On the blue sky avenue, we were young and followed by colorful clouds, and the song floated in the air. The sisters of the female soldiers of the Republic, they showed their romantic and true feelings in the wind and rain, let us taste and reminisce this unforgettable memory together.
On the night of Chinese New Year's Eve, 4 February 2000, dozens of female soldiers of the People's Liberation Army wearing sassy uniforms presented a beautiful song and dance "Sisters in the Army" at the "2000 Spring Festival Gala."
In this show, every female soldier performed well, but the most eye-catching among them were undoubtedly Zhang Weiwei and Zhang Lili, who led the dance and sang.
The twin sisters, because they look exactly the same, were created a song specifically for them. When Zhang Weiwei and Zhang Lili appeared in front of the camera, the audience recognized them at a glance, and some people recalled them at last year's military parade.
1999 was the last year of the 20th century and an important year for the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
They were born on a snowy day in January 1977 as twin sisters named "Weiwei" and "Lili" in Anshan, Liaoning Province.
Zhang's father and mother have different expectations for their daughter's future. The father loves the army and hopes that his two daughters can go to the army for training; And her mother hoped that they could develop in the literary and artistic circles, and began to let them learn dance from an early age.
As they grew older, the sisters had their own ideas about their future, and they longed for military life and had a deep affection for dance. Can't you dance when you're a soldier?
Let them give full play to their dancing skills in the army and create a unique military literary style!
Zhang's father was notified at the end of 1990 that the Sixth Branch of the North Post was going to recruit literary and artistic soldiers! After completing the ideological work of the child's mother, he immediately rushed to Beijing with his two 13-year-old daughters to take the exam.
Because of their good foundation in dance, both sisters were successfully admitted. Unfortunately, however, after only two years of service in the army, all the amateur literary propaganda teams were disbanded.
The leaders of the army asked them about their future plans, and Zhang Weiwei and Zhang Lili said in unison: "We had not graduated from junior high school when we joined the army, and now we want to complete our studies first and get a high school Chinese certificate." ”
With the care and support of the leaders of the army, the sisters successfully became the cadets of the ** high school cram school, and it took two and a half years to successfully obtain a high school diploma.
They trained hard and finally were admitted to the Bethune Military Medical College of the People's Liberation Army together in 1996, one to study nursing and the other to study testing.
Zhang Lili and Zhang Weiwei are a pair of sisters who grew up together, but because of the different school systems, Zhang Lili will graduate and start working in 1998, and Zhang Weiwei will stay in school for another year.
This made them feel a little melancholy as they approached graduation. However, in May 1998, the academy suddenly informed them that they would be joined by four other cadets in the all-army training of instructors for the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.
Zhang Lili and Zhang Weiwei had excellent grades in school, were tall and beautiful, so they were recommended by the college together. During training, they were assigned to the same district team and lived in the same dormitory.
Because they look so similar, the coach is easy to recognize the wrong person at the beginning, and even made a lot of oolong because of this. Either my sister "received it on behalf of others", or my sister "received it for nothing", and she was criticized for no reason.
However, despite this, they are still actively engaged in training and hope to put their best foot forward at the National Day Celebration.
After a long time, the two sisters figured it out, after all, they are a family, and it is the same to be commended and criticized. The phalanx of female soldiers in the big parade has very strict requirements for them, and their height must be between 1.62 and 1.74 meters, and they can't be too tall or too short.
And Zhang Weiwei and Zhang Lili's height is not dominant, the younger sister is 1.69 meters tall, and the elder sister is 1.68 meters tall. However, they are not afraid to endure hardships and work together. My sister has made two third-class merits, and my sister has also made one award.
They were promoted to squad leaders and district captains. Usually, my sister, as the class leader, always obeys my sister's orders unconditionally. And when my sister encounters problems in her studies, she will also ask her sister for advice.
Jia Longchi noticed a pair of sisters who motivated and improved each other, and he felt that they could be the leaders of the women's team. Although some people objected to this, believing that the Zhang sisters were thin, not hard in their movements, not loud in their commands, and lacked experience in organization and command, Jia Longchi insisted on his own ideas.
Just in case, it was proposed to choose two more reserve leaders, but Jia Longchi still firmly believed that Zhang Weiwei and Zhang Lili could be qualified for the position.
Despite the opposition, Kuryuchi firmly believes in his choice. He recalled that during the military parade in 1984, there was a pair of sisters named He Aize and He Yangze, who were received by Chief of General Staff Yang Dezhi and became the focus of the women's team at that time.
Li Longchi believes that the military parade itself is for people to appreciate, and if the two sisters can be used well, it will add a lot of color to the team. And Zhang Weiwei and Zhang Lili's basic conditions are very good, so they were selected as the leaders of the team.
However, as team leaders, they have to bear higher requirements, and any mistake will be seen by the national audience. Despite this, the sisters are still happy to be selected as team principals, and they are willing to take on the challenge.
The sisters knew the importance of their task, so they trained even harder. Whether it's the scorching sun or the wind or rain, they will stand outside for hours, training non-stop.
Although the spring and autumn days are better, when it is windy and rainy in winter, the rain and sweat are mixed together, and the clothes are full of cold. At the end of the training session, the socks stuck to the feet due to sweat and blood, and it was almost impossible to take them off, and every time it was like peeling the skin.
Such hard training is undoubtedly extremely painful, and Zhang Weiwei and Zhang Lili occasionally feel unable to persevere. However, they understand that in order to become a good team leader, they must endure any difficulties and arduous training.
Whenever they feel that they are about to collapse, they will motivate themselves with the slogan that circulates in the army: "Blood, sweat and tears, skin and flesh will not be left behind!" In the end, they managed to meet the passing standard after kicking and breaking four pairs of leather shoes.
On October 1, 1999, the 50th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China was held in Tiananmen Square. Among them, the most eye-catching is the women's team.
They wore large-brimmed hats, 87-style army green summer long jackets and blue suit skirts, and black mid-length leather boots, walking in neat steps. As they got closer and closer, the people at the scene and in front of the TV held their breath and were deeply moved by their sassy heroic appearance.
What is especially eye-catching is that Zhang Weiwei and Zhang Lili, who are walking side by side at the front of the phalanx, have exactly the same face, height and majesty, and they can't help but sigh: This is our country's female soldiers!
From that moment on, the twin sisters Zhang Weiwei and Zhang Lili became popular all over the country overnight. Even if people don't know their names, just mention the twin sisters who shouted 'Look to the right' at the parade, and everyone suddenly realizes, "Oh, it's them." ”
After almost a year and a half of intense training, after the parade, the sisters finally got a rare vacation. They immediately returned to their hometown of Anshan, Liaoning, and were warmly welcomed by the elders of their hometown.
During that time, Zhangjiamen was like a market, and there were many people with ulterior motives among the people who came to see the excitement, and some business owners saw the business opportunities behind them, and came to the door to "talk about cooperation", hoping to invite the sisters to be the spokespersons of the company.
There are even bosses who are not bad for money who offer sky-high prices to win them over.
In the face of the huge **, the sisters did not waver and refused without hesitation. After graduation, her sister Zhang Weiwei was assigned to the 98** team of Beijing Military Medical College as the deputy captain, and her sister Zhang Lili served as the deputy captain of the 98 inspection team.
When Wang Xiaoling, head of the comrades-in-arms song and dance troupe of the Political Department of the Beijing Military Region, and composer Zang Yunfei saw their heroic posture on TV, they were attracted by their arrogance, and immediately composed a song "Sisters in the Army" for them and invited them to perform together.
Zhang Weiwei and Zhang Lili are literary and artistic soldiers and have dance skills, so there is no pressure on them to rehearse dance. It's just that they haven't learned to sing, and they haven't received any vocal training, so they don't know how to sing at all.
The self-esteemed sisters were determined not to "hold back", so they spent all their time except eating and sleeping practicing singing. Their hard work combined with their natural talent allowed them to quickly get the hang of it.
Although the two sisters have learned to sing, they said that the tension in their hearts is inevitable when they sing on the stage of the Spring Festival Gala, which attracts national attention. They were scheduled for the third show, which was the highlight of the evening, and they were nervous to perform with a lot of big-name stars.
Therefore, before the official start of the Spring Festival Gala in 2000, they also made a special ** for their families, telling their families: "Soon we will officially perform, although everyone said that our performance was good, but we still felt very nervous."
None of you are allowed to watch TV at that time, otherwise we will be more nervous. Although the family promised well, one by one, "a word is determined" and "absolutely not watched", but their children's highlight moments, which parent can miss it?
On that day, the sisters' grandparents and grandparents were brought home, and the family of six all stayed in front of the TV, looking forward to the wonderful performances of the two children.
Zhang Weiwei and Zhang Lili also lived up to the expectations of their families, and their performances were excellent.
In the Spring Festival Gala, a pair of sisters once again amazed the audience with their outstanding performance, however, surprisingly, they chose to fade out of the public eye after a short period of glory and no longer accept ** interviews.
The only time the sisters came to the public eye was when they sued a company for profiting from the unauthorized use of their portraits in order to defend their image rights, and they were able to secure compensation, which they chose to donate to charity.
In the past few years, the life trajectories of the sisters have gradually separated. Zhang Weiwei went to the Fourth Military Medical University of the Chinese People's Liberation Army, focused on medical research, published a number of sci**, became a chief physician of the PLA General Hospital, and was awarded the title of "Advanced Individual for Meritorious Service".
Zhang Lili chose to engage in administrative work in the PLA Medical Library, although she is already a colonel-level officer, she still keeps a low profile, commuting by bicycle every day, and only a few people know that she is the "sister flower in the army" back then.
Zhang Lili revealed that after being discharged from the army, she always dreamed of becoming a doctor. In 2009, on the eve of the 60th anniversary of the National Day parade, the sisters went to the parade village together to visit their "juniors".
Despite their different life paths, the sisters have maintained a strong bond and witnessed each other's growth and transformation together. Their stories tell us that success does not mean staying forever, but continuing to shine in different fields and realizing self-worth.
Zhang Weiwei and Zhang Lili left a brilliant light in that special period at the intersection of the millennium, but they are as ever-changing as a comet, and their ordinary character is undoubtedly extremely noble and great.