"Fate has always favored only the brave, because God only gives the weight to the mediocre for a very short moment, and if anyone misses this moment, there will never be a second chance. ”
For this year, he is almost sixty years oldTan Shanai, the second-level senior sergeant of the Shenzhen Municipal Public Security BureauHis life seems to have been frozen forever in the early morning of July 1, 1997.
At that moment that was recorded in history, Tam Shanai appeared in front of the world audience with the sassy and heroic posture of a Chinese People's Liberation Army, and became a witness and witness to the historic moment of Hong Kong's return to the motherland.
even more sonorously shouted out that sentence-On behalf of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison, I take over the barracks, you can be laid off, we will take up posts, I wish you a safe journey!
That's right, Tam Shanai was the commander who took over the defense of Hong Kong from Lieutenant Colonel Ellis of the British Army at the Sino-British defense handover ceremony on the day of Hong Kong's return to the motherland.
I believe that many people were deeply impressed by the red-faced and high-spirited Chinese commander who appeared in front of the camera at that time, especially when Tan Shanai shouted the sentence "You can be laid off", countless Chinese sons and daughters felt excited.
So, what kind of resume does Tan Shanai have to be a witness to such a great historical moment? How has his life changed since then?
Next, let's use Tan Shanai's own narration on a talk show to experience the wonderful life of this ordinary person.
Born in 1964 in Huarong County, Hunan Province, in a small town close to Dongting Lake, Tan Shanai recalls that when he was a child, he loved to play in the lake area, especially to watch the birds soaring on the lake, and often fantasized that he had grown wings.
"When I was a child, I really longed for the outside world, but unfortunately I missed the university entrance examination in 1981, so I had to stay at home and raise fish. ”
Tan Shanai, who worked as a nurse technician for two years, enlisted in the army in 1983 and began his military career of more than 20 years.
Soon after joining the army, Tan Shanai was assigned to the field army, because he has been involved in labor since he was a child, so Tan Shanai was not crushed by high-intensity military training, but made further training and improvement of physical fitness.
During this period, Tan Shanai was selected to participate in the military parade held by the Guangzhou Military Region to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China due to his outstanding performance and burly stature, and served as the flag bearer, which was his first appearance in such a large-scale event.
In July 1985, Tan Shanai was admitted to the Guilin Army Academy as he wished, majoring in infantry command.
"The two years in the military academy had a great impact on me, at that time I had to run 5 or 10 kilometers every day, I was tall and a leader, so I was the organizer of every run. ”
Tan Shanai's height has reached 1.86 meters, and he is indeed "outstanding" in the army, perhaps it is precisely because of this unique height advantage that he has all kinds of opportunities later.
In addition to working hard in training, Tan Shanai is not lagging behind in learning, in the two years of the Guilin Army School, Tan Shanai participated in many knowledge competitions, a total of four awards, is a well-deserved "vanguard".
After graduation, Tan Shanai was assigned to the Guangzhou Military Region and served as a platoon commander in the guard battalion, and his specific job was to lead the troops to stand guard and sentry.
When mentioning his experience in the guard battalion, Tan Shanai frankly recalled that he did have a fluctuation of thoughts at first, after all, he had performed well in both theoretical knowledge and practical training before, and he was naturally unwilling to stand guard all day long, but as a soldier, obedience is his duty, so he can only hone his will in his current position.
"I worked in the Guangzhou Guard Battalion for eight years, and my job consciousness was deeply honed during these eight years, which laid a solid foundation for my later work. ”
It's just that Tan Shanai, who served as a guard at the time, would never have thought that many years later, he would stand in the spotlight of the world as the commander of the Sino-British defense handover.
In 1993, the People's Liberation Army Hong Kong Garrison was formed, and Tan Shanai was selected into it, and in the following years, Tan Shanai and his comrades-in-arms of the Hong Kong Garrison were preparing for the sacred moment of Hong Kong's return to the motherland.
Until one day in late April 1997, the gears of fate began to turn, and a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity was placed in front of Tan Shanai.
