sentries

An aerial map of Kaishan Island. [Photos by Han Yuqing and Li Xiang / Xinhua]

Covering an area of only 0.013 square kilometer, Kaishan Island sits at the outpost of the Yellow Sea, near the junction of Japanese and South Korean international waters. It is about 12 nautical miles from Yanwei Port, Guanyun county, Lianyungang, Jiangsu province. The island is inaccessible by any norm, with extremely difficult living conditions. Wang Jicai and his wife have been living there for 30 years. They are known as "the island's border guard". In 1986, the Kaishan Island militia sentry was set up, and the people's armed forces department asked militia Wang Jicai to guard the island. He accepted the task without letting his family know. Later, Wang Jicai's wife Wang Shixia quit her job as a primary school teacher and accompanied her husband to guard the island together. The couple raise the Chinese national flag every day on the island, monitor sea and air conditions, rescue distressed personnel in the sea, and record the coastal defense log. Driven by a sense of solemn responsibility, the couple has only reunited with their family for five Spring Festivals out of the past 30 years. In September 2014, the couple was awarded "models of the times" by the government. Kaishan Island now serves as a patriotic education base, with more than 5,000 visits so far. "We will overcome oncoming difficulties, as long as we are still here, we will keep letting our national flag rise and fly high on the island," Wang says.