Written by | Dong Xin
Halfway through this year, many foreign heads of state and government have come to Visit China.
Zheng Zhi (WeChat ID: upolitics) noted that some of these visiting foreign dignitaries will have such a trip:
Head to Beijing's Tiananmen Square and lay a wreath at the Monument to the People's Heroes.
Which heads of state visit China will have this itinerary? Is this an access routine?
Let's nag today.
<h1>This year, 9 dignitaries laid wreaths</h1>
According to the government knows (WeChat ID: upolitics) incomplete statistics, including,
King Tupou VI of Tonga, President Bia of Cameroon, President Geingob of Namibia, President Mnangagwa of Zimbabwe, President van der Beren of Austria, President Genebekov of Kyrgyzstan, President Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan, President Morales of Bolivia and Prime Minister Oli of Nepal.
They all laid wreaths at the Monument to the People's Heroes this year.
Lu Peixin, former director of the Protocol Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, once told Zheng Zhijun's friends that many countries have made visits to martyrs' tombs or martyrs' monuments a fixed arrangement for state visits.
△ On July 4, 2017, President Xi Jinping laid a wreath at the tomb of the Russian Unknown Soldier in Moscow
Since 1980, according to the wishes of foreign guests, our country has arranged for them to lay wreaths at the Monument to the People's Heroes. "If the other party proposes it, we will arrange it, and if the other party does not mention it, we will not take the initiative to arrange it." In Lu Peixin's impression, some foreign leaders specially proposed to lay a wreath for the Monument to the People's Heroes.
Wu Deguang, a former leading member of the Protocol Department, also wrote an article pointing out that the laying of wreaths or gurudwara at the monument is a tribute to the rebirth of the history of the people's struggle of the visited country and to the outstanding figures who have influenced the history of the country. In fact, it is also an expression of friendship to the people of the country being visited.
Wu Deguang said that in China, the ceremonial procedure for guests from all over the world to lay wreaths to the Monument to the People's Heroes is roughly as follows:
The salute soldiers were divided into two sides, the salute soldiers carried wreaths in front, and the state guests visiting China then marched, and in the mourning music specially composed by the People's Liberation Army Military Band, they slowly walked to the Monument to the People's Heroes to lay wreaths.
When the ceremonial soldier places the wreath in front of the monument, the main devotee can go forward to support it, or arrange the streamers on the wreath.
Then take a few steps back and salute solemnly. After the ceremony, you can sometimes go around the scene for a week.
<h1>Medvedev laid a wreath three times</h1>
Generally speaking, wreaths are laid at the Monument to the People's Heroes when foreign guests visit China for the first time or catch up with important festivals.
For example, in 2016, at the invitation of President Xi Jinping, President of the Republic of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko paid a state visit to China from September 28 to 30.
September 30 is China Martyrs' Memorial Day. That afternoon, Lukashenko went to Tiananmen Square to lay a wreath at the Monument to the People's Heroes.
△ Lukashenko laid a wreath
To add background.
On August 31, 2014, the Tenth Session of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress voted to adopt the Decision on Martyrs' Memorial Day (Draft), which legally designated September 30 as China Martyrs' Memorial Day and stipulated that the state would hold activities to commemorate martyrs on September 30 every year.
On the morning of September 30, 2016, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Liu Yunshan, Wang Qishan, Zhang Gaoli and others came to Beijing's Tiananmen Square to attend the ceremony of presenting flower baskets to the people's heroes on Martyrs' Day.
Some foreign guests have visited China many times and laid wreaths to the monument.
As mentioned earlier, President Nursultan Nazarbayev of Kazakhstan and President Morales of Bolivia.
On May 17, 2004, Nazarbayev laid a wreath at the monument during his state visit to China; on June 9, 2004, he laid a wreath at the Monument to the People's Heroes again.
On December 20, 2013, Morales laid a wreath at the monument; four and a half years later, on June 19 this year, he laid a wreath again at the Monument to the People's Heroes.
Zheng zhi (WeChat ID: upolitics) observed that the largest number of single tributes should be the current Russian Prime Minister Medvedev, who laid wreaths to the Monument to the People's Heroes three times in 2008 (then President of Russia), 2015 (then Prime Minister of Russia) and 2017 (then Prime Minister of Russia).
Go back a little further.
Russia's first president, Boris Yeltsin, also laid wreaths at the Monument to the People's Heroes twice, on December 17, 1992, and April 25, 1996.
△ In 1992, Yeltsin and his wife laid a wreath
<h1>Japan ranks first in the number of wreaths by foreign guests</h1>
More special is Japan.