"At that time, I was a military staff officer of the Hong Kong Garrison Headquarters, and I went to deliver documents to the chief that afternoon, and as soon as I walked to the door of the conference room, I heard a heated discussion inside. ”
Tan Shanai recalled that he had planned to go to the pantry first and wait for a while, but when he passed by the door of the conference room, he was stopped by political commissar Xiong Ziren.
"At that time, Commissar Xiong shouted loudly for me to come in, and as soon as I entered the conference room, he told me to say, 'You can go now,' and I was stunned. ”
After Commissar Xiong repeated the order, Tan Shanai reacted and immediately followed up and said, "You can go now", but Commissar Xiong felt that his voice was too small and ordered him to say it again loudly.
"I was also a little muttered in my heart at the time, so I had to repeat it in my usual loud voice, but I didn't expect that Political Commissar Xiong told me with satisfaction after hearing it, I became the commander of Hong Kong's return to the defense post, which is really a great responsibility! ”
Although this is a "beauty difference" that fell from the sky, Tan Shanai also knows that the sky will descend on the people, and they must first work hard and work their muscles and bones. In particular, for the important task of Hong Kong's return to the motherland, it is a contest without gunpowder, and the most important thing is that there are only more than two months left before Hong Kong's return to the motherland.
After repeated consultations between China and the UK, the overall plan for the handover ceremony of Hong Kong's return to the motherland has finally been finalizedHowever, the handover time left for Tan Shanai is only ten minutes, and the defense handover must be completed on time before 0:00 on July 1, so this is undoubtedly an extremely difficult task for Tan Shanai.
As the commander of the defense succession, Tan Shanai not only has to lead other comrades-in-arms to complete the entire defense handover ceremony in an orderly manner, but most importantly, he has to speak in front of a world audience on behalf of the People's Republic of China.
According to Tan Shanai, in the next two months,In order to achieve the desired effect, they drew a topographical map of the British Welsh camp in the camp according to the original scale, simulated the ceremony scene every day, and rehearsed in an orderly manner.
"We envisioned what was going to happen and what could happen in those 10 minutes, down to the minutes and seconds of what both sides should do, and not only formed the text, but also set strict standards. ”
As for Tan Shanai's classic line, which was widely known later, Tan Shanai recalled that this passage was changed three times, and the final version was not finalized until half a month before the Hong Kong return ceremony, but before that, no matter which version of the line, Tan Shanai had to practice it over and over again.
"At that time, the chief asked me that this passage should be prepared not from the mind, but from the bottom of the heart, that is, to train muscle memory, so that there would be no accidents due to nervousness. ”
In the past two months, Tan Shanai has been practicing all the time in addition to eating and sleeping, whether it is in the army or when he returns home, he has even become accustomed to shouting at tables, chairs and benches, in order to form muscle memory.
"In the last few days, I can't say that I am nervous, because I don't have time to take care of these feelings, sometimes I am practicing in my dreams, and on June 30, I am highly concentrated, and when the handover ceremony is held, although I am very excited, I can't say that I am nervous. ”
Tam Shanai recalled that the Hong Kong Garrison set out from the Shenzhen camp for Hong Kong on the afternoon of 30 June, when it was still raining lightly in the sky, but there were enthusiastic crowds of people along the way to bid farewell, and that scene is still fresh in his memory.
When he arrived in Hong Kong, he and his comrades-in-arms immediately changed into the new ** of the Hong Kong Garrison, and when sorting out the military backpack, Tan Shanai clearly remembered that he also made a joke with the deputy commander at the time.
"I said at the time that if something really went wrong in a while, I would just put on my backpack and roll back, which smelled like a military order. ”
Tan Shanai recalled that the comrades-in-arms who participated in the defense handover ceremony at that time had a feeling of rushing to the battlefield, and he was not the only one who regarded this ceremony as a competition and competition, and every participant held back a lot of energy in their hearts, especially when they came to the British Welsh camp.
