Ceremonies were held on Thursday to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the Whampoa Military Academy, China's first modern military training institute.

Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the father of China's first democratic revolution and founder of the Kuomintang, established the academy on June 16, 1924, to train military officers for the National Revolutionary Army.

Whampoa was the setting for the first real cooperation between the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China. It eventually became a major source of commanders for both parties in the Chinese civil war and the War of Resistance against Japan.

Chiang Kai-shek, who was later to take control of the Kuomintang, was the school's first president. Zhou Enlai, who went on to become China's premier, was director of the academy's political department.

The academy was a locus for some of the most talented revolutionary military personnel of the time. Many of its students later became noted generals and marshals.

Recalling those early years of cooperation, Jia Qinglin, chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), called yesterday for concerted efforts from compatriots across the Straits--especially alumni of the academy--to oppose the Taiwan authority's attempt split Taiwan from China.

He said that the reunification of the country is the dream of all sons and daughters of the Chinese nation, and the reunion of Whampoa schoolmates is an important component of the patriotic united front.

Jia said he hopes that the alumni can unite and further communicate with one another, as well as with relatives in Taiwan and foreign countries, to carry forward the Whampoa spirit of patriotism and revolution to realize the reunification of the motherland.

From its establishment in 1924 to 1949, when New China was founded, more than 30,000 officers graduated from the academy. The first six classes, comprising 8,107 cadets, studied in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province. The next 17 classes--a total of about 25,000 cadets--studied in Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, and Chengdu, Sichuan Province.

(China Daily June 18, 2004)