Chen Hongjun photo:ecnsphotos

Chinese netizens paid special tribute to three fallen heroes who were awarded posthumously the July 1 Medal in Beijing Tuesday after the event saw other 26 outstanding Communist Party of China (CPC) members were given the award in person.

A total of 29 CPC members who have made "outstanding contributions to the Party and the people" received the honor, with three posthumously. 

As Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, conferred the July 1 Medal, the highest honor in the CPC, to outstanding Party members one by one for the first time,  some netizens said they shed tears over the three recipients who lost their lives – Chen Hongjun, Huang Wenxiu and Chai Yunzhen.

Even though they have passed away and could not come to the Great Hall of the People to receive their awards in person, the achievements that the three made will always be remembered and their spirit will be inherited by the Chinese people, a netizen said on Twitter-like Weibo.

Chen Hongjun was a border solider who served in the plateau for 10 years and died safeguarding China’s territorial integrity against the provocation by Indian troops in the Galwan Valley in June 2020. 

Video footage of his heroic behavior in the border standoff with Indian soldiers re-circulated on Chinese social media on Tuesday, with many netizens paying their respects to the hero who lost his life while defending the country. 

Huang Wenxiu photo:ecnsphotos

Chai Yunzhen photo:ecnsphotos

Another of the deceased award recipients, Huang Wenxiu, dedicated her life to poverty alleviation. In March 2018, she volunteered to serve as the first Party secretary of Baini Village in Baise, South China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, helping 418 people shake off poverty. On June 17, 2019, Huang died in a flash flood at the age of just 30. 

Chai Yunzhen was a war hero who fought in the War of Liberation (1946 -49) and the War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea (1950 -53). He joined the CPC in 1949 and died in 2018. 

Su Wei, a professor at the Party School of the CPC Chongqing Municipal Committee, told the Global Times on Tuesday that the spirit of the three heroes illuminates the spirit of the Party. 

Their spirit of striving bravely and not being afraid to lay down their lives to defend the Party and the country will continue to support China’s development route toward the second centenary goal of fully building a modern socialist country, as well as the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation, Su said.