Homage to heroes of Chinese nation, celebrated or unsung

BEIJING -- On Saturday, President Xi Jinping paid silent tribute and laid flower baskets at the Monument to the People's Heroes in Tian'anmen Square in central Beijing, to mark China's 10th Martyrs' Day.

In 2014, China's top legislature approved the establishment of Martyrs' Day, which falls on Sept. 30, to commemorate those who lost their lives fighting for national independence and prosperity.

Since the first Martyrs' Day, Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, has faithfully kept his tradition of paying homage to fallen heroes on the day.

"The accomplishments of the revolutionary martyrs will go down in history and their names shall never be forgotten," Xi once said.

Xi has memorialized national heroes on various occasions and lauded their patriotic and valiant spirit as a source of inspiration for the Chinese national psyche.

During an inspection tour in 2017, Xi visited a revolutionary memorial museum in Shanxi Province. He left a basket of flowers to pay respect to the country's war heroes.

"Each part of the CPC's revolutionary history is a vivid textbook of ideals and faith," Xi said, urging Party members to forge ahead while staying true to the mission taken up by the CPC when it was founded in 1921.

He said that every Party member should remember the revolutionaries who devoted their lives to national independence and the people's liberation, keep the mettle of the CPC members, be honest with the people, and create a better life for the people.

In September 2020, Xi hailed national heroes who defended the country during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-1945) while addressing a commemoration meeting.

Xi said the great spirit of resisting aggression bred during the war is an invaluable source of inspiration, and will always motivate the Chinese people to overcome all difficulties and obstacles and strive to achieve national rejuvenation.

In 2021, Xi visited a memorial park in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region dedicated to the Battle of the Xiangjiang River during the Long March in the 1930s. He presented a flower basket in homage to Red Army soldiers who died in the battle and visited a memorial hall in the park to pay his respects to revolutionary martyrs.

"We should have such beliefs in achieving the second centenary goal and realizing national rejuvenation," Xi said. "In the face of even greater difficulty, think about the Long March and the Xiangjiang battle."

In addition to revolutionary heroes who sacrificed themselves for their fellow people during wartime, Xi has also commended ordinary people in peacetime for contributions they made on various fronts to rejuvenate the nation.

In March 2020, when China was at a critical moment wrestling with COVID-19, Xi inspected the central Chinese city of Wuhan, Hubei Province, which was hit hard by the virus. Visiting a makeshift hospital built to deal with the epidemic, Xi lauded medical workers as "true heroes."

In the face of the sudden epidemic, medical workers across China went to battle like warriors clad in white armor, risking their own lives to save the lives of others.

Later in the year, Xi said at a meeting honoring heroes of the COVID-19 fight that "these medical workers are our guardian angels, and the people most worthy of our respect in the new era."

And there was the fight against absolute poverty.

In 2021, Xi announced that absolute poverty had been eradicated in China after eight years of relentless efforts.

However, more than 1,800 people died fighting poverty on the front lines in this battle against poverty.

Xi acknowledged these fallen heroes at a gathering held to mark the nation's poverty alleviation accomplishments and honor model poverty fighters. He said those fallen heroes' sacrifice and contributions "will never be forgotten by the Party, the people and the republic."

Xi saluted people working on various fronts, saying that "the people are the creators of history; they are true heroes."

In his 2022 New Year Address, the Chinese president acknowledged a series of landmark events and countless "unsung heroes" behind China's march toward great rejuvenation.

"The hard work and dedication of countless unsung heroes have all added to the great momentum of China's march forward in the new era," said Xi.