More than 300 descendants of old revolutionaries of the People's Republic of China gathered recently in Beijing to commemorate the 120th anniversary of the birth of Mao Zedong, amid a series of activities being held across the country.

Daughters of Mao Zedong, Li Min and Li Ne; son of Marshal Luo Ronghuan, Luo Dongjin; and niece of Zhou Enlai, Zhou Bingde, took part in the memorial convention among others.

"Our generation grew up reading Chairman Mao's books and listening to his instructions. Mao Zedong Thought has become our fundamental work principles," said Su Xisheng, vice president of the China Yan'an Spirit Research Society, at the convention.

"When sitting beside Chairman Mao and other first generation leaders, I felt their charisma. They were the real proletarian revolutionaries," Wang Huaizu, who used to be a Spanish translator for Mao, said at the convention.

The convention is among various commemorative activities across the country. A 10,000-person chorus of patriotic songs and a long distance run will be held in Shaoshan, Hunan Province, the birthplace of Mao, reported the Hunan Daily.

Large-scale galas, research seminars and reciting activity of Mao's poems will also take place for the commemoration.

"All the memorial ceremonies show us that his thoughts are still closely related with people's interests. Many people nowadays are not satisfied with social morality, like corruption and inequality. People cherish the time of Mao when people lived equally and were proud of the country," Sima Nan, a renowned Maoist scholar, told the Global Times.

"The current public policies actually still lead to the direction of market economy," Huang Weiping, director of the Contemporary Chinese Politics Research Institute at Shenzhen University, told the Global Times earlier, adding that it is not essentially a clash as Mao's thoughts can help ease social conflicts and prevent ideological disputes while economic reforms are deepened."

Global Times