Reflections on September 18, 2021
Everyone, do you remember what day it is today?
On September 18, 1931, the Kwantung Army, stationed in northeastern China, launched a sudden attack on Shenyang, seizing the Northeast by force and igniting the Mukden Incident, which stunned China and the world! Nearly ninety years have passed since then.
We all know that modern Chinese history is a history of humiliation, a history of oppression. Since 1840, the Chinese people have suffered at the hands of the great powers. One treaty after another, each an unspeakable betrayal that surrendered our rights and shamed our nation; one clause after another, still enough to rend our hearts... When we think of what the great powers did on Chinese soil, tears well up in our eyes.
But today, the Chinese nation stands tall among the peoples of the world, at the pinnacle of the world.
Let us turn back the wheels of history and recall those bygone years.
In 1842 came the Treaty of Nanking; in 1860, the Convention of Peking; in 1895, the Treaty of Shimonoseki; in 1900, the Boxer Protocol. Then, on September 18, 1931, the Mukden Incident; on July 7, 1937, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident; on December 13, 1937, the Nanjing Massacre; and finally, on August 15, 1945, Japan's unconditional surrender!
Those 103 years of history stained our homeland with the blood of countless patriots. Yet even so, the Chinese people never forgot the struggle to save our nation and preserve its existence. Wei Yuan first proposed learning the superior techniques of the barbarians to resist them; then came Liang Qichao's Young China; then revolutionary pioneer Li Dazhao became the first to spread Marxism in China. From that moment, the tide of socialism gradually swept across the country. Under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, we forged a strategic path of encircling the cities from the countryside, a political path of socialism with Chinese characteristics, and a Chinese solution for achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation!
Since 1840, the Chinese people have never forgotten the humiliation and oppression of the past, nor the devastation wrought by the great powers' invasion of China.
Even though China is now the world's second-largest economy, the Chinese people will never forget the immense efforts made by our forebears. I believe that, guided by the pioneers, China's youth will surely fulfill the historic mission of bringing about the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. They will surely achieve what Mr. Li Dazhao said: "Advance civilization for the world and create happiness for humankind. With a youthful self, build a youthful family, a youthful nation, a youthful people, a youthful humanity, a youthful Earth, a youthful universe, so that we may take joy in its boundless life." They will surely achieve what Mr. Liang Qichao said: "When the youth are independent, the nation is independent; when the youth surpass Europe, the nation surpasses Europe; when the youth stand proud upon the Earth, the nation stands proud upon the Earth!"
The youth of China, keep going!
China, keep going!
Before you continue