The Magnanimous Tianshan

"You can now put away your weapons of war and pick up the tools of production and construction. When our motherland needs you, I will order you to take up arms again and defend her."

In 1952, this order was issued to all troops stationed in Xinjiang, marking the start of the great effort to reclaim and defend the northwestern frontier. The soldiers led by Liu Zhenhua were reassigned on the spot. They laid down their rifles, picked up their shovels, and threw themselves into fervent labor on the desolate Gobi Desert. They were determined to raise towering buildings from the Gobi and turn the sea of sand into an oasis!