A little girl takes picture of a statue at revolutionary base at Yezizhai village in Qionghai, South China's Hainan Province, on Sunday. The base is welcoming groups of members of the Communist Party of China, who come to reminiscence about revolutionary martyrs and review their own oaths taken when joining the Party.

The central government has required counties and lower administrative division to focus on renovation of heroes and martyrs memorial facilities, and vigorously enhance the facilities' function on patriotism education.

The notice, jointly issued by the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, suggests that the renovation should be done in accordance with the principle of "relocation as far as possible, centralized management and care" and fundamentally improve the overall status of the facilities at the county level and below, state media Xinhua News Agency reported on Monday.

These memorial facilities are important resources, living CPC history learning and education materials, and a valuable spiritual wealth, said the notice, requiring strict project management and supervision and review.

At the same time, the central government requires the grassroots in the refurbishment of these facilities to avoid exaggerated construction and blind refurbishment. Local governments will be publicly reported if the refurbishment target is not achieved or if they fail the project review. Local governments that do not use the central financial assistance funds as required will be seriously accountable.

They are also required to establish a long-term management and care mechanism for the memorial facilities. To implement the renovation project as an opportunity to coordinate the protection of martyrs' memorial facilities and grassroots veterans' service centers to achieve the unity of standardized renovation and effective management, and to carry out inspection and cleaning, maintenance and sacrifices, historical material collection and martyrs' family tracing work.

In recent years, China has increasingly emphasized the importance of refurbishing martyrs memorial facilities and maintaining their reputation. A total of 22 clauses, including those on defaming martyrs, attacking the police and disturbing the operation of public transportation, were added to the Criminal Law in a supplementary regulation. These clauses came into effect on March 1, showing China's efforts to protect heroes and martyrs' reputation, and crack down on online humiliation or insults against them.

In July, a travel blogger who posed in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region next to the tombstone of Chinese martyrs who died in the Galwan Valley border clash had his account shut down on Chinese social media for "showing no respect" to the heroes. The procuratorate organ in Xinjiang contacted the tourism department and suggested that the blogger be put on a travel blacklist.

The local prosecutorial organ has joined the local military to strengthen management of the Kangxiwa Martyrs Cemetery and prevent similar activities against the martyrs.

Chinese analysts said the high-profile commemoration of the heroes and martyrs shows that the public support the military to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity. The Chinese government also hopes the public will understand that stability and prosperity of the country, even in an era of peace, comes at a cost, sometimes even the lives of soldiers.  

Global Times