Not long ago, 85-year-old agronomist Zhao Yafu was seen strolling through the rice paddies in east China’s Jiangsu Province, checking on the crop’s growth. Even at his age, he still spends about two-thirds of the year in the fields, moving between experimental plots and rural villages.
More a field researcher than a ceremonial guest, Zhao stepped into Beijing’s Great Hall of the People this week as the Communist Party of China (CPC) marked its 105th founding anniversary.
Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, on Wednesday presented the July 1 Medal, the Party’s highest honor, to model Party members recognized for decades of service. Zhao was among them.
When Xi, also Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, greeted him, the exchange between the two was quite brief. “How is your health?” Xi asked. “Very well. Thank you, general secretary,” Zhao replied, who was visibly moved.
Xi had met Zhao during a 2014 inspection tour in Jiangsu, praising his dedication to agriculture and emphasizing that rural development requires more people like him devoted to farmers and the land.
For Zhao, the honor did not feel like a conclusion. “A CPC member is, above all, someone who serves the people wholeheartedly,” he said. “As long as I am physically able, I will keep learning, working and serving farmers for as long as I live.”
This was the second time Xi had conferred the July 1 Medal, first presented in 2021 when the CPC marked its centenary. Eight Party members were honored this year, including one posthumously. The medal is generally awarded every five years to mark major anniversaries of the Party’s founding.
Xi has placed strong emphasis on the role of model figures, once saying that China’s cause is advanced by heroes and exemplary individuals who serve as its backbone.
The Party called on its members to learn from the July 1 Medal recipients as China advances toward its goal of basically achieving socialist modernization by 2035.
“On the new journey, all CPC members should strengthen their confidence, work with sustained effort, and create new achievements that meet the expectations of the times and the people,” Xi said at Wednesday’s gathering.
Dressed in a red suit, Wu Yaqin strode to the podium to deliver remarks on behalf of this year’s July 1 Medal recipients.
The 66-year-old community worker from Changchun in northeast China’s Jilin Province has spent three decades serving residents in a neighborhood built in the 1980s. A former enterprise employee, she has mediated more than 1,000 disputes, earning residents’ trust through years of tireless grassroots service.
In July 2020, Xi inspected the community, where he was briefed by Wu. She still vividly remembers him commending her dedication and passion as “like a blazing fire” and encouraging her to keep up the good work.
“I am fully aware that I am not the only one who lit the flame,” Wu said. “It is the Party’s cultivation, the trust of the organization, and the support of the residents that have kept this flame of public service burning ever brighter.”
Some of the ceremony’s most touching moments unfolded when two elderly recipients were wheeled onto the stage, and in a gesture of deep respect and sincere warmth, Xi bent down to shake their hands.
One of them was Wang Yuchang, a 90-year-old veteran. After an illustrious military career, Wang retired to his hometown in east China’s Anhui Province and has since lived quietly as a cloth salesman, keeping his military award certificates locked away for decades.
Xi extended the same warm gesture to Zhong Jue, a professor at the College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering at Central South University and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
The 90-year-old is known for her modest lifestyle. Yet in metallurgy research, she has led her team to stellar breakthroughs in critical components for major national projects. “We are no less capable than anyone, and we can do even better,” she said.
Four other recipients were recognized for decades of dedicated service in grassroots mediation, rural areas, and key technical fields.
Ma Shanxiang, a community mediator from Chongqing in southwest China, has spent more than three decades helping resolve neighborhood issues and disputes.
Li Liancheng, the Party chief of a village in central China’s Henan Province, has led efforts over three decades to transform a once barren, saline-alkali land along the Yellow River into a more prosperous rural community.
In northwest China’s Xinjiang, doctor Uhas Sulayman has spent decades providing door-to-door medical care to herders, often making grueling trips with merely a medicine box strapped to his back.
Chen Junwu, a leading expert in petroleum refining engineering, dedicated a lifetime to advancing China’s refining and coal-to-chemicals capabilities. He passed away in May 2024.
The July 1 Medal is part of China’s broader system of state and Party honors, which also includes the Medal of the Republic, the country’s highest state honor; the August 1 Medal, the military’s highest award; the Friendship Medal for foreign nationals; and national honorary titles recognizing distinguished contributions across a wide range of fields.
Recipients of the Medal of the Republic include deceased nuclear physicist Yu Min and “father of hybrid rice” Yuan Longping.
Beyond conferring medals and honorary titles, China has established systems to ensure that recipients receive recognition and support in both their professional and daily lives.
The honor system is also designed to inspire action at the grassroots level.
Wang Yingying, a community worker in Shanghai, said she was inspired by the model recipients and aims to follow their example by addressing residents’ concerns, improving services, and fulfilling the responsibilities of a Party member through practical action.
https://english.news.cn/20260704/4247dab89386400bbcb7b703556bd41b/c.html