Committed to a higher cause in nation's pursuit for rejuvenation: China Daily editorial

The stories of the national medal and honorary title winners, most of them in their 80s with a few in their 90s, should inspire people across the country to contribute their bit to the development and prosperity of the country.

President Xi Jinping presented the medals to the 14 winners of national medals and honorary titles, the highest state honors, just a couple of days before the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

The award winners, all role models in their own fields, have one thing in common: they have ensured their work improves the lives of the people and contributes to the progress of the country.

Lu Shengmei, who was awarded the national honorary title, is a medical practitioner, who worked in Jiaxian county hospital, Shaanxi province, for more than 50 years since graduating from a medical college in Beijing in 1968. She retired in 1999 and could have returned to Beijing or joined another hospital as an expert and earned a handsome salary.

But she chose to stay in the county hospital and continue providing medical services for local residents. She continued treating patients three times a week for free till 2019 when she reached the age of 75. Such was her commitment to the medical profession and the passion to serve the people.

Li Zhensheng, 96, winner of the national medal, worked as a wheat geneticist throughout his long working life, making great contributions to the development of agriculture in China.

As Xi said in his speech at the medal conferring ceremony on Sunday, China can be proud of maintaining a high growth rate for decades while ensuring long-term political and social stability, but the country could not have become what it is today, the world's second-largest economy and a global manufacturing powerhouse, without the contributions of people who have devoted their life to a bigger cause just like the top national medal and honorary title winners have done.

A country needs role models in every field to motivate others to promote the development of the country. The contributions of the 14 outstanding figures who have devoted their life to their work, contributing to the development of the country in the process, should inspire others to follow in their footsteps.

China is going through a crucial period of building a great modern socialist country and achieving national rejuvenation through Chinese modernization. As Xi said, the Chinese people should strive for extraordinary achievements even while doing ordinary jobs and make contributions to overcome development and reform challenges, and safeguard social harmony and stability.