Grand centennial celebrations showcase confidence, resolve to march toward rejuvenation
Surrounded by seas of cheers and applause, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, reviewed the historical mission of the CPC in realizing China’s complete reunification and “irreversible” national rejuvenation, and expressed China’s unshakable resolve and ability in defending national interests in the face of outside forces, as he addressed the grand ceremony to celebrate the centenary of the CPC.
Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at a ceremony marking the centenary of the CPC in Beijing.
“We must take resolute action to utterly defeat any attempt toward ‘Taiwan independence,’ and work together to create a bright future for national rejuvenation,” Xi said, stressing that no one should underestimate the great resolve, the strong will, and the extraordinary ability of the Chinese people to defend their national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Xi’s remarks were acclaimed by seas of cheers and applauds from Tiananmen Square. Another climax appeared when Xi announced that Chinese people will never allow any outside forces to bully, oppress or subjugate us. Anyone who dares try to do that will have their heads bashed bloody against the Great Wall of steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people.
Xi said the founding of the CPC has profoundly changed the destiny of the Chinese people, and also changed the world. Since the CPC was born, it established its mission to seek happiness for the Chinese people and the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.
The CPC has united and led the Chinese people over the past 100 years for one ultimate theme – bringing about the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. The CPC and the Chinese people, through tenacious struggle, have shown the world that China’s national rejuvenation has become a historical inevitability, Xi said.
Xi expressed great respect to the Chinese Communists, with Comrade Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao as their chief representatives who made great contributions to the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation that will go down in the annals of history.
Xi called for cherishing the memory of veteran revolutionaries and revolutionary martyrs. Xi said Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Liu Shaoqi, Zhu De, Deng Xiaoping, Chen Yun and other veteran revolutionaries had contributed greatly to China’s revolution, construction, and reform, and to the founding, consolidation, and development of the CPC.
He also paid tribute to revolutionary martyrs who bravely laid down their lives to establish, defend and develop the People’s Republic of China; people who dedicated their lives to China’s reform, opening-up, and socialist modernization; and those who fought tenaciously for China’s national independence and liberation of the people in modern times.
Their great contributions will be immortalized in the annals of history and their noble spirit will live on forever in the hearts of the Chinese people, Xi said.
Any attempt to divide the Party from the Chinese people or to set the people against the Party is bound to fail, Xi said, noting “The more than 95 million Party members and the more than 1.4 billion Chinese people will never allow such a scenario to come to pass.”
China welcomes helpful suggestions, but will not accept sanctimonious preaching. “We are eager to learn what lessons we can from the achievements of other cultures, and welcome helpful suggestions and constructive criticism,” said Xi.
“We will not, however, accept sanctimonious preaching from those who feel they have the right to lecture us,” he said.
Xi also announced on Thursday that China has realized the first centenary goal – building a moderately prosperous society in all respects. “This means that we have brought about a historic resolution to the problem of absolute poverty in China, and we are now marching in confident strides toward the second centenary goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects,” Xi, said.
Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam and winners of the July 1 Medal, the highest Party honor, were among those on the Tiananmen Rostrum as President Xi delivered the speech.
Before Xi’s speech, a congratulatory message jointly issued by eight other Chinese political parties, the All-China Federation of Industry and Commerce, and personages without party affiliation was read out to express strong support for the CPC’s leadership.
Genuine joy
Tiananmen Square welcomed early morning guests who flocked to the iconic place brimming with joy and excitement, decorated by flowers and national and Party flags. They were eager to take pictures of them with the Party flag, as a way of celebrating the Party’s centenary.
Starting from 7:00 am, the rhythm of the “Sing a folk song to the Party” “Unity is strength” and others were resounding at Tiananmen Square to raise the curtain of the grand ceremony. The guards of honor escorted the national flag in quick march, parade steps and quick march again with each kind of exactly 100 steps while a 100-gun salute was fired to honor the CPC’s 100-year grand history at Tiananmen Square and the sound could be heard by residents living 10 kilometers away.
Representatives of the Chinese Communist Youth League and members of the Young Pioneers saluted the CPC and expressed commitment to the Party’s cause with poems.
Spearheading the aerial performance formations at the event, a Z-8L flew past Tiananmen Square hoisting a CPC flag, with two Z-10 attack helicopters flying in the same formation. Four more Z-8Ls followed in a second formation.
This is the first time the Z-8L has made a public flight performance.
Fifteen J-20 stealth fighter jets soared past Beijing’s skies in formation during the celebrations on Thursday, marking the largest number of the country’s most advanced warplanes displayed to the general public in a single event.
Thunderous applause as well as cheers burst among the crowd before and during Xi’s speech with people who attended the ceremony at Tiananmen Square waving national flags to express their excitement. A man who is working in the railways department in South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region told the Global Times that he is thrilled to watch the ceremony at Tiananmen Square and will deliver the spirit of Xi’s speech to Party members when he returns home.
