Sacrificing oneself while blowing up a pillbox, 1963
Dong Cunrui (董存瑞, 1929-1948), a Party member, was made a Hero of the People’s Liberation Army in 1963. During a campaign in the civil war between Communist and Nationalist forces (1946-1949), the advance of the PLA was blocked by a last enemy stronghold, in the form of a pill-box built on a bridge; this was in Longhua County (隆化县), Hebei Province. Dong pressed a pack of explosives against the bridge with his hand and blew the pill-box off. He was killed in the explosion.
The story of Dong Cunrui, 1974
Dong Cunrui was made a model for the PLA in 1963, together with An Yemin, Huang Jiguang, Lei Feng, Zhang Side and Norman Bethune. These models were later also to be emulated by the population at large; Dong's pose, with his left arm stretched above his head, has become iconic. Even in the 1990s, Dong continued to be seen as an emulatable example.
Young heroes’ scrolls - Dong Cunrui, 1961
