A group of 157 former service men visited the solemn Tian'anmen Rostrum, on north of the Tian'anmen Square in central Beijing, Wednesday, for a demonstration honoring for their exemplary service since leaving the Army.

"I'm greatly honored to stand on the Tian'anmen Rostrum as a model ex-officer," said Huang Yimin, one of the model ex-servicemen who were attending a national conference on the issue of the civilian re-employment of ex-soldiers, at which Huangand the other 156 were awarded the title of "Model Ex-officers".

President Hu Jintao, who is also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission (CMC), met with the ex-officers at the conference.

"I've felt the glory and the greater responsibility," said Li Jingtang, a former regimental political commissar of the PLA, who was assigned to a remote township in Yishui County, Shandong Province, east China, after he left the Army in 1998.

Li spent five years leading local villagers in building roads and bridges that linked all the remote villages in the township. He now heads Yishui's communications department to manage the roads in the whole county.

According to official figures, China has re-employed more than 4 million former Army officers since 1949, the founding year for the People's Republic. Most of the ex-officers were given positions in government or state-run companies.

Since 2001, however, the government adopted a reform in the field, by issuing the Temporary Methods on the Settlement of Ex-officers. It has tried to reform the way of re-employing former Army officers from both of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) and the Chinese People's Armed Police Corps (PAPC).

Under the new rules, ex-officers have been encouraged to find civilian jobs on their own by allowing them to set up their own businesses or find jobs in the private sector. The government also issued a number of preferential policies for them to start a new business.

"I'm very happy to be a farmer," said Tuerhong Abudureheman, a native of the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, who had been in service for 23 years since he was 17.

In 2004, the Uygur Army officer returned to his hometown Maigaiti County, and since then, he has reclaimed over 37 hectares of uncultivated land to grow grain, cotton and fruits.

The former Army officer has not only become a successful farmer but also helped many of his neighbors, including 10 Han families and three Uygur families, by employing them on his farm. He has also given financial assistance to 10 students from poor families to study in universities.

The Uygur man shook hands with Hu during the meeting. "It's an unimaginable glory for me," he told Xinhua.

Source: Xinhua