Translated by Claude, edited by Sinocism.com

Source: People's Daily | Byline: Xin Changxing (信长星), Secretary of the Jiangsu Provincial Party Committee and Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Provincial People's Congress | August 18, 2026

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Comrade Jiang Zemin's birth, the Party Center has solemnly convened a commemorative meeting and organized study and discussion of Comrade Jiang Zemin's life and thought, profoundly commemorating his great achievements and cherishing the memory of his revolutionary spirit and revolutionary bearing—all of which is of very great significance. More than 85 million people of his hometown deeply cherish the memory of Comrade Jiang Zemin, and are resolved, under the strong leadership of the Party Center with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, to build Comrade Jiang Zemin's hometown into an even finer place and make new contributions to the building of a strong country and the great cause of national rejuvenation.

在江泽民同志诞辰100周年之际，党中央隆重召开纪念大会，组织开展江泽民同志生平和思想研讨，深切缅怀他的丰功伟绩，追思他的革命精神和革命风范，意义十分重大。8500多万家乡人民深切怀念江泽民同志，决心在以习近平同志为核心的党中央坚强领导下，把江泽民同志家乡建设得更加美好，为强国建设、民族复兴伟业作出新贡献。

Jiangsu is where Comrade Jiang Zemin was born and grew up; it was from here that he set out on the road of study and, further, onto the road of revolution. On August 17, 1926, Comrade Jiang Zemin was born into a patriotic intellectual family in Yangzhou, Jiangsu. Deeply nurtured by fine traditional Chinese culture, from an early age he received the enlightenment of patriotic thought and democratic-revolutionary thought, and as a youth he resolved to seek the truth. From 1932 to 1943, he completed primary and secondary school in Yangzhou. China at the time was mired in suffering, and the turbulent situation deeply stirred his patriotic feelings. As he later wrote in a reply letter to the Young Pioneers of his alma mater, Yangzhou Dongguan Primary School: "Although we were still young at the time, we all cherished a fervent heart to serve the country, and resolved to study hard so that when we grew up we could repay the motherland and the people." During his secondary-school studies, Yangzhou was occupied by the Japanese invading forces; he and his classmates took the rise and fall of the nation as their own responsibility, circulating progressive books and periodicals at school and teaching one another anti-Japanese songs. He often went to pay tribute at the tomb of Shi Kefa, the patriotic Ming-dynasty general, chanting the couplet at the Shi Gong Shrine—"A few sprays of plum blossom, tears of a fallen state; the second-month moon, the heart of a loyal minister of the old dynasty"—to give vent to his grief and indignation. In September 1943 he was admitted to the Department of Electrical Engineering at National Central University in Nanjing; not long after enrolling, he took part in the patriotic and progressive student movement led by the Party, rallying fellow students to march in the streets, smashing opium dens and burning opium, and standing fearless before the armed, rifle-bearing ranks of the Japanese military police. In his essay "Remembering Comrade Li Enyu," he recalled: "That scene greatly boosted the spirit of the Chinese people and awakened the consciousness of the masses."

江苏是江泽民同志的出生成长地，他从这里踏上求学之路，进而走上革命道路。1926年8月17日，江泽民同志出生于江苏扬州的一个爱国知识分子家庭，深受中华优秀传统文化的熏陶，从小接受爱国主义思想和民主革命思想的启蒙，青少年时代就立志追求真理。1932年到1943年，他在扬州读完小学、中学，当时的中国正处于苦难之中，动荡的时局深深激发了他的爱国情怀。正如后来他在给母校扬州东关小学少先队员的回信中写的那样，“当时我们虽然年龄还小，但都怀着炽热的报国之心，立志发奋学习，长大后报效祖国和人民”。在中学求学期间，扬州遭日本侵略军占领，他和同学们以国家兴亡为己任，在学校传阅进步书刊、教唱抗日歌曲。他常去明代爱国名将史可法墓凭吊，吟诵史公祠的