Because the scene was crowded with onlookers at that time, including not only the British troops who were about to evacuate Hong Kong, but also the families of these soldiers, the outside of the barracks was even more surrounded by water, and there were hundreds of reporters standing in front of the right, and the long guns and short cannons in their hands were flashing non-stop, and the flashing lights did not stop during the whole process.
You must know that although hundreds of simulation exercises have been carried out before, but under the spotlight of the world, every officer and soldier of the Hong Kong Garrison, including Tan Shanai, has a sweat in the palms of their hands, especially for the commander-in-chief Tan Shanai, his outstanding height is the focus of attention, at this time, only a strong heart that has experienced a hundred battles can stabilize the situation.
"Actually, when we first arrived at the Welsh camp, Lieutenant Colonel Ellis of the British Army asked us to rehearse twice, and it was obvious that the other party also attached great importance to this ceremony, but due to the first meeting and the language barrier, we simply walked through the motions, but this invisibly put pressure on us. ”
As the so-called plan can't keep up with the rapid changes, although in the eyes of the audience at that time, Tan Shanai and other officers and soldiers stationed in Hong Kong perfectly completed the defense handover task, but Tan Shanai revealed in an interview that there were still several unknown episodes at that time.
First of all, when preparing the position, the other party had a problem, for some reasonLieutenant Colonel Ellis of the British Army did not stand in the pre-designated position,As a result, two steps are too big for him to kick the right step later, and a little small for three steps, and the ritual is about to begin, and it is impossible for both sides to adjust.
I noticed that Ellis had also noticed this problem, and it seemed a little cramped, but the time was running out, and I had to follow my own pace to get to the designated position. ”
According to the previous plan, Lieutenant Colonel Ellis of the British side spoke first, but due to the language barrier between the two sides, it was agreed in advance in the plan that each side should raise the tone of the last sentence to remind each other, but something went wrong in the process.
"Ellis was halfway through his speech, when he suddenly paused, and I felt a sigh in my heart, knowing that the other party had not finished speaking, and I was afraid that my feelings had gone wrong. ”
Although this pause was only a second, for Tan Shanai, it was a moment to test the judgment of the situation, in case he thought that the other party had finished speaking and answered in advance, it would be completely messed up.
However, the test was far from over, although the other party continued to speak, but by the time of the last sentence, the tone did not rise according to the pre-said, which made Tan Shanai puzzled again, but he kept calm, focused on counting the seconds, and finished the exchange order according to the pre-procedure.
"You can be laid off, we will take up the post, I wish you a safe journey! ”
I believe that the audience of the ** live broadcast at that time clearly remembered Tan Shanai's sonorous and powerful words, but few people noticed that Tan Shanai's forehead, which was full of red light at that time, was already soaked with sweat.
I thought that after the exchange order, the ceremony would be completed smoothly, but in the process of the withdrawal of the British troops, there was an episode.
According to the previous plan, our officers and men stationed in Hong Kong should watch the British Guards walk out of the camp gate and then turn around to face the national flag, and then the flag-raising ceremony will be held, which will be stuck at 0:00 on 1 July.
However, the British guards did not evacuate as planned, which led to the fact that if our army saw the other side leave, it would lead to the postponement of the flag-raising ceremony.
Later, Tan Shanai also participated in the preparations for the stationing of the troops stationed in Macao in 1999 and participated in the flag-raising ceremony.
In 2005, Tan Shanai took the initiative to ask to transfer to the Shenzhen public security system, ending his 22-year military career.
Tan Shanai, who came to the Huangtian Police Station of the Bao'an District Public Security Branch of Shenzhen, started from the grassroots community police, step by step, not only loving and dedicating himself to his job, but also setting a record of 31 police dispatches in one day, which has not been broken so far.
In 2008, a security office was established in Bao'an District, and Tan Shanai was transferred to the director of the security office, and later appointed as the captain of the special security team.
Today's Tan Shanai is a second-level senior sergeant of the Shenzhen Public Security Bureau in Guangdong Province, although he is nearly 60 years old, but every time he mentions July 1, 1997, Tan Shanai is still very excited, and he has mentioned more than once that the ten minutes of the defense handover is the peak of his life.