China held ceremonies to pay tribute to the Chinese People's Volunteers (CPV) martyrs on Friday as the country marked the 70th anniversary of the CPV army entering the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) in the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea.
Two simultaneous flower-basket-presenting ceremonies were held in northeastern Liaoning Province, from which the Chinese volunteer army crossed the border the Yalu River in 1950 for the Korean Peninsula to fight against the U.S.-led armed forces in a three-year war.
In Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, officials and veterans gathered at the CPV martyrs' cemetery, one of Shenyang's most famous landmarks, where 123 martyrs of the volunteer army, including heroes Huang Jiguang, Qiu Shaoyun, Sun Zhanyuan and Yang Liandi, are buried.
In Dandong, the largest city at China's border with the DPRK, a ceremony was held at the Museum of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. The museum was built in 1958.
Every spring during China's Qingming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day, representatives of the armed forces and civilians visit the cemetery and the museum to commemorate those who died in the war. The two sites are known as national patriotism education bases.
Read more:
Back to 38th parallel: A war never to forget
Timeline: China's War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea