The Anti-narcotics Duo of Father and Son

By Zhang Minjiao

The province of Yunnan in southwestern China has a 4,060-kilometer border with Myanmar,Laos and Vietnam,across which illicit drugs are smuggled through various routes.As such,Yunnan bears the brunt of drug trafficking,with more drugs seized there each year than in any other province in China.Lincang,one of its cities on the border with Myanmar,is adjacent to the notorious Golden Triangle,and therefore is one of the fiercest anti-drug front lines,where 24 policemen have died and more than 100 have been injured in drug related crackdowns since 1982.Among them are Zhang Congshun and Zhang Ziquan,the dedicated father and son duo who made an ultimate sacrifice for the country in the battle against narcotics.

The Fierce Battle

Zhang Congshun answered the call of duty and joined the army at the age of 20,then traded his army uniform for a police uniform in Junnong Township where he continued his commitment to safeguarding the border.As a frontline police officer,he was fully aware that "the masses are the guardians of the frontier's stability."Junnong Township,located along the border,was riddled with public security issues such as cross-border crimes and even heavily armed traffickers.During his first three months at the Junnong Police Station,Zhang managed to visit all 71 settlements of the 8 villages under the jurisdiction of the township sprawling over 352 square kilometers.He often slept in the wilderness,cooked food over a fire or even ate wild plants raw.His persistence paid off and mobilized thousands of locals to help defend the border.

Junnong Township is located along one of the main routes of cross-border drug trafficking.In order to shield his country from narcotics,Zhang Congshun,together with his comrades,often went to lengths to capture the drug runners,raid the criminal dens and trace the drug sources.In April 1990,Zhang was having a meal when he got a tipoff about two drug dealers.With no time to spare,he put down his chopsticks and set out alone immediately,with a flashlight.It wasn't after a dozen kilometers of tracking that he finally caught up the criminals.He put up a good fight and subdued one of them at knifepoint,and the other was taken care of by his comrades who came to his help.In this operation,they seized 1,400 grams of refined drugs.While on duty,he would encourage his comrades,"As police,it's our duty to crack down on drug crimes.In the face of danger we must neither sit by,nor get cold feet."

On the night of August 31,1994,Zhang was tipped off about a smuggler with a large amount of drug trying to pass through the area of his jurisdiction,so he promptly set an ambush with his comrades.No sooner had the drug dealer entered the area in the early hours of September 1 than Zhang and his team pounced upon him.Unfortunately,the desperate trafficker detonated a grenade tucked in his waist and five policemen were injured and soaked in blood.One comrade who had narrowly escaped turned on his flashlight,only to discover Zhang seriously wounded,with blood gushing out of his left calf.Zhang,however,continued to instruct the rescue operation,telling them again and again,"I'm okay.Go help those in critical condition first."It was not on their drive to hospital that he was found dead with a pale face.That year,Zhang Congshun's son,Zhang Ziquan,was only 10 years old.At his father's memorial ceremony,with tears in his eyes and fists clenched,the young Zhang declared,"One day I will become a policeman like my father,and track down more drug dealers in his honor."Since then,it became his lifelong pursuit to fill his father's shoes.

Zhang Ziquan vividly remembered how his father used to take him to the border villages on his regular patrols.Once at the top of the mountain,his father pointed into the distance and said to him,"You see? That side with forests belongs to another country and this side with the Five-Starred Red Flag billowing in the wind is our motherland.We should always love and protect it as if it were our own lives."

Zhang Ziquan enrolled in Yunnan Police College in 2003,and upon graduation in 2007,he volunteered to dedicate himself to the anti-drug cause at the frontier like his father did.He too fought on the frontlines for many years,all too many times working undercover in the "drug den"like a tightrope walker in imminent danger.As he always said,"He who fears danger should not become a policeman,and he who dreads death should not choose to combat drug trafficking."

Amid an operation to track down a gang of armed drug dealers in 2013,Zhang Ziquan resolutely fired a warning shot and thwarted the gang's attempt to force their way through the checkpoint.Once the car stopped,he flung himself to the door,pulled it open,wrestled with the gang,and eventually subdued them all with the help of his comrades.A loaded pistol was found under the driver's seat afterward,and more than 40 kilograms of heroin were seized.Over the nine years since he committed himself to drug control in 2011,Zhang,the junior has helped seize 27.7 tons of narcotics and 1,186.2 tons of drug-making materials."I love my job in spite of all the dangers,"he once told his comrades.

In April 2017,Zhang Ziquan received a lead about a gang of drug runners intent on transporting drugmaking equipment abroad.Zhang and his colleagues soon identified the gang hiding the raw materials and carried out investigation in disguise quite a few times.Disguised as the locals,and after over 20 days' of stakeout and tracking,they finally located the drug-making den,and cracked,once for all,the long-standing drug ring.This operation resulted in the capture of more than 30 suspects and the seizure of over 40 tons of drug-making materials.They upheld their pledge as anti-drug policemen:"With each gram of drugs seized at the frontier,ten families will be spared from misery."

