Faces during National Day Holiday | Head of Police Station with 26 Years Policeman Experience at the Frontline with Huge Passenger Flow
48,000 visitors on October 1st
103,000 visitors on October 2nd
133,000 visitors on October 3rd
……
To deal with huge flow of visitors, Jianye sub-bureau of Nanjing Public Security Bureau assisted the Memorial in formulating a plan and assigned 450 policemen every day to the Memorial who collaborated with another workforce of 420 members including fire fighters and staff from sub-district offices, health commissions as well as urban management and law enforcement bureaus to secure the safe operation of the Memorial. They worked strenuously all day long at the frontline and sometimes they were too busy to show their face to the camera.
Xu Haifeng, head of Mochou Lake Police Station, was one of the workforce consisting of about 900 members. Being 47 years old, he had been a policeman for 26 years. Since taking the position of station head in March this year, he appeared in front of the Memorial whenever holiday came or at the time of key events. He had accumulated rich experiences of handling huge passenger flow including on-spot guard, patrols around the Memorial, anti-terrorism and anti-explosion as well as handling emergencies.
Fight at the frontline for the sole purpose of steady operation of the Memorial
On each day during the seven-day National Day holiday, Xu Haifeng served on duty without any exception, working strenuously at the frontline. “All staff must be present at 7:30am. Have a summary of the day after the Memorial is closed and come up with improvement measures against issues popping up during the day so as to be well prepared for the coming days of huge visitor flow.” Tired or not? Definitely yes. But seeing so many visitors proceeding into the hall orderly and witnessing the steady operation of the Memorial and of the perimeter zone, he felt that “it’s worth the effort”.
Half-a-month preparation for the coming huge flow of visitor
Since the mid-September, Xu Haifeng led the policemen from Mochou Lake Police Station to work with staff from Operation Department of the Memorial in planning the traffic route, setting up guardrail outside the Memorial and installing reminders for visitors. Until midnight on September 30th, he had prepared for the coming visitors to the Memorial and in the perimeter zone. “Referring to the past experiences dealing with huge flow of visitors during holidays, we formulate the plan of operation for the coming National Day holiday and ponder over it in order to make sure everything will be sate and with the best status to welcome visitors from all over China.”
Not a single moment of slack even if under high pressure
In March this year, Xu Haifeng took the position of head of Mochou Lake Police Station. The Memorial was within the scope of the station’s administration. On holidays including Tomb-Sweeping Day, Labor Day, Dragon Boat Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival, the Memorial would open its gate to a great many visitors.
And that was when Xu Haifeng worked at the frontline. “It’s my duty” was the most frequently said by Xu Hai-feng. He said frankly that “the Memorial is a first-class museum of China with great influence and wide coverage. Many people come for a visit and pressure for security is mounting up. The Memorial is within the scope of my station. I have to keep up work without any moment of slack to secure the safe, steady and orderly operation of the Memorial.”
Clear conscience to work but guilt to family
When asked about when he would go back home, Xu Haifeng stopped for a while,
Looked into the distance and said that “After having meeting last night, I go back to the police station for night shift. I take a nap past the midnight and then go to the Memorial in the morning straight from the station.” The Memorial was within the scope of his police station. “We have to take care of Mochou Lake and other police tasks as well. Like me, many other policemen stand on duty to ensure safety of the visitors and to avoid accidents.” Xu Hai-feng’s kid was in sixth grade. He was too busy with work to spend time with his kid. His family sometimes complained about it because he took too little care of the family. He said that “I choose to be a policeman and I have to fulfill my duty. I don’t have any complaint about my work after making so much contribution, But I owe a lot to my family. I will try to spend as much time as possible with my family.”
During the interview, Xu Ming, director of Political Office of Jianye sub-bureau, said that “the sub-bureau coordinates with transport bureau, subway administration as well as cultural and tourism department in advance so as to achieve remote traffic diversion, orderly guidance surrounding the Memorial and traffic restriction in core zones. At the same time, the sub-bureau dispatches five workgroups to deal with anti-terrorism and anti-explosion in case of any emergency. Two fire trucks are also assigned for the purpose of fire prevention and prevention of any other calamities. Since the National Day holiday, the Memorial and its surroundings are in good order without any accident.”
With huge flow of visitors, good order could not be achieved without the joint efforts from policemen, traffic controllers, urban management officers, district officers, fire fighters, medical care staff, subway workers, volunteers and all staff from the Memorial. Personal safety and field trip experience of each visitor are always in our mind!
Kind remainder: expected time of waiting in line would be three to four hours. Please arrange your schedule accordingly to avoid rush hours!
Proofreaders | Li-Ling, Zhao Yi-han, Yu Yue-hua
Editor | Pan Lin-na
Signer and Issuer | Ling Xi