This Thursday, the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro Moros, paid tribute with a wreath to the Monument of the People’s Heroes, located at the southern end of Tiananmen Square in Beijing, north of the Mausoleum of Mao Zedong.
This tribute is part of the historic visit made by the Venezuelan Head of State to the People’s Republic of China.
“We went to pay tribute with a lot of feeling and solemnity, we went to pay tribute to the heroes who were able to resist the attacks of fascism, colonialism and imperialism, who put their blood and their lives ahead to open the way for the People’s Republic of China. We pay tribute to the Great Helmsman Mao Zedong,” said the Dignitary.
This national monument is a ten-story obelisk, built in memory of the martyrs who gave their lives for the revolutionary struggle of the people of this nation during the 19th and 20th centuries.
The Chinese Government began its construction process from August 1952 to May 1958, after approving a resolution of the First Plenary Session of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, on November 30, 1949.
The obelisk is about 38 meters high, weighs more than 10,000 tons and contains 17,000 pieces of marble and granite.
On the pedestal are eight enormous bas-reliefs carved in white marble, depicting scenes ranging from the First Opium War in 1840 to the founding of New China in 1949.
On the front of the monument there is an inscription in Mao Zedong’s handwriting that reads “Eternal glory to the people’s heroes.”
With this monument, China pays tribute to the martyrs in the struggle for national independence, freedom and well-being of the Chinese people, as well as those who since 1840 have sacrificed their lives in the fight against the country’s domestic and foreign enemies.
