SWAT star to tell of police progress

At first sight, Li Yufeng's thin and not very tall figure makes it hard to believe he can climb five floors up a drain pipe outside a building with his bare hands in just 10 seconds.

Beyond that, he can shoot a coin 100 meters away and put together a disassembled gun in 20 seconds blindfolded.

That is why he is known as Heilongjiang's No 1 special policeman.

Li, 34, joined the People's Armed Police Force in 2002 and the following year became a member of the SWAT team of the Heilongjiang Corps of armed police after a rigorous selection.

After graduating from high school, Li knew he wanted to join the armed police but was not sure how to achieve his goal.

"I was too excited to sleep on the train to Harbin," he said. "I was eager and enthusiastic, but actually I didn't know what to do in the following days."

He got the answer after watching a teaching video during recruit training. He was interested in the SWAT team.

"I was shocked by its advanced weapons, capable members and superior skills," Li said. "Furthermore, the presentation by some excellent members of the SWAT team increased my determination to join the team."

However, at first he struggled during physical fitness tests, scoring lower than most of his comrades on 5-kilometer runs. So he tried harder, running two or three times a day - each time carrying 20 kilograms in sandbags, twice the amount his comrades carried. A month later, he became one of the fastest to complete the 5-km run, which he did in 18 minutes.

During sniper training, Li used several techniques he developed to enhance his concentration, such as threading needles and poking holes with a needle in rice grains every night, or lying on the ground for hours while holding his sniper rifle, even in the summer heat and winter cold. And at each target practice, he took notes on ballistic trajectory and weather conditions, including wind speed and direction.

From analysis of the data in his six notebooks, he deduced different rules of ballistic trajectory for different seasons, which greatly improved his shooting skill.

His excellent performance earned him numerous honors and prizes at competitions.

The most important one was the Loyal Guard award - one of the highest honors given since 1998 to armed police officers. Every year, only 10 of the 700,000 in the force receive the honor. He got the award in 2015 for his contribution in an eight-month task force safeguarding stability in the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

In September, Li was elected a delegate to the 19th CPC National Congress. "As a grassroots Party member, I really cherish this opportunity to attend the congress," Li said. "I will bring to Beijing word of great changes made to the grassroots armed police units since the 18th CPC National Congress."