Today we are all gathered here to celebrate Mr. Wu’s birthday. Recalling my thoughts two years ago when we celebrated Mr. Xu’s birthday, I said then that our reason for honoring him was by no means arbitrary. As a child, I used to dislike older people very much, because they seemed to look down upon the young. After all, who among the young is without fault? Yet if you made a mistake, they would be extremely harsh with you. Children and young people had absolutely no say in anything. Chinese youth suffered immensely under the yoke of feudal families and feudal society. But now the world has changed: young people have come to cherish their elders. Our esteemed elders—Mr. Wu, Mr. Lin, Mr. Xu, Mr. Dong, and Mr. Xie—are all highly regarded by the younger generation. Why has this shift occurred? Because these veteran comrades not only do not oppress the young; on the contrary, they wholeheartedly assist them. Their conduct serves as a model for youth, which is why young people hold them in such deep respect. Even outside the Party there are many elderly figures held in high esteem by the young—for example, Ma Xiangbo. When he reached a milestone age, our Communist Party sent him a congratulatory telegram, for he was a staunch advocate of both the War of Resistance and democratic politics.

People inevitably grow old. But what makes old age valuable? If mere old age were sufficient to confer worth, there would be far too many worthy individuals. Therefore, we must establish a clear criterion: what truly matters is a lifetime of doing good rather than evil, of acting for the benefit of the people rather than to their detriment. To begin one’s life with some good deeds only to turn to wrongdoing later signifies a lack of consistency. Performing a single act of kindness is not difficult; the real challenge lies in maintaining a lifelong commitment to goodness—continuously benefiting the broad masses, consistently supporting the youth, and steadfastly serving the revolutionary cause—enduring decades of arduous struggle with unwavering resolve. This, indeed, is the most formidable task of all. Comrade Wu Yuzhang is precisely such a person: for decades he has remained true to his principles. At sixty years of age, he has devoted forty years to the revolutionary cause, from his days in the Tongmenghui to the present. Despite enduring countless hardships and upheavals, he has never wavered—a remarkable feat. Few remain today who can trace their revolutionary journey back to the early days of the Tongmenghui, and still fewer have persevered throughout, unyielding in their revolutionary integrity. Achieving this requires not only a firm and correct political orientation but also a spirit of hard struggle; otherwise, one cannot withstand the myriad forces of oppression and adversity—threats of death, hunger, or the failure of the revolution, to name just a few. Comrade Wu Yuzhang has weathered countless such trials. It is for this very reason that we should learn from all his virtues, especially his unwavering dedication to the revolution.

(Excerpted from the Xin Zhonghua Daily, April 24, 1940)