January 8th, 2018 marks the 42nd anniversary of the passing of People’s Republic of China’s first premier Zhou Enlai. To commemorate the great figure who devoted his whole life to the country, people from his hometown – Huan’an city in east China’s Jiangsu Province held a poetry recital called “The commemoration that goes through centuries”.
“Thousands standing on the streets, shouting your name, running towards you…”
The recital kicked off with a poem called “January Grief”. Five readers that come from different age groups, representing all walks of life reemerged the image when thousands of people sent off premier Zhou at Chang’an street.
“He is a great man; yet he is also an ordinary man.”
The part was from the poem Zhou Enlai wrote by Zhao Kai and presented by famous reciter Ge Yi that night. Ge Yi said that every time when he read that poem, he felt the passion that Zhou once experienced.
“Awe, ever-lasting awe. I don’t believe he’s gone. He’s there. He’s still there, in our hearts.”
“On the founding ceremony of New China, we don’t have enough planes. You said: fly twice. Now we don’t need to fly twice. We have enough planes now. The prosperity, wish you could see that up from above.”
This was from the poem Prosperity once in Your Dream presented by host of China Central Television Chen Ze. Premier Zhou has devoted his whole life to the country and tried very hard to make this country prosperous again. Chen Ze said that today’s China is just as premier Zhou wished.
“I think many works still can’t fully express our feelings towards premier Zhou. What would be premier Zhou’s blueprint of China if he’s still alive? Today’s China is very different from what it looked like in 1970s. He would be happy to see those tremendous changes,” Chen said.
The recital is divided into 3 parts featuring professional readers and actors like Tian Hua, Chen Ze, and Liu Jin as well as amateurs. The performers are from both professional societies and students from Zhou Enlai Class of local schools. The recital is also combined with chorus, story-telling, and performances.
Zhu Da’e, deputy to the people’s congress of Huan’an city, said: “Premier Zhou Enlai is the model of our generation. He sets an example for every one of us. We must fully devote ourselves into serving the people in our daily work.”
Wang Qi, a student from local school said: “Premier Zhou still thought about the people at his last breath. As one of the younger generation, we should always remember Premier Zhou’s spirit of learning for Chinese nation’s rejuvenation, and make contribution to the two centenary goals.”
Before the recital, a poem collection about Premier Zhou was also released to the public.