The Frontier's Harmony and Peace

Always bearing in mind the mission of serving the country as police officers,Zhang Congshun and Zhang Ziquan always rose to the occasion.They would ensure impartiality while handling cases and fight fearlessly while confronting criminals.With them enforcing the law,local people felt that justice was upheld.Zhang Congshun was known for placing righteousness above nepotism.In dealing with cases,he treated everyone equally,unafraid of offending whosoever was concerned:he criticized his nephew severely before turning him in when he found him indulging in gambling;he demanded that stolen goods be returned when he discovered his cousin had committed theft.He often said,"The longer the delay,the greater the debt to the people."He once traveled 300 kilometers in the mountain for three days to recover a stolen cow for a farmer.This is just one of numerous examples,which,combined,earned him the nickname of an "iron-footed police officer" among the locals.In May 1992,Zhang Congshun received a report of a case from a remote area and decided to travel there overnight by riding three-wheeled motorcycles with his colleagues.It was raining hard and the road was narrow and slippery.They had been literally riding on the edge of an abyss with stones sporadically falling from the mountain until the road was cut off in front of them.One colleague suggested they take a shelter until daybreak,but Zhang objected.He explained,"The informant is still waiting and he won't feel relieved until we get there."In the rain,they took the motorcycles apart and carried the disassembled parts across the collapsed section of the road.Once on the other side,they reassembled the vehicles and hit the road again.They finally had access to the key leads just in time to crack the case.During his 10 years of service in the border police station,the detection rate of security incidents and criminal cases under his jurisdiction climbed to as high as 90%.

Zhang Ziquan never forgot the oath he made when joining the police force and thereafter handled all cases with impartiality.In the crackdowns on crime gangs,he was never swayed by the criminals' threats or lures.Noticing the concern from locals about the possible repercussions of giving tip-offs,he patiently reassured them,"Don't be afraid.The mission of the police is to catch criminals and deliver justice.Where there are policemen,there will be no hideout for the gangs."During that period,he traveled nearly 10,000 kilometers,visited over 1,000 local residents of 37 villages and helped solve 90 gang-related crimes and confiscate illegal assets worth CNY 63 million.

Zhang Ziquan inherited his father's courage and uprightness as a policeman and always came forward during emergencies and difficulties.In December 2020,for instance,imported cases of COVID-19 appeared in Mengding Town,Lincang.The situation was critical and complex,concerning the stability of the frontier area as well as the security of the locals,so the municipal government established a task force immediately.Zhang Ziquan volunteered to join the team without any hesitation despite the high risk of infection.Clad in heavy protective outfits at a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius,he and his colleagues worked for 22 consecutive days in the airtight interrogation room devoid of air-conditioning for fear of cross-infection.Soaked in sweat every time they emerged out of the room,some were on the brink of collapse.When the task force finally made a huge breakthrough in the case,Zhang Ziquan had fallen ill.His colleagues tried to convince him to take a rest,but he waved them off and answered,"It's no time to rest.I've been following this case for too long to quit midway."Thanks to his efforts,the case was drawing to a close,but his life began to ebb away.One day,when discussing the capture plan for that night with his comrades,he suddenly fell to the ground and finished his 36-year journey of life.It was a short but glorious journey as well as a full expression of his tireless dedication to the country as a police officer.

"Ziquan may be gone,but the villagers he had helped will never forget him."Villagers would pick a leaf and place it on the side of the country road where he once travelled,a local tradition to mourn the loss of loved ones.

Personal Profile:

Zhang Congshun,a member of the Communist Party of China,was born in February 1949 and first employed in July 1965.In September 1994,Zhang,then head of Junnong Police Station of the Public Security Bureau of Zhenkang County,Lincang,made the final sacrifice to protect his comrades from the suicide bombing of a desperate drug dealer embroiled in a cross-border drug trafficking case.

Zhang Ziquan,a member of the Communist Party of China,was born in June 1984,and first employed in November 2007.He was Zhang Congshun's son and served as a police officer in the Narcotics Detachment of Lincang Public Security Bureau.He died in the line of duty from a sudden illness caused by overwork amid the investigation into a major epidemic-related cross-border and crossprovince case.

In March 2021,the Publicity Department of the Yunnan Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China posthumously bestowed the Yunling Model title on both the father and son for their excellence in service.Other honors awarded to them posthumously include the titles of Second-Class Hero Model of the National Public Security System and Role Model of National Public Security.

(Translated by Chen Xiaoying,School of Foreign Languages,Beijing Forestry University)