CHINA / SOCIETY
PLA Western Theater Command offers stone from Galwan Valley to lucky netizens
Published: Jan 07, 2022 05:30 PM
Photo: The PLA Western Theater Command's Sina Weibo acount

Photo: The PLA Western Theater Command's Sina Weibo acount



The Western Theater Command of the People's Liberation Army debuted on Chinese social media on Friday, drawing applause from netizens hoping to be a lucky winner of a special gift sent by the command - a stone taken from the Galwan Valley. Such a move happened to be the latest episode of recent stories centered on the Galwan Valley following Indian media's hyping of Chinese soldiers' oath-taking video in the place. 

The PLA theater command opened its official account on Twitter like Sina Weibo on Friday and released a notice that on February 1 it will randomly choose 10 lucky netizens from those who reposted the notice and send them a stone from the Galwan Valley as a present. 

A picture with Chinese soldiers patrolling the Galwan Valley, with a rockface seen in the post reading in Chinese characters "Splendid landscape, no inch to give up" was posted together with the notice. 

The post quickly went viral across the internet, with many netizens not only reposting the notice but also leaving comments in the hope that they would win one of the lucky stones. 

A netizen commented that "the stone from the Galwan Valley is a small record of the heroes' sacrifice to our country and their stories of safeguarding our motherland." 

Some netizens praised this is a very meaningful present as such a stone showed Chinese people's attitude of not giving up one inch of the country's territory. 

"If I am lucky enough to get the gift, I will display it in the place where everyone can see when entering my house. It is so precious that I will pass it to generations in my family," one netizen wrote. 

Actually for the past week, Galwan Valley has been a heated topic on both Chinese social media and Indian media. 

A video released by the Global Times on January 1 in which PLA soldiers sent their new year greetings to the Chinese people and said "We pledge to the motherland to guard the border" and another video clip of Chinese soldiers taking oath to the national flag in Galwan Valley went viral on Chinese social media and also caught the attention of India. 


Three days later, Indian media released pictures of a group of Indian soldiers holding the national flag in the Galwan Valley. 

Indian media's reports on Chinese soldiers' oath-taking video have not stopped. On Thursday, Indian news outlet "Opindia" and Navbharat Times claimed that the famous Chinese actor Wu Jing, who acted in and directed Chinese action movie "Wolf Warrior," and his wife Xie Nan played as soldiers in the oath-taking video in the Galwan Valley. They tried to to "prove" that Chinese media is making fake video in order to comfort the nationalism in India affected by the videos of Chinese soldiers. 

To make the information sound real, the media posted a screenshot of a Chinese soldier from the video and a picture of Wu to "prove" they are the same person. 

However, little similarities have been shared by Wu and the soldiers on their appearances. 

Chinese netizens mocked Indian media for having "face-blindness" of Chinese people and they also pointed out that Indian media took a reporter in the oath-taking video as Wu's wife Xie Nan. And the "picture of Xie" used by media was actually another Chinese actress. 

"One mistake after another, Indian media really need to learn professionalism… but at least they do know Wu Jing, the man of Wolf Warrior," a netizen said. 

After the sacrifice of four PLA martyrs at the Galwan Valley clash, the place as well as the names of the four soldiers have become the most respectable symbol for Chinese people to ignite their patriotism and admire heroes that defend the motherland.