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War anniversary marked in revolutionary base Yan'an

Xinhua, September 2, 2015 Adjust font size:

More than 700 officials, students and war veterans gathered on Wednesday in Yan'an, a former revolutionary base in northwest China, to mark the 70th anniversary of victory against Japanese invaders.

They paid tribute at a war mausoleum and laid wreaths at the tombs of fallen soldiers including Ye Ting, commander of the New Fourth Army.

"Yan'an was the base camp for the battlefield behind enemy lines. It was the headquarters of the unified Chinese forces," said veteran Lyu Sheng.

In 1935, China's communist troops ended the military retreat known as the Long March near Shaanxi Province's Yan'an. From here, communist leaders including Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai gained public support and led their guerrilla force to victory over the Japanese invaders and the Kuomintang army.

Although far from the battlefront, Yan'an endured at least 17 Japanese air strikes, resulting in hundreds of deaths.

"More than 250,000 young people across Shaanxi, angered by Japanese invaders' brutality, departed for the battlefields," said Xu Xinrong, Party secretary of Yan'an.

"We should keep in mind the Yan'an spirit and cherish the peace hard won by our wartime heroes," he said. Endi