Today marks the Chongyang Festival, or Double Ninth Festival on the Chinese lunar calendar, a day to pay respect to seniors. Venerating the elderly is a tradition inherited by the Chinese nation.
As the leader of the country, President Xi Jinping has been advocating the veneration of the elderly through his example. Xi does not only care for and respect his own parents, but also every elderly person he encounters.
During the outbreak of COVID-19, Xi stressed that "from the newborn baby to centenarian, we should give up no one." In Central China's Hubei, over 3,000 COVID-19 patients over 80 and seven centenarians were cured.
"As we respond proactively to an aging population, we will adopt policies and foster a social environment in which senior citizens are respected, cared for and live happily in their later years," Xi said at the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on October 18, 2017.