Hainan father, son safeguard Lingao lighthouse for 52 years

On a cape in northern Lingao county, Hainan province, a red and white lighthouse has safeguarded the waters here for over 120 years, guiding both incoming and outgoing vessels at the western entrance of the Qiongzhou Strait. 

The Lingao lighthouse was built by the French in 1893 and it is one of the 100 Lighthouses of Cultural Relics in the world. With a cast iron cylindrical structure, the lighthouse is composed of six large pillars and 108 small cast irons. Painted with red and white horizontal stripes, it is 22 meters high and has a geographic range of light of 18 nautical miles.

An aerial photo of Lingao lighthouse. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Thanks to a father and son's persistence for 52 consecutive years, the ancient lighthouse is well preserved and still plays an important navigational role on the Qiongzhou Strait.

Wang Jian is the current lighthouse keeper. Hainan's climate consists of high temperatures, high humidity, and a high sea salt content, which causes serious erosion to the steel lighthouses. Wang cleans the tower with clear water, and wipes the lamp with parchment paper every day to alleviate the corrosion of the lighthouse caused by the sea breeze and salt.

Wang Jian, the lighthouse keeper at the Lingao lighthouse. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

The job of the lighthouse keeper is hard and monotonous, but Wang never thinks of giving up. This kind of persistence was learned from to his father, Wang Guangmin, a first-generation lighthouse keeper after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

In 1969, the 27-year-old Wang Guangmin started his work at Lingao lighthouse. At that time, the lighthouse relied on manual lighting and extinguishing. Due to the remote location and lack of fresh water, he could only carry fresh water from his home to clean the lighthouse and prevent the lighthouse from rusting. Wang Guangmin repeated such solitary and monotonous work for 33 years.

In 2003, Wang Jian gave up the opportunity to move to a prosperous city and took over his father's responsibility as lighthouse keeper. Wang always feels proud whenever he watches century-old lighthouse shine beacons of light off the cape of the motherland.