AP, Beijing :
Chinese Communist Party leader and President Xi Jinping led other top officials Monday in paying respects to the founder of the Communist state, Mao Zedong, ahead of a massive celebration of the People’s Republic’s 70th anniversary that will emphasize its rise to global prominence.
The unusual move saw Xi bow three times to Mao’s statue at his mausoleum in the center of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and pay his respects to Mao’s embalmed corpse, which has lain in state in the hulking chamber since soon after his death in 1976. It was believed to be the first visit to the mausoleum by Xi and other officials since 2013, the 120th anniversary of Mao’s birth.
Xi also ascended the nearby Monument to the People’s Heroes to pay further tribute on what has been designated Martyr’s Day, just ahead of Tuesday’s National Day festivities, which will be marked by a massive military parade through the center of the city of 20 million people.
Along with other top party officials, more than 4,000 Chinese including elderly military veterans and retired senior officials, “relatives of martyrs, honorees of national medals and honorary titles,” and members of the party’s youth organization visited the monument to lay flowers and wreathes.
Chinese Communist Party leader and President Xi Jinping led other top officials Monday in paying respects to the founder of the Communist state, Mao Zedong, ahead of a massive celebration of the People’s Republic’s 70th anniversary that will emphasize its rise to global prominence.
The unusual move saw Xi bow three times to Mao’s statue at his mausoleum in the center of Beijing’s Tiananmen Square and pay his respects to Mao’s embalmed corpse, which has lain in state in the hulking chamber since soon after his death in 1976. It was believed to be the first visit to the mausoleum by Xi and other officials since 2013, the 120th anniversary of Mao’s birth.
Xi also ascended the nearby Monument to the People’s Heroes to pay further tribute on what has been designated Martyr’s Day, just ahead of Tuesday’s National Day festivities, which will be marked by a massive military parade through the center of the city of 20 million people.
Along with other top party officials, more than 4,000 Chinese including elderly military veterans and retired senior officials, “relatives of martyrs, honorees of national medals and honorary titles,” and members of the party’s youth organization visited the monument to lay flowers and wreathes.
