8 women CPC members awarded July 1 Medal

At the award ceremony of the July 1 Medal held on June 29 at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, eight women CPC members were conferred with medals, the Party's highest honor for outstanding Party members. One of them was honored posthumously. This is the first time the medal has been awarded.

Let's salute to these outstanding women CPC members:

Ma Maojie, admitted to the Party in June 1954, is former deputy manager of a clothing, shoe and hat company in Hefei, capital city of east China's Anhui province. Ma, a heroine who supported the front line of the War of Liberation (1946-1949), crossed the Yangtze River six times under a hail of bullets and successfully sent three People's Liberation Army units safely through despite being shot in her arm, when she was only 14. Never boasting about her deeds, she has always worked hard for the Party and the people in her ordinary post.

Wang Lanhua, admitted to the Party in November 1995, is Party branch secretary of a volunteers' team in Jinxing town, Wuzhong city, Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region. Wang led volunteers to organize more than 7,000 public welfare activities and to help residents solve their problems for more than 7,000 times and mediate over 600 civil disputes of various kinds. She was named a National March 8th Red-banner Pacesetter and national role model of ethnic unity and progress.

Zhang Guimei, admitted to the Party in April 1998, is Party branch secretary and principal of the Huaping Senior High School for Girls in Lijiang city, southwest China's Yunnan province. Zhang established Huaping Senior High School for Girls, the first free-of-charge girls' senior high school in China, in 2008. During the past 12 plus years, she has helped more than 1,800 impoverished girls receive education at the school and continue their study in universities and colleges. She was named a national model poverty fighter, a national excellent Party member and a national advanced worker.

Lin Dan, admitted to the Party in August 1985, is Party secretary of a community in Gulou district, Fuzhou city, southeast China's Fujian province. As an outstanding community worker, Lin has devoted herself to better serving the local residents for more than 40 years. She was named a national excellent Party member and a National March 8th Red-banner Pacesetter.

Zhoigar, admitted to the Party in July 1996, is a villager and part-time Vice-President of the Women's Federation of the Tibet autonomous region. Zhoigar has spent decades grazing herds at the border and patrolling thousands of square kilometers of the motherland. She hung the national flags along all the roads she has taken. She brought warmth to local villagers and guided them to follow the Party's leadership. She was named a National March 8th Red-banner Pacesetter and a Role Model of the Times.

Huang Wenxiu was admitted to the Party in June 2011. After graduating from Beijing Normal University with a master's degree, Huang put aside job opportunities in big cities and served as an official with the Publicity Department of the CPC Baise Municipal Committee. She was appointed as the first secretary of Baini village to help with poverty alleviation in March 2018. Since then, she had devoted herself to poverty relief work. Tragically, she died at 30 in an accident in mountain torrents in June 2019. She was posthumously named a national model poverty fighter, a national excellent Party member and a Role Model of the Times.

Huang Baomei, admitted to the Party in November 1952, was an excellent textile worker in New China. In order to realize the dream that all the Chinese people could wear fine clothes, Huang had worked hard and made extraordinary achievements at her ordinary post. She has participated in the construction of cotton spinning mills in many places around the country after retirement. She has given lectures to residents to spread the spirit of model workers and the fine traditions of the Party. She won the title of the National Model Worker twice.

Qu Duyi, admitted to the Party in August 1946, was the daughter of Qu Qiubai (1899-1935), a key leader of the CPC in its early days. She was arrested and imprisoned by the enemy in 1941, but never gave in. At the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China in 1949, Qu broadcast Chairman Mao Zedong's speech to the world in Russian.

As one of the first group of Chinese journalists stationed abroad, she helped establish Xinhua's Moscow Bureau where she served as the interpreter for Premier Zhou Enlai and Chinese delegations to the Soviet Union many times.

(Source: China Women's News/Translated and edited by Women of China)