A nation in the absence of hero worship is one with no hope, and an army wanting in hero worship stands little chance of fulfilling its missions. Given that fighting spirit is considered a kind of intrinsic mental strength forged by crystallizing and distilling such mental factors as ideal, faith, will, style of work and moral integrity, then revolutionary heroism is the essential property and concentrated reflection of fighting spirit, and likewise the fine tradition and precious spirit wealth of the PLA. In order to nurture and build up the fighting spirit of the officers and men, and see to it that they can do a better job in shouldering the historical mission of our army in the new century and new period, promoting revolutionary heroism should be the first job to do.

　　Heroism is an indispensable gene of mankind's civilization development, while revolutionary heroism is the maximum expression of a soldier's value. The fighting course of almost 80 years of the PLA is itself a splendid epic of revolutionary heroism. Different historical periods and different fields witnessed the army giving birth to and shaping up the spirits with revolutionary heroism as the essential connotation. For example, the Jinggangshan Spirit, the Long March Spirit, the Yan'an Spirit, the Sanggamyong Spirit, the Old Tibet Spirit, the "Two Bombs and One Satellite" Spirit, the Manned Space Flight Spirit, and what have you, which not only have formed the soul of the PLA, but also have impacted and spurred on the whole Chinese nation.

　　Under the new historic situation, the army is required to make greater efforts in giving full scope to the spirit of revolutionary heroism if it is going to effectively execute the missions entrusted by the CPC and the people, and to boost a quicker and better development of the national defense and the army building. Only when the army is imbued with such spirit of revolutionary heroism as the one fond in the contemporary heroes like Yang Yegong, Ding Xiaobing, and others, can we be sure that this people's army still retains the true political color after going through a long period of peace and is capable to provide major strength guarantee for the Party to entrench its ruling position, offer solid security support to safeguarding the vital strategic opportunity for the nation's development, render powerful strategic support for upholding the country's interests, and play an important role in maintaining the world peace and promoting common development.

　　By Wang Xingsheng and Wu Kaisheng

　　(May.11, PLA Daily)