Between 1982 and 1999, eight Japanese prime ministers laid wreaths at the Monument to the People's Heroes nine times, ranking first among world leaders.
Was it a bit of a surprise?
On September 27, 1982, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiyuki Suzuki and his wife went to Tiananmen Square to lay wreaths at the Monument to the People's Heroes. The white ribbon of the wreath reads: "The people's hero is immortal".
On March 24, 1984, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone went to Tiananmen Square to lay a wreath at the Monument to the People's Heroes, and the wreath ribbon read: "The People's Heroes are immortal."
On November 9, 1986, during his visit to China, Japanese Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone once again laid a wreath at the Monument to the People's Heroes.
On August 26, 1988, Japanese Prime Minister Noboru Takeshita, who was visiting China, went to Tiananmen Square to lay a wreath at the Monument to the People's Heroes, and the wreath on the ribbon read: "Chinese people's heroes are immortal."
On August 11, 1991, during his visit to China, Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaibe went to Tiananmen Square to lay a wreath at the Monument to the People's Heroes.
On March 21, 1994, Japanese Prime Minister Hosokawa Gouxi, who was visiting China, laid a wreath at the Monument to the People's Heroes
On May 3, 1995, Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama and his party laid a wreath at the Monument to the Heroes of the Chinese.
On September 5, 1997, Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto, who was visiting China, laid a wreath at the Monument to the People's Heroes
On July 9, 1999, Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and his wife, as well as some members of the Japanese delegation, bowed three times in front of the Monument to the People's Heroes in Tiananmen Square.
This has something to do with the background of the times.
In 1972, Sino-Japanese diplomatic relations returned to normal, and from the 1980s to the early 1990s, it was a "honeymoon period" in the history of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
On April 12, 1989, when then-Premier Li Peng visited Japan and met with Emperor Akihito, he talked about the unfortunate history between China and Japan, and the emperor apologized to China for the first time by expressing his regrets.
On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in 1995, then Japanese Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama also said in an interview with the People's Daily that he would like to express his heartfelt apology for the tremendous damage and suffering caused to the Chinese people due to China's colonial rule and aggression.
That was the first time that a Japanese prime minister had explicitly apologized for Japan's invasion of China.
In a 2009 interview with China Daily, former Japanese Prime Minister Toshiki Kaibe recalled his journey of laying wreaths at the Monument to the People's Heroes.
△ In 1999, Toshiki Kaibe (right) was in Xi'an
Toshiki Umibe said that although at that time, there were different opinions in Japan about his flower offering, he thought he should still go.
"Everyone has different positions, opinions, beliefs and feelings, and I hope that all people's souls will rest in peace and let such a very tragic thing not happen again."
<h1>Three times in the inscription</h1>
From 1980 to the present, there have been about 170 foreign politicians who have laid wreaths at the Monument to the People's Heroes, of which more than 60% are from Asian, African and Latin American countries, a few from Oceania countries, and others from European countries.
Most of the European countries that laid the wreaths were neutral in World War I and World War II, or had suffered from war.
Why?
Perhaps, this is related to the inscription of the Monument to the People's Heroes.
Construction began in 1952 and was completed in 1958, and the inscription was personally inscribed by then Premier Zhou Enlai.
The full text is as follows:
In the past three years, the people's heroes who sacrificed themselves in the People's War of Liberation and the People's Revolution will never die!
Over the past thirty years, the people's heroes who sacrificed their lives in the People's Liberation War and the People's Revolution will never die!
From this point on, back to the 1,840th year, in order to oppose internal and external enemies, to strive for national independence and the people's freedom and happiness, the people's heroes who sacrificed themselves in successive struggles will never die!
Come, go back to the high school history exam site with Zheng Zhi (WeChat ID: upolitics).
ask:
What do the three concepts of time refer to, namely "three years", "thirty years", and "eighteen hundred and forty years"?
answer:
The three concepts of time divide the course of the Chinese revolution into three stages.
"Three years ago" refers to the period of the Liberation War. In 1946, the Kuomintang army launched an attack on the Liberated Areas of the Central Plains, and a full-scale civil war broke out.
"Thirty years ago" refers to the period of the New Democratic Revolution. In 1919, the May Fourth Movement broke out, marking the beginning of the New Democratic Revolution.
"Eighteen hundred and forty years" refers to the Opium War of 1840, when China became a semi-colonial and semi-feudal country, which was the beginning of China's modern history and the beginning of China's aggression.
Information | Beijing Youth Daily, Global Times, China Daily, People's Daily, etc
Proofreading | Luo Jing