Translated by Claude, edited by Sinocism.com

Source: People's Daily | Byline: CPC Party Leadership Group of Xinhua News Agency 中共新华社党组 | July 21, 2026

On July 21, People's Daily published an article by the CPC Party Leadership Group of Xinhua News Agency, "Be Forever Members of the 'Fourth Brigade.'"

《人民日报》7月21日刊发中共新华社党组文章《做永远的"四大队"队员》。

On the occasion of the 105th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China, General Secretary Xi Jinping wrote a reply letter to Comrade Zhang Liansheng, a veteran Party member of Xinhua, praising his sincere and profound feeling of belief in and love for the Party, expressing his care and concern for Zhang and for veteran Party members and comrades across the country, and setting out earnest hopes for Communists in the new era. The reply carries great weight in every word and is full of genuine feeling — stirring the heart and spurring people onward — and it provides ideological guidance and injects powerful momentum for us to better fulfill our duties and responsibilities in the new era.

在中国共产党成立105周年之际，习近平总书记给新华社老党员张连生同志回信，褒扬他真挚深厚的信党爱党之情，表达了对他和全国的老党员、老同志的关心关怀，对新时代共产党人提出殷切期望。回信字字千钧、满怀真情，激荡人心、催人奋进，为我们在新时代更好履职尽责提供了思想引领、注入了强大动力。

Comrade Zhang Liansheng is a retired cadre of Xinhua, now 102 years old, who joined the Communist Party of China in 1942. During the War of Liberation he was a radio operator in the "Fourth Brigade" of the Central Column, which followed the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao in the fighting withdrawal across northern Shaanxi, responsible for communications and liaison work. In his centenarian years he wrote to General Secretary Xi Jinping, recalling his experience of taking part in the revolution — especially his radio-operator work in the "Fourth Brigade" — expressing his pride as a member of the Xinhua family in being a "revolutionary" and "a person of the Party," and voicing his firm resolve to follow the Party forever and be a member of the "Fourth Brigade" forever. Between the lines, the letter brims with boundless loyalty to the Party, ardent devotion to the journalistic cause, and heartfelt support for General Secretary Xi Jinping and the Party Central Committee. This letter is not only the heartfelt words of a veteran Xinhua Party member; it is also a vivid epitome of how generation after generation of Xinhua people, represented by Comrade Zhang Liansheng, have held high the Party's banner, heeded the Party's words, and followed the Party. It fully embodies Xinhua's political character of always integrating loyalty to the Party into its bloodstream and rooting it in its soul, and it bears out Xinhua's fine tradition of passing on its red genes generation after generation and holding ever more firmly to its founding aspiration and mission.

张连生同志是新华社的离休干部，今年102岁，1942年加入中国共产党，是解放战争时期新华社跟随党中央和毛主席转战陕北的中央纵队"四大队"报务员，负责通讯联络工作。他在期颐之年致信习近平总书记，回忆了自己参加革命特别是在"四大队"做报务工作的经历，抒发了自己作为新华人是"革命人""党的人"的骄傲之情，表达了永远跟党走、做永远的"四大队"队员的坚定决心。信件字里行间洋溢着对党的无限忠诚、对新闻事业的炽热情怀、对习近平总书记和党中央的衷心拥护。这封信不仅是一位新华社老党员的肺腑之言，更是以张连生同志为代表的一代代新华人举党旗、听党话、跟党走的生动缩影，充分体现了新华社始终将对党忠诚融入血脉、植于灵魂的政治本色，也印证了新华社红色基因代代相传、初心使命历久弥坚的优良传统。

All Xinhua people cherish this honor all the more, studying, propagating, and implementing the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's reply in depth, earnestly unifying their thinking and actions with the General Secretary's care and requirements, deeply grasping the decisive significance of the "Two Establishes" and resolutely achieving the "Two Upholds," being absolutely loyal to the Party, holding to loyalty and humility, staying true to their position and devoted to their mission, being members of the "Fourth Brigade" forever, and resolutely serving as the mouthpiece, eyes and ears, and advisers and assistants of the Party Central Committee.

全体新华人倍加珍惜这份荣誉，深入学习宣传贯彻习近平总书记回信精神，切实把思想和行动统一到习近平总书记的关怀与要求上来，深刻领悟"两个确立"的决定性意义、坚决做到"两个维护"，对党绝对忠诚，抱忠履谦、正位凝命，做永远的"四大队"队员，坚决当好党中央的喉舌耳目和参谋助手。

Believe in and Love the Party: Forever Raise High the Spiritual Banner of the "Fourth Brigade"

信党爱党，永远高扬"四大队"精神旗帜

In his reply, General Secretary Xi Jinping fully affirmed that Comrade Zhang Liansheng, as a radio operator of the Central Column's "Fourth Brigade," "followed the Party Central Committee in the fighting withdrawal across northern Shaanxi amid the smoke of battle." On what Zhang wrote in his letter — "to follow the Party forever and be a member of the 'Fourth Brigade' forever" — the General Secretary specifically commented that "this is imbued with sincere and profound feeling of belief in and love for the Party."

