Top leadership of CPC visits Yan'an revolutionary base

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, led the new top leadership of the CPC to Yan'an, an old revolutionary base in Shaanxi province, on Thursday, and vowed to carry on the founding spirit of the Party and strive in unity to fulfill the goals and tasks set by the 20th CPC National Congress.

The trip, which took place five days after the conclusion of the 20th CPC National Congress, is considered to be a demonstration of the CPC top leadership's strong resolve to carry on the Party's fine traditions to make new progress on the new journey toward realizing national rejuvenation.

Led by Xi, the other six newly elected members of the Standing Committee of the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee — Li Qiang, Zhao Leji, Wang Huning, Cai Qi, Ding Xuexiang and Li Xi — visited the site where the seventh CPC National Congress was held in 1945, a former residence of late Chinese leader Mao Zedong, and an exhibition at the Yan'an Revolutionary Memorial Hall, featuring the history of the time during which the CPC Central Committee was based in Yan'an, from 1935 to 1948.

Xi, who is also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said that the trip was made to recollect the glorious period in which the Party developed in Yan'an, reminisce about the marvelous achievements of the older generation of revolutionaries, carry on the great founding spirit of the Party, and firm up historical confidence in order to strive in unity in fulfilling the goals and tasks set out at the 20th CPC National Congress.

Calling Yan'an a shrine of China's revolution and the cradle of New China, Xi said that the Yan'an spirit fostered by the older generation of revolutionaries has become an invaluable source of inspiration for the Party and should be passed on from generation to generation.

The Yan'an spirit calls for being firm in the right political direction, emancipating the mind, seeking truth from facts, serving the people wholeheartedly, and developing self-reliant and pioneering efforts.

"Being firm in the right political direction" is the essence of the Yan'an spirit, Xi said. He urged the whole Party to stay firm in the right political direction, resolutely adhere to the theories, principles and strategies of the Party, resolutely implement the policies and decisions of the CPC Central Committee and continue to advance the great cause opened up by the older generation of revolutionaries.

It was in Yan'an that the Party made "serving the people wholeheartedly" its fundamental purpose and incorporated it into the Party Constitution, Xi said.

The whole Party should fulfill the CPC's fundamental purpose and maintain close bonds with the people, uphold the people-centered development philosophy, make real efforts to promote common prosperity and enable more achievements of the nation's modernization drive to benefit all the people in a much fairer manner, he said.

Xi called for carrying on the tradition of self-reliance and hard work, being courageous to advance self-reform, and firmly exercising rigorous governance over the Party in order to ensure that the CPC will always be the strong leadership core of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

He also urged the entire Party to carry forward the spirit of struggle and resolutely overcome difficulties and challenges.

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