A MANIFESTATION OF CHINESE VALUES AND VIRTUES

Throughout the operation, the deep-rooted people-first philosophy of the Chinese government and public servants was again on full display.

"Exhaust all means possible to guarantee the safety of our people, exhaust all means possible to guarantee the safety of our properties, and exhaust all means possible to maintain our national interests," the Chinese leadership ordered at the outset of the operation.

Despite potential dangers, ad hoc teams grouping officials from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Commerce and Public Security and other relevant government organs rushed to restive Libya to help organize the evacuation from the frontline.

"Difficult, arduous and tiring," said Fei Mingxing, a Foreign Ministry official sent to Libya to explore the westward route to Tunisia, when describing his team's work. "But for the homeland and the people, we have no complaint or regret."

Following instructions from Beijing, the Chinese embassy in Libya quickly formulated an evacuation plan, dividing the host country into four zones and tasking the heads of large Chinese companies with superintending the evacuation efforts in their respective zones.

"We explicitly required that only after each and every employee in their zones has been evacuated could the superintendents leave," said Ambassador Wang Wangsheng. "The top priority is the safety of the people."

Wang Xuhong, political counsellor of the Chinese embassy in Libya, stayed at the Tripoli airport for a day and a night without food or sleep in order to ensure that chartered Chinese planes could land at the airport. Zheng Yujie, a diplomat of the Chinese Consulate General in the Egyptian port city of Alexandria, curled up in a chartered coach in a chilly night at the Egypt-Libya border in order to keep robbers away.

Among the evacuees themselves, members of the Communist Party of China stood out at the critical moment, volunteering to be the last ones to leave or to help maintain the order of embarkation. "Men after women, cadres after ordinary employees, and party members after non-party members" were the principles of the withdrawal.

Also thoroughly demonstrated in the escape were such time-honored Chinese virtues as solidarity, mutual care and help and altruism. Wu Jianzhou, a 25-year-old employee of a Chinese company, risked his life to return to Tripoli, after finally reaching the Libyan border, in order to retrieve the passports of his 242 colleagues.

"I should stay. They need me," said Gao Xiaolin, a translator in her 20s. She should have been among the first batch to leave, but did not until all of her more than 800 colleagues had safely exited Libya.