Beijing commemorates participants of Red Army's Long March
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday led a moment of silence in memory of revolutionaries who died during the historic Long March of 1934–1936 and other revolutionary struggles across China.
The event was held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing to mark the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Red Army's Long March.
At Xi's proposal, all participants stood and observed a moment of silence for those who lost their lives.
Addressing the gathering, Xi recalled that from October 1934 to October 1936, the Red Army marched through more than 10 Chinese provinces, with some units covering as much as 12,500 kilometers.
Xi paid tribute to Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Zhu De and other veteran revolutionaries who led the Long March, as well as Red Army soldiers and local communities that supported them.
Around 3,000 people attended the commemorative gathering.
The Long March began in 1934 as a strategic retreat by the Red Army, the predecessor of today's People's Liberation Army. Participants crossed rivers, snow-covered mountains and vast grasslands during the journey.
In 1936, the main forces reached Yan'an in northwest China's Shaanxi Province, which later became an important center of the Communist Party of China before the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
According to CCTV+, the gathering formed part of commemorative events marking the 90th anniversary of the Red Army's Long March victory.
