In Henan province, public flows to martyrs

Ren Quansheng, 77, from Beijing, visited the grave of his mother at the Eyuwan martyrs' cemetery in Xinxian county of Xinyang, Henan province, on Thursday.

The county is his mother's hometown. As members of the Red Army, his parents had died supporting the revolution of the Communist Party of China.

The Eyuwan area, which comprises parts of Hubei, Henan and Anhui provinces, was the second-largest base of the Red Army in central China during the War of Liberation (1946-49).

During the war, about 55,000 of the 100,000 residents of the county died participating in the revolution. That means almost every family has a martyr. The average age of those who died was 28, said Li Zicheng, a docent at the cemetery.

Ren said he wanted to visit the place where his parents once lived and fought against imperialism and feudalism.

"I visited Xinxian five times — as early as 1986. And I found the color red does not fade a bit over the decades. Locals sacrificed themselves to support the CPC during the war and other difficult times, " he said.