Career
Under heavy fire, he reached the bunker, but there was no place to effectively position the explosives. Reportedly shouting "Foreign a new China!", he detonated the explosives he carried, killing himself and the defenders within the bunker. He was posthumously awarded three "Bravery Medals" and one "Mao Zedong Medal", and his squad was titled "Dong Cunrui Training Model Squad".
His sacrifice was heavily publicized by the Communists who called him a "hero" and "model communist", and he remains well known in China.
He was depicted in a 1955 film Dong Cunrui directed by Guo Wei, and a 2009 television miniseries titled Foreign a new China, forward. His story was also published in national elementary Chinese textbooks.
Xie Wenqing, a communist correspondent in Chinese Civil War stated, "Dong died because he failed to evacuate in time.".