Celebrations across the nation
On the day when the world’s largest ruling party is celebrating its 100th anniversary, the Chinese people, among whom 95 million are Party members, have been collectively expressing their joy of witnessing their country walk on the path of rejuvenation under the leadership of the CPC.
On Thursday, many Chinese people have watched the ceremony online and expressed their excitement and shared touching moments upon listening to Xi’s speech on social media. Various topics regarding the ceremony to celebrate the centenary of the CPC are the most searched and trending on Sina Weibo.
In Shaoshan, Central China’s Hunan Province, the hometown of Mao Zedong, one of the founding leaders of the Communist Party of China, days of heavy rain failed to stop people from all over the country rushing to visit Chairman Mao’s birthplace. Starting at 6 o’clock in the morning, hundreds of people gathered in Mao Zedong Square, singing, bowing, saluting, and offering flowers.
Among the people at the scene, there were a large number of young people. They told the Global Times that they were very excited to salute the great leader on this special day and hoped to make greater contributions to the country in the future.
In Hunan’s provincial capital Changsha, on Wednesday night, fireworks bloomed in the sky, lighting up the statue of Mao Zedong standing firmly at the center of Juzizhoutou, looking like he is watching the splendid views with the cheering crowds enjoying the prosperity of China that he himself and many other revolutionary martyrs had dreamed of and striven for their entire lives.
Over the past few days, the whole nation has been overwhelmed by the color of red with landmark buildings in big and small cities in China being lit up, fireworks being presented, national flags flying in residential communities in remote border areas.
The festive atmosphere is also unprecedented in Hong Kong this year as the city celebrates the CPC centenary, the 24th anniversary of the city’s return to the motherland, and the one-year anniversary of the implementation of the national security law for Hong Kong simultaneously. “The many red flags look like a sea of red,” some local residents told the Global Times, referring to hundreds of Chinese national flags and flags of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region being displayed in the city’s downtown areas.
Banners showing the celebrations of the CPC centenary and the 24th anniversary of Hong Kong’s return to the motherland are also displayed at local communities, with some colorful signs putting the word “CPC” on the top and some LED signs showing “a prosperous country, and a prosperous Hong Kong.”
Several Hong Kong residents, including Jacky Ko Chung Kit, a 41-year-old Hong Kong resident, who has been organizing a number of celebration activities, came to the landmark tourist site, the Hong Kong Observation Wheel to sing the national anthem and take photos with the national flag on Thursday morning. “We hope more young Hong Kong people will understand the CPC, including the achievements the CPC has made, and understand more about our country,” he told the Global Times.
The Macao Youth Federation also organized dozens of young people in Macao to watch the live broadcast of the grand ceremony taking place in Beijing. “I was thrilled when listening to Xi’s speech, reviewing the glorious path that the CPC has been embarking on over the past 100 years,” Mok Chi Wai, chairman of the federation, told the Global Times.
The successful practice of the “one country, two systems” brings us a happy life, and we should always be thankful for that, Mok said, noting that it’s also time to learn the history of the CPC and the history of the nation, and understand the robust development of China is inseparable from the leadership of the CPC.
Hope for the future
The enthusiastic and festive atmosphere across the country has especially inspired young people with many expressing their willingness to join the Party.
One day ahead of the centenary celebrations, Henricks Xu, 28, from Heihe, Northeast China’s Heilongjiang Province, delivered his application to join the Party in his 4000-word handwriting.
Born in a city bordering Russia where several ethnic groups live together, Xu, who carries the blood of China, South Korea, Georgia and Mongolia, has been taught to know what the CPC is and what the Party’s mission is as his family are all CPC members since he was a child. His determination to join the Party was reinforced after his study in Germany where he sometimes felt discriminated.
“Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, the CPC has been stressing the equality of all ethnic groups. The pledge became so evident to me, rather than just a slogan, after I found some people in Germany would mock and discriminate against different races. This has never happened in my hometown – people would never look down upon others simply because they speak the different languages or are from different cultural background,” Xu told the Global Times.
“Every time when I was asked if I would return to China after graduating, I would say yes as the land is full of hope, warmth and light,” Xu said. “I would grow up, and forge a stronger bond with my motherland together.”
Xu is one among numerous young Chinese people who have been encouraged by the contributions made by CPC members and are ready to make their own for future development.
On the Chinese social media platform Sina Weibo, thousands of netizens are discussing why they chose to join the Party. Stories they shared in videos show the Chinese people, especially the younger generation, inheriting the ideals from their family and truly believe that only the CPC can save China. Applications, Party emblems and work logs that Party members and netizens displayed on their posts vividly interpreted their original aspirations: if you want to chase the light, become the light and give it out.
Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, delivers an important speech at a ceremony marking the centenary of the CPC in Beijing, capital of China, July 1, 2021. Photo: Xinhua
