Chinese President Hu Jintao and other top leaders attended a
grand ceremony Sunday in Beijing in memory of the 70th anniversary
of the victory of the Long March.
Hu Jintao, Jiang Zemin, Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Zeng Qinghong, Huang Ju, Wu Guanzheng, Li Changchun and Luo Gan attended the official memorial
service.
Hu said in a key-note speech that the Long March, which opened a
bright future for China's revolution and laid an important
foundation for the victory of China's revolution, has been a
"pride" for the Chinese Communists, the Chinese army and the
Chinese nation as a whole.
The aim of the grand ceremony, he said, is to encourage the
whole Party, the army, and people of all ethnic groups of China, to
advance valiantly along the socialist road with Chinese
characteristics.
Wu Bangguo, member of the Standing Committee of the Political
Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and
chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's
Congress (NPC), presided over the ceremony.
The ceremony was broadcast live by China National Radio, China
Central Television and China Radio International, as well as
Xinhuanet.com and People.com.cn, the official websites of Xinhua
News Agency and People's Daily.
The Long March was a famous military maneuver carried out by the
Workers' and Peasants' Red Army from 1934 to 1936 led by the CPC to
combat the Kuomintang Regime.
Though many soldiers died on the way, the Red Army finally
arrived at Yan'an in western Shaanxi Province after the 25,000-li
(12,500-kilometer) trek, where the new headquarters of CPC was
later established.
In his speech, Hu recalled the history of the Long March,
calling it a rarely-seen expedition in the history of human
warfare, referring to the long time it took, the long route it
traveled, the great disparity of force between the Red Army and
enemy troops it witnessed, and the abominable natural conditions it
experienced.
The victory of the Long March shows the outstanding capabilities
of the Chinese Communists in leading the revolutionary war, the
undaunted spirit of the Red Army officers and soldiers who had
sacrificed their lives for national independence and people's
emancipation, and the fact that the just power of the people's
revolutionary war is unbeatable, Hu said.
He said the Red Army's Long March is a "great turning point" for
the Chinese Revolution to go from defeat to victory, which ushered
in the new dawn and opened up a bright future for the Party to
unite and lead the people to beat the Japanese militaristic
aggressors and strive for building a new country being independent,
free, democratic, united and prosperous.
Long March is of great and profound significance to the
development of the Party, the Army and the Chinese Nation, said the
president.
Since the victory of the Long March 70 years ago, the Party has
united and led the people of all ethnic groups to carry out great
new "Long Marches", one after another, and achieved great victories
during the different historic periods of revolution, construction
and reform, he said.
Hu pledged to inherit and carry on the glorious revolutionary
traditions of the Red Army through the country's current reform,
opening and socialist modernization drive.
He called for greater efforts to promote the sinicization of
Marxism and to explore the new horizon of Marxism in contemporary
China. He said the lofty revolutionary ideal of the Long March
should be carried on as a powerful spiritual pillar in building
socialism with Chinese characteristics.
"We should strengthen unity of the whole Party and among the
Chinese people of all ethnic groups, in order to conglomerate the
wisdom and power in the widest range for the development of the
cause of the Party and the people," he said.
In addition, he said the modernization of national defense and
the army and the building of the Party's ruling capabilities and
advanced nature should be strengthened as well.
"Today, we could say in pride that the revolutionary ideal the
Red Army demonstrated in its Long March has turned into reality,
and the seeds the Red Army sowed during its Long March have
blossomed and born fruits. There will be more colorful flowers and
fruits," Hu said.
(Xinhua News Agency October 22, 2006)
