A PLA medical team of the kind extolled in A Song of Triumph is welcomed into the distant village home of Yamei, and Dr. Xiang, the PLA medico, is determined to bring the message of Mao Thought to Yamei ('Dumb Sister'). To this end she practices acupuncture on herself so as to find a way to cure the girl's condition. Thus she sacrifices herself so that the young Yamei may find physical redemption.

This scene mimics similar moments found in our other propaganda piece and in the adulatory reporting of the efforts of such army doctors (or doctors who donned army uniforms, finding the PLA army-green to be the perfect camoflauge color during the turmoil of the times) as Zhao Puyu.

These doctors jab and stab at their own body in a ritual of exhultative mortification searching for the elusive acu-points that will bring secular relief and salvation to their suffering patients. They record their experiences and constantly check their efforts by consulting the works of Chairman Mao, searching both for philosophical guidance as well as positive reinforcement, support for the belief that human effort, or even will power alone, can overcome all obstacles.