Martyr's resting places are full of warm feelings

During Qingming, the days are always rain-swept, but standing in the martyrs' cemetery in Yanjin, Hunan province, I did not feel cold.

On the contrary, when I read the notes left by tourists, a feeling of warmth struck me.

"Words pale before your deeds and your spirits live eternally," someone had written under the name "The Home of a Loving Heart."

"Your deeds define bravery, while your soul illuminates the national spirit," wrote Peiwen Class, Grade 2004, Peking University.

Since ancient times, China has honored those who died fighting enemies, believing that their ghosts would continue to defend the nation in the underworld.

Now, we believe in materialism, but we maintain the tradition of honoring them because their spirit will pass on.

The majority of martyrs were young. Had they not sacrificed themselves, they could have lived half a century longer, had ample time to care for their families and earned a lot of money. But they gave it all up and donated their lives for the public good.

According to a survey in the 1950s, a few years after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, at least 21 million martyrs had given their lives for the people before the republic was founded.

Of them all, only 1.8 million had left their names in the history books.

The majority just died in silence, without a grave and without leaving their names for posterity.

Yet they had good lives, because the things they were fighting for have been achieved.

Seventy-two years after the founding of the PRC, the nation boasts the world's second-largest economy and the Chinese people will no longer be bullied by others.

The sacrifices of all the martyrs made today's prosperity and security possible, yet they never had the chance to experience those things.

Let's cherish the prosperity and security they earned for us through their selfless deeds and offer them the deepest respect.