Xi stresses Long March spirit for national rejuvenation

Chinese President Xi Jinping (front) and other senior leaders visit an exhibition marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Long March in Beijing, September 23, 2016. [Photo/Xinhua]

BEIJING -- President Xi Jinping on Friday called for carrying forth the spirit of the Chinese Red Army on the Long March eight decades ago, and striving fearlessly to realize the Chinese dream of national rejuvenation.

Xi made the remarks during a visit to an exhibition marking the 80th anniversary of the end of the Long March.

The Long March spirit is characterized by working hard, fearing no sacrifice, and firm belief in communism and the ultimate victory of China's revolution.

From October 1934 to October 1936, the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army soldiers left their bases and marched through raging rivers, snowy mountains and arid grassland to break the siege of the Kuomintang (Nationalist Party) forces and continue to fight Japanese aggressors. Some of them marched as far as 12,500 kilometers.

The maneuver was a turning point in China's revolution.

Against all odds, the Red Army completed the march under the leadership of the Communist Party of China (CPC), a world-renowned feat that will be forever engraved in the history of China's revolution and the Chinese nation, said Xi, also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission.

The Long March clearly demonstrated the power of revolutionary ideals, Xi said at the exhibition in the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution in Beijing.

"Times have changed, the situation has changed, but the ideals and causes that we communists have been fighting for have not changed," he said.