Students from a Red Army primary school visited the former residence of a veteran revolutionary to explore its exhibitions and listen to lectures in Kunming, Southwest China’s Yunnan Province, over the recent May Day holiday as part of their red education. 

Activities such as this are just one of the lessons students at this school and others like it will take part in. The first Red Army primary school in Kunming, the Zhu De Primary School of Chinese Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army is named after the former commander-in-chief Zhu De, one of the great men of the Chinese revolution, and is part of the national China Red Army Primary School program started in 2007. 

Jointly advocated and initiated by the veteran generation of revolutionaries with the mission of passing down the great deeds of previous revolutionaries from generation to generation, the Red Army Primary School program aims to build a cradle for younger generations to inherit the red gene and to remember the great founding spirit that established inspirational principles for Chinese communists. 

According to the national primary school list released by the National Red Army Primary School Construction Engineering Council, 400 Red Army primary schools have been built across the country, covering 29 provinces and municipalities as of October 2021. 

The schools are usually established in historical revolutionary areas such as Jinggangshan, Yan’an, Yimeng Mountain and Jinzhai. Names for school mainly cover major events or heroic figures from China's various revolutionary periods.

In addition to basic compulsory education courses, these schools focus on revolutionary education through activities such as singing revolutionary songs, visiting historical sites and learning about the achievements of their predecessors. 

For example in East China’s Jiangsu Province, the Zhou Enlai Primary School, named after the first Premier of the People’s Republic of China, is the largest school in the program. The school conducts red education by holding activities at the Zhou Enlai Memorial Hall and his former residence in Huaian, Jiangsu. 

Named after the founding father Zhu De, one of the main founders of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, Zhu De primary school was built in 2020.

Global Times