According to the New China News Agency (Xinhua), Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Dec. 26 that the Communist Party of China (CPC) will hold high the banner of Mao Zedong Thought “forever” in pursuing the Chinese nation's rejuvenation.

At a Beijing symposium commemorating the 120th anniversary of the birth of Mao Zedong, Xi hailed Mao and other members of the older generation of revolutionaries as “great figures” in fighting national and class oppression, as well as “standing at the wavefront of the positive tide in the Chinese nation and world.”

Xi also said Mao, the principal founder of the CPC, the Chinese People's Liberation Army and the People's Republic of China, was “a great proletarian revolutionary, strategist and theorist.”

“Revolutionary leaders are not gods, but human beings,” Xi said. “(We) cannot worship them like gods or refuse to allow people to point out and correct their errors just because they are great; neither can we totally repudiate them and erase their historical feats just because they made mistakes.”

“Socialism with Chinese characteristics does not just fall from the sky,” Xi said, adding that it was achieved through the toil and sacrifice of the Party and the people.

The Xinhua report stated the Dec. 26 symposium held “at the Great Hall of People was presided over by Liu Yunshan and attended by other leaders including Li Keqiang, Zhang Dejiang, Yu Zhengsheng, Wang Qishan and Zhang Gaoli. Before the symposium, the seven top leaders visited Mao's mausoleum in Tian'anmen Square, making three bows toward Mao's seated statue and paying their respects to the remains of Mao.”

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