Unflagging enthusiasm after record term of service

Good-looking, fit and 190 centimeters tall, he has had his fair share of female admirers. Not a film star nor a model, he was the soldier who raised the flag at Tiananmen Square for more than 11 years before he applied to be demobilized in January. Gao Hongfu, 29, held the post of national flag raiser longer than anyone else since the National Flag Guard at Tiananmen Square was established at the end of 1982.