A flag raising ceremony was held Tuesday morning in Nanjing to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Yangtze River Crossing Campaign. Lou Qinjian, secretary of the CPC Jiangsu Provincial Committee, addressed the event. Wu Zhenglong, governor of Jiangsu, and Huang Lixin, chairwoman of the provincial committee of CPPCC, attended the ceremony.
Some 1000 people from all walks of life gathered at the memorial square of the Yangtze River Crossing Campaign early in the morning.
The flag rising ceremony started at 8:45 with the guard of honor hoisting the national flag to full mast.
All those present started to sing the national anthem to the rhythms.
Lou Qinjian expressed his sincere remembrance of the revolutionaries who commanded the Yangtze River Crossing Campaign and all the soldiers and people who contributed to the decisive battle before the fall of the Kuomintang government to the Communist forces in 1949.
He pointed out that 70 years ago on April 23, the People’s Liberation Army broke through the Yangtze River in one swoop, and millions of heroes crossed the river and liberated Nanjing, then capital of the Nationalist Government.
The victory of the Yangtze River Crossing Campaignand the liberation of Nanjing declared the end of an old era, marking the bright future of the Chinese people for national independence and people's liberation, Lou said.
China today is closer to the goal of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation than at any time in history, Lou said, adding that Jiangsu is striding forward under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core toward the grand goal of building a strong, rich and beautiful new Jiangsu.
The CPC Provincial chief emphasized that we must draw wisdom and strength from the history of the victory of the Yangtze River Crossing Campaign and the liberation of Nanjing, inherit the revolutionary tradition, carry forward the revolutionary spirit, and inject great kinetic energy into Jiangsu's reform and development.
Lou said to inherit the revolutionary tradition and carry forward the revolutionary spirit is to effectivelystrengthen the four consciousnesses and the four self-confidences, safeguard the authority of the CPC Central Committee and unite around the centralized and unified leadership the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, implement thedecision-making of the CPC central committee and continuously push forward the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics.
We must always maintain our strategic strength and unswervingly promote high-quality development under the circumstances that the external environment is complex and changeable, and the contradictions and difficulties are obviously increasing so as to truly promote the development of Jiangsu into a new realm with the vivid practice of exploratory innovation and leading development, said the CPC Provincial chief.
The Yangtze River Crossing Campaign was a military campaign launched by the People's Liberation Army to cross the Yangtze River and capture Nanjing, the capital of the Nationalist government of the Kuomintang, in the final stage of the Chinese Civil War. The campaign began at night on 20 April, and lasted until 2 June 1949, concluding after the fall of Nanjing and Shanghai to the Communist forces.Between 20 April and 21 April, 300,000 men from the PLA crossed from the north to the south banks of the Yangtze River. As the Nationalist forces continued to retreat, the PLA was able to capture Nanjing by 23 April without encountering much resistance.
(Source:ourjiangsu.com)
