President Xi Jinping has recently encouraged a group of armed police officers who carry out patrol duties on one of China's busiest streets to always serve as the faithful guardian of the Communist Party of China and the people.
Xi, who is also general secretary of the CPC Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said he hopes the officers will uphold the Party's spirit and remain as "sentinels under the neon lamp" in the new era.
He made the remarks in a reply to a letter from members of the 10th Detachment of the Fourth Regiment under the People's Armed Police Force's Shanghai Corps.
The detachment's officers had written a letter to Xi to tell him about their thoughts after learning the Party's history, and the determination to fulfill Xi's instructions and honor their duties.
In his reply, Xi said he was delighted that the officers could keep and promote the glorious traditions of the "Good Eighth Company on Nanjing Road", and persist in propagating the Party's history and theories for over 20 years.
The "Good Eighth Company on Nanjing Road" is a decorated unit of the People's Liberation Army Ground Force. It was once a security unit under the PLA Shanghai Garrison and began to patrol Nanjing Road, one of the most popular shopping venues in Shanghai, in 1949. In 1963, the company was given the honorary title due to the soldiers' loyalty to the Party and their outstanding performance.
The 10th Detachment was founded in 1952. It took over patrol duties on Nanjing Road from the Eighth Company in 1982. The Eighth Company is now a special operations force and is still stationed in Shanghai.
Since 1998, officers from the 10th Detachment have joined voluntary narrators at the Site of the First National Congress of the CPC to spread knowledge about the Party's history on weekends and holidays. So far, they have given more than 76,000 narration sessions for about 4.5 million visitors, according to Xinhua News Agency.
Yang Zenan, the detachment's political instructor, said the venues in Shanghai have been functioning as vivid classrooms for armed police officers. Telling the Party's history to more people also helps the officers better learn from the past and boost their confidence in the Party and the country's future.
A 100-episode video program of the officers talking about the Party's history has also been launched online and has attracted millions of views.
