Xi urges hard work to build strong China as CPC marks 120th birth anniversary of veteran leader Chen Yun

President Xi Jinping on Friday called for learning from veteran leader Chen Yun and carrying forward his legacy with an enterprising spirit and hard work to build China into a strong country. 

Xi, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at a meeting held in the Great Hall of the People to mark the 120th anniversary of Chen's birth.

Chen, born in 1905, joined the Party in 1925. He was recognized as a great proletarian revolutionary and statesman, and as one of the founding figures of the country's socialist economy. He was a key member of both the Party's first generation of central collective leadership with Mao Zedong at the core and the second generation of central collective leadership with Deng Xiaoping at the core, according to Xi.