Day to cherish at start of new journey

Xi Jinping, general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, stands at the Tian'anmen Rostrum in Beijing for the grand ceremony marking the centenary of the CPC, where he delivered an important speech on Thursday morning. LI XUEREN/XINHUA

CPC 'was chosen by history and the people', Xi says at grand gathering in Beijing celebrating centenary of Party's founding

China's national rejuvenation has become a historical inevitability, and the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people will walk along the path of their own choice to ensure the nation's destiny remains firmly in their own hands, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping said on Thursday.

Xi, who is also China's president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, made the remarks at a grand gathering in Beijing in celebration of the centenary of the Party's founding.

Speaking from the Tian'anmen Rostrum, where Mao Zedong announced the founding of the People's Republic of China on Oct 1, 1949, Xi announced that China has accomplished the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects, the first centenary goal the nation has set for its long-term development.

"This means that we have brought about a historic resolution to the problem of absolute poverty in China, and we are now marching in confident strides toward the second centenary goal of building China into a great modern socialist country in all respects," Xi said.