The People’s Liberation Army’s 71st Group Army opened the New Year with a politically framed classroom exercise that married local “red” historical resources to contemporary political education. Titled “Never-forgotten Reminiscence,” the lesson toured three curated themes—ideals and beliefs, Party character, and officer ethics—using historical review, staged reenactment and personal anecdote to highlight the virtues of Zhou Enlai.
Organizers presented Zhou as a moral exemplar, inviting soldiers to absorb his character and conduct as models for political fidelity, integrity and pragmatic work habits. The session aimed explicitly to cultivate “absolute loyalty” to the Party, to harden a work ethic focused on truth and results, and to shape a “clean and upright” image among officers and enlisted personnel.
Troops at the event revisited arduous revolutionary episodes and were prompted to internalize the slogan that “revolutionary ideals are higher than heaven,” a phrase invoked to sustain morale and purpose. Participants pledged to convert the emotional and ideological reinforcement of the classroom into concrete outcomes: submissive obedience to Party command, tighter discipline in training, and readiness on duty.
This kind of politically inflected training is routine in the PLA but remains politically significant at a time when the Chinese Communist Party continues to stress ideological reliability as the bedrock of military modernization. The use of red sites and historical iconography links contemporary personnel work to a lineage that validates the Party’s claim to lead both state and armed forces and reinforces messaging around ethical probity and anti-corruption.
For outside observers, the exercise signals priorities rather than new capabilities. Beijing is reiterating that political loyalty and moral discipline are prerequisites for the operational reforms and high-tech modernization projects underway across the PLA. The continuing emphasis on Party education matters because it shapes promotion criteria, unit cohesion and the boundaries of acceptable professional judgment within the force.
Seen against the wider backdrop of civil–military relations in China, the session is as much about domestic governance as military preparedness: it reassures a domestic audience of the Party’s control and instructs servicemen on their role as both defenders and exemplars of Party rule. Expect similar ceremonies to persist as instruments of political consolidation even as the PLA pursues doctrinal and technological change.