Female Uygur sailor lives her dream

Gan Jun For China Daily - Alimra Jumadel (first from left), a Kazakh woman who serves on the PLA navy's amphibian landing craft Changbaishan, is on duty on the navigation bridge.

Gulinur Kasim said her classmates at high school and college were envious of her work on the navy landing craft Changbaishan, sharing their amazement in letters to her.

"They'd say things like: 'Wow, such a small girl like you commanding a cannon on a large battleship and often traveling out to sea. It's awesome!'" the Uygur woman said.

She was determined to do something different from most women of her ethnic background. After graduating from Northwest University for Nationalities in Gansu province in 2012, she enlisted in the People's Liberation Army navy.

"I studied law in the university and had passed the civil service exam when I heard the military was recruiting servicewomen in Xinjiang," she recalled.

"All my female classmates chose to find a job in the government, in the courts or a law firm, but I decided to follow and pursue the dream of my mother - becoming a servicewoman in the PLA, which she was unable to fulfill for various reasons."

Having received offers from the air force, the military garrison in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region as well as the navy, she chose the navy because "compared with the other two, the navy can bring me more challenges and opportunities".

After several months of tough training onshore, she was assigned to a gunner's post on the Changbaishan, one of the navy's largest amphibious landing craft.

Soon after she boarded the ship, an officer gave every newcomer a form, requesting them to describe their hobbies.

"I was an announcer in my university and often introduced galas or shows as a master of ceremonies, so I was selected to announce news and broadcast entertainment programs on the ship," she recalled. "Now sailors on the ship call me 'the voice of the blue ocean'."

Being an announcer is not an easy job, even though the program is just 30 minutes long and is aired twice a day.

"When other sailors are napping during the noon break each day, I am busy preparing the program for airing during supper time," the Uygur gunner said. "I often work until late at night to edit words I read in the next day's program."

The pride she takes in her position is clear.

"How many Uygur women would have such a fantastic opportunity of being a sailor like me?" she boasted. "I am a naval warrior and probably the only Uygur woman that has broadcast on the ocean. Why shouldn't I be proud?"