QINGDAO, April 23 (Xinhua) -- As China marks the 77th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese People's Liberation Army Navy, a heartwarming reunion has taken place more than a decade after a Chinese naval evacuation from war-torn Yemen: a PLA Navy servicewoman and the girl she once led to safety have met again, renewing their special bond.
Inside the military history museum of a destroyer flotilla under the Northern Theater Command Navy, Sergeant First Class Guo Yan held hands once more with Li Yufei, now a first-year high school student from northeast China's Harbin.
Standing before photos and video footage documenting the 2015 evacuation operation, the two paused for a long while.
"You were only this tall back then. Now you've grown taller than me," Guo said with a smile, still using the nickname "little Yufei" she has called the girl for 11 years. For her part, Li still refers to Guo as "elder sister," just as she did all those years ago.
Li traveled from her hometown to visit Guo during an exam break, in their fourth reunion.
In the spring of 2015, Yemen's civil war escalated sharply. In response, the Chinese government ordered a PLA Navy fleet, then conducting anti-piracy escort missions in the Gulf of Aden and Somali waters, to divert to Yemen to carry out an evacuation.
Within 10 days, three Chinese Navy ships traveled through three countries, four ports and one island, safely evacuating 621 Chinese nationals and more than 270 foreign citizens from 15 countries.
On March 29 that year, the missile frigate Linyi arrived at the port of Aden, launching the evacuation mission. Guo was assigned to the security screening team, escorting evacuees on board after checks.
She recalled that as the ship neared the port, smoke still rose from distant hills. Closer in, the sound of explosions grew louder. On the docks, Chinese nationals waiting to be evacuated waved national flags, their voices full of relief.
Li and her parents were among the first to pass security checks. Worried the four-and-a-half-year-old girl might stumble on the gangway, Guo took her by the hand and guided her aboard.
The moment was captured on camera, becoming one of the best-remembered images of the entire operation.
Guo later tried several times to locate Li's family but had no success. It was not until five years later that she finally made contact with help from a fellow service member.
In 2022, the two were reunited on a program produced by China Media Group. To surprise Guo, the production team kept the meeting a secret beforehand. She only realized the long-awaited moment had arrived when Li walked slowly toward her on stage.
Li said that after so many years, seeing the naval "sister" who had led her to safety amid conflict left her excited and nervous, but most of all, full of expectation.
In 2024, Li put on paper the moment they reached for each other's hand during the evacuation and gifted the drawing to Guo, who has kept it carefully at home ever since.
Li's mother, Wang Yingying, recalled the danger they faced. The runway at Aden airport had been destroyed, and roads leading out of the country were fraught with risk. Before their evacuation, explosions shook the city, rattling the windows and floors of their home. She could even find spent bullets in the yard.
According to Guo, during the second docking, a stray bullet hit a crane just about 20 meters from the vessel's bow. As the evacuation neared its end, unidentified armed individuals also attempted to approach the vessel.
During normal escort missions, the Linyi usually resupplied once a month. When the evacuation order came, the ship was running low on supplies with no time to restock amid the urgent mission.
Guo said crew members rationed what remained, setting aside food for evacuees. With limited space on board, many sailors gave up their bunks, putting clean sheets and blankets on them for those being evacuated, while the sailors themselves slept on passageway floors.
Several years later, a doctor evacuated from Yemen made a special trip to visit the Linyi crew. As sailors lined up on deck to welcome her, the woman bowed and said: "For you, this may have been just another mission. For us, it was a second life."
Li said her memories of the evacuation have faded over time. Back then, she understood little of war. She sometimes even mistook gunfire for firecrackers, though she remembered telling adults to hide in a cupboard when shots rang out.
What has stayed with her, however, is the warmth and care she felt aboard the Linyi.
She watched "Ice Age," ate a hearty meal, and received a stuffed tiger, building blocks and chocolate from crew members.
Wang recalled that during the nearly eight-hour voyage on the Linyi, Li sometimes imitated a military salute, saying she wanted to join the Chinese navy when she grew up. They arrived in Djibouti around midnight and flew back to China from there.
The experience became one of the most defining moments of Li's childhood.
In primary school, after a textbook passage about the Yemen evacuation, her teacher asked her to stand at the front of class and share her story. She often wrote about those memories in her compositions. Now, she regularly follows news about the navy on her cellphone.
Back then, it was the navy that gave her a complete sense of security, she said.
Guo joined the navy in 2009. She said images of PLA soldiers rescuing victims during the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake left a lasting impression on her, inspiring her to become one of them.
Years later, that same sense of purpose has quietly taken root in another younger pair of eyes.
"If I have the chance, I would like to join the navy too," Li told Xinhua.
Eleven years on, the wish she first voiced as a child remains unchanged. ■
