The New China News Agency (Xinhua) is reporting that Xi Jinping, the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China, told a May 5 Beijing gathering to commemorate the bicentennial of Karl Marx’s birth that Marx is the “teacher of revolution for the proletariat and working people all over the world, the main founder of Marxism, creator of Marxist parties, a pathfinder for international communism and the greatest thinker of modern times.”

Xi told attendees, “Today, we hold this grand gathering with great veneration to mark the 200th anniversary of Marx's birth, to remember his great character and historic deeds and to review his noble spirit and brilliant thoughts.”

Xi also stated, “Marxism, for the first time, explored the path for humanity's freedom and liberation from the stance of the people, and pointed out the direction, with scientific theory, toward an ideal society with no oppression or exploitation, where every person would enjoy equality and freedom.”

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Distressed to learn of the passing away of Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro, I, in the name of the CPC, the Chinese government and people and in my own name, express my deepest condolences to you and through you to the Communist Party of Cuba, the Cuban government and people, and my sincerest sympathy to Fidel Castro's family.

Fidel Castro, founder of the Communist Party of Cuba and Cuba's socialist cause, is a great leader of the Cuban people. He has devoted all his life to Cuban people's great cause of struggling for national liberation, safeguarding state sovereignty and building socialism.

He has made immortal historic contributions to the Cuban people and to the world socialism development. Comrade Fidel Castro is a great figure of our times and will be remembered by history and people.

I met with Comrade Fidel Castro many times and held in-depth conversations with him. His real knowledge and deep insight inspired me as his voice and expression live in my memory. Both I and the Chinese people miss him deeply.

Comrade Fidel Castro, who dedicated his life to the friendship between China and Cuba, paid close attention to and spoke highly of China's development.

As a result of his care and support, Cuba became the first Latin American country to establish diplomatic ties with China in 1960. Since then, the two countries have witnessed profound development of bilateral ties, fruitful results of cooperation in a wide range of areas and deepening friendship between the two peoples, thanks to Comrade Fidel Castro's solicitude and painstaking efforts.

The death of Comrade Fidel Castro is a great loss to the Cuban and Latin American people. The Cuban and Latin American people lost an excellent son, and the Chinese people lost a close comrade and sincere friend. His glorious image and great achievements will go down in history.

I believe that under the strong leadership of Comrade Raul Castro, the Communist Party of Cuba, the Cuban government and its people will carry on the unfinished lifework of Comrade Fidel Castro, turn sorrow into strength and keep making new achievements in the cause of socialist construction.

The friendship between two parties, the two countries and the two peoples will definitely be consolidated and further developed.

The great Comrade Fidel Castro will be forever remembered.

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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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“History is the best textbook,” he said, calling it a “compulsory course” for senior officials to review the experience over the past 92 years of the CPC – and since the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 – in a bid to further the country's development along the socialist path.

“In a bid to develop socialism with Chinese characteristics, the Party must follow its own path, conform to the trends of the whole world, represent the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of Chinese people, strengthen Party construction and consolidate confidence in socialism with Chinese characteristics,” he said.

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