China Marks 13th Martyrs Day at Tiananmen Square
Chinese President Xi Jinping and other top Party and state leaders laid floral baskets before the Monument to the People’s Heroes at Tiananmen Square on Wednesday morning, observing the nation’s 13th Martyrs Day in a solemn ceremony honoring those who died for the country. The annual event, held one day before National Day, carries added weight this year as China marks the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and the 90th anniversary of the Red Army’s Long March victory, according to Xinhua News.
A Ceremony Steeped in Ritual
The event began shortly before 10 a.m. as military band trumpeters sounded the commemoration call across the square. An honor guard marched to the monument and stood at attention, and the national anthem was played before attendees observed a moment of silence for the fallen. Children holding flowers then sang the Young Pioneers song and delivered the Young Pioneers salute.
Nine large floral baskets were arranged in a row, laid in the name of the CPC Central Committee, the NPC Standing Committee, the State Council, the CPPCC National Committee, the Central Military Commission, democratic parties and non-party patriots, people’s organizations and all sectors of society, veteran soldiers and martyrs’ relatives, and the Chinese Young Pioneers. The red ribbons on the baskets bore the inscription “The People’s Heroes Are Immortal,” Xinhua reported.
Eighteen honor guards carried the baskets to the monument’s base. Xi stepped forward to carefully arrange the ribbons, after which the leaders walked around the monument to pay their respects. The ceremony was presided over by Yin Li, a Politburo member and Beijing Party Secretary.
Among those attending were Premier Li Qiang; Zhao Leji, Chairman of the NPC Standing Committee; Wang Huning, Chairman of the CPPCC National Committee; Cai Qi and Ding Xuexiang of the Politburo Standing Committee; Li Xi, Secretary of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection; and Vice President Han Zheng.
Why September 30 Matters
Martyrs Day was designated by the National People’s Congress in 2014 and is observed annually on September 30. The date was chosen because September 30, 1949 — one day before the founding of the People’s Republic — was the day the Monument to the People’s Heroes was founded at Tiananmen Square.
The observance commemorates the roughly 20 million martyrs who have died for the nation since the mid-19th century, according to official statistics — of whom fewer than one-tenth have left recorded names. In a feature article published by Xinhua, reporters recalled the monument’s inscription, which honors those who fell in the People’s Liberation War, the People’s Revolution, and, tracing back to 1840, in struggles “to oppose internal and external enemies, for national independence and the freedom and happiness of the people.”
Xi has repeatedly emphasized the importance of remembrance. “For all those who gave their precious lives for the country, the nation and peace, no matter how the times change, we must always remember their sacrifice and dedication,” he was quoted as saying in the Xinhua feature.
A Year of Anniversaries
The 2026 observance reflects a broader push to promote revolutionary heritage. State media highlighted several related developments: the enactment of the Heroes and Martyrs Protection Law, expanded memorial facilities and “red education” bases, and the April repatriation of the 13th batch of remains of Chinese People’s Volunteers soldiers killed in the Korean War. Twelve sets of remains were interred at the Shenyang Korean War Martyrs’ Cemetery, bringing the total repatriated since 2014 to 1,023.
Research also continues into unidentified war dead. A team at Fudan University using archaeological methods reconstructed the lives of 49 martyrs from the War of Resistance, finding an average age of just 20.5 — many of them minors — in a project aimed at eventually restoring names to the unidentified.
Symbolism was reinforced just weeks before the ceremony when, on September 6, the first direct high-speed rail line (G3998) linking Ruijin — the starting point of the Long March — and Yan’an, its endpoint, began operation, per the official People’s Daily feature.
A State-Orchestrated Message
The ceremony is a highly stage-managed state event, and domestic coverage from Xinhua, People’s Daily and CCTV was uniform in language and framing, with outlets republishing the Xinhua wire text. International and Chinese-diaspora coverage, including from Hong Kong’s Sing Tao, was largely derivative of CCTV footage. No dissenting or critical coverage was identified — an expected pattern for ceremonial events of this kind.
CCTV carried live video of the proceedings, with a report distributed via Guangming Online.
The timing is deliberate: the ceremony falls on the eve of the 77th National Day on October 1, and a giant “Bless the Motherland” flower basket has stood in Tiananmen Square since September 25. In the Xinhua feature, the writers framed the occasion against China’s stated national goals, invoking the Long March as a metaphor for present-day challenges and closing with a line of tribute to the fallen: “This prosperous age is as you wished.”
What to Watch
As the ceremony concluded, attention now shifts to Thursday’s National Day observances, which typically include a flag-raising event and official statements from the leadership. Beyond the immediate holiday, the anniversaries invoked this year — 105 years of the Party and 90 years since the Long March’s end — are likely to shape messaging and official campaigns through the remainder of 2026, reinforcing themes of sacrifice, continuity and national rejuvenation ahead of the Party’s next major political milestones.