习近平总书记在回信中，充分肯定张连生同志作为中央纵队"四大队"报务员，"在烽火硝烟中跟随党中央转战陕北"。对张连生同志在信中写的"要永远跟党走，做永远的'四大队'队员"，习近平总书记专门评价说，"这饱含着真挚深厚的信党爱党之情"。

The "Fourth Brigade" is a particularly brilliant chapter in Xinhua's 95-year glorious history. In March 1947, to counter the offensive of the Kuomintang army, the Party Central Committee decided to withdraw from Yan'an of its own accord. The 800 personnel of the CPC Central Committee organs, the People's Liberation Army headquarters, and the guard units who remained in northern Shaanxi were organized into a Central Column under military structure, comprising four brigades, of which the fourth was the Xinhua work team, code-named the "Fourth Brigade." The "Fourth Brigade" was led by Fan Changjiang, then deputy editor-in-chief of Xinhua, and followed the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao in the fighting withdrawal across northern Shaanxi, responsible for news communications and liaison. Over the course of more than a year, wherever the Party Central Committee went, the "Fourth Brigade" followed, marching more than 2,000 li, and — under the direct leadership of the Party Central Committee and Chairman Mao — propagated the Party's positions and spread the Party's voice. Comrades such as Zhang Liansheng were both the Party's journalists and revolutionary fighters, wielding a pen in one hand and a gun in the other, enduring test after test in extremely harsh conditions where there were "enemy planes overhead" and "pursuing troops behind," and making important contributions to the Party Central Committee's ability to "know all that happened under heaven" from within the mountain gullies and to advancing the course of revolutionary victory. Chairman Mao once remarked: "The Central Committee remained in northern Shaanxi and commanded the revolutionary struggle across the country by relying on two lines, the civil and the military. The military line commanded the fighting through the radio; the civil line guided public opinion through Xinhua." (remark attributed to Mao Zedong)

"四大队"是新华社95年光辉历史中尤为璀璨的篇章。1947年3月，为应对国民党军队进攻，党中央决定主动撤出延安，留在陕北的中共中央机关、解放军总部的工作人员以及警卫部队共800人，按军事编制组成中央纵队，下辖4个大队，其中第四大队为新华社工作队，代号"四大队"。"四大队"由时任新华社副总编辑范长江率领，跟随党中央和毛主席转战陕北，负责新闻通讯联络。在一年多的时间里，党中央走到哪里，"四大队"就跟到哪里，行军2000余里，在党中央和毛主席的直接领导下，宣传党的主张、传播党的声音。张连生等同志既是党的新闻工作者，也是革命战士，一手执笔、一手拿枪，在"头顶有敌人的飞机""身后有追兵"这样极端艰苦的环境中经受重重考验，为党中央在山沟沟里"尽知天下事"、推进革命胜利进程作出了重要贡献。毛主席曾评价说："中央留在陕北靠文武两条线指挥全国的革命斗争。武的一条线是通过电台指挥打仗，文的一条线是通过新华社指导舆论。"

The spiritual qualities of the "Fourth Brigade" are concentrated in believing in and loving the Party, absolute loyalty, following the Party Central Committee, and striving and dedication. Believing in and loving the Party means always holding firm to one's ideals and convictions, remaining unswervingly devoted to faith in the Party, and wholeheartedly loving the Party's cause. Absolute loyalty means always maintaining toward the Party Central Committee and the Party's leader a loyalty integrated into one's bloodstream, support from within, and unhesitating alignment — at every moment taking the Party's banner as one's banner, the Party's will as one's will, and the Party's mission as one's mission. Following the Party Central Committee means always standing by the side of the Party Central Committee, obeying its commands, and advancing in the direction pointed out by the Party Central Committee and the Party's leader. Striving and dedication means being willing to struggle and give for the Party's cause, daring to fight and sacrifice for it, being able to withstand loneliness, keep one's composure, put down roots at the grassroots, and press into the scene — quietly giving without calculating gains and losses, aiming high and accumulating deeply before bursting forth.

"四大队"的精神品质，集中体现为信党爱党、绝对忠诚、跟随党中央、奋斗奉献。信党爱党，就是始终坚定理想信念，对党的信仰矢志不渝，对党的事业衷心热爱。绝对忠诚，就是对党中央、对党的领袖始终葆有融入血脉的忠诚、由内而外的拥护、毫不迟疑的看齐，时刻以党的旗帜为旗帜、以党的意志为意志、以党的使命为使命。跟随党中央，就是时刻站在党中央身边，听从党中央号令，按照党中央和党的领袖指引的方向前进。奋斗奉献，就是甘于为党的事业拼搏奉献，敢于为党的事业斗争牺牲，耐得住寂寞、沉得住心气、扎得下基层、闯得进现场，默默付出、不计得失，志向高远、厚积薄发。

Xinhua is a news organization founded and directly led by our Party with its own hands. Since its founding in 1931 — from the farmhouses of Ruijin and the cave dwellings of Yan'an, to horseback in northern Shaanxi and the single-story houses of Xibaipo, and on to the foot of Fragrant Hills and the city of Beijing — Xinhua has come all the way to today. More than 150 martyrs gave their heads and shed their blood for the Party's cause, and countless Xinhua people like Comrade Zhang Liansheng have taken root in their posts for a lifetime, dedicating all their youth and talent. To be a member of the "Fourth Brigade" forever is to consciously carry on the spiritual character and moral bearing that Xinhua people have kept alive without pause, to continue the spiritual qualities of the "Fourth Brigade," to hold firm to the role identity of being first a "revolutionary" and then a "journalist," first "a person of the Party" and then "a Xinhua person," to deeply grasp Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, the intentions of the Party Central Committee, and the requirements of the new era, to follow, revolve around, obey, and dedicate, and to resolutely serve as the trusted, dependable, and useful vanguard of news and propaganda for General Secretary Xi Jinping and the Party Central Committee.