Youth hero honored by memorial hall

A six-meter-tall bronze statue of Wang Jie greets visitors at the lobby of the Wang Jie Memorial Hall in Jinxiang township of Jining city, East China's Jiangsu province, Sept 1. [Photo/chinadaily.com.cn]

As his name suggests, the life of Wang Jie was short but full of glory.  

Wang Jie was born in 1942 as a Jinxiang native of Jining city, Shandong province. He joined the Chinese People's Liberation Army in 1962 and became an engineering solider. On July 14, 1965, he died after using his body to cover a bomb that went off due to glitches during mine explosion training, and saved the lives of 12 militiamen.

In honor of the 23-year-old hero, who then hadn't married his fiancé, the local government has built a memorial hall in his name. The hall covers an area of 46,000 square meters.  

The lobby at the first floor of the memorial hall features the praise of Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zeming and Hu Jintao on the spirit of Wang. The exhibition room on the second floor displays historical data, such as photos of Wang and his personal belongings, which all capture spectacular moments of the hero's life.