Wang Jicai and his wife patrol the lonely island off Lianyungang, a coastal city in East China’s Jiangsu province. [File Photo/ Yangtse Evening Post]

The lonely island Wang Jicai and his wife keep guard on, off Lianyungang, a coastal city in East China’s Jiangsu province. [File Photo/ Yangtse Evening Post]

With no fresh water or electricity, a couple has been keeping guard on a barren island off Lianyungang, a coastal city in East China’s Jiangsu province, for 25 years, Nanjing-based Yangtse Evening Post reported on Sunday.

The husband, 52-year-old Wang Jicai and his wife, 50-year-old Wang Shihua, are the only guards on the 13,000-square-meter island, which is an outpost position of Lianyungang, a military fortress.

The couple came to the island in July 1986 and had been in charge of monitoring sea and air, protecting national defense facilities and helping vessels and people in danger.

Except for being short of fresh water, the island, the size of only two football fields, had no electricity until 2008 when the local military department sent them a wind power generator.

Wang, the husband, has been honored as an advanced manager of national defense projects and the “May Day Labor Model” by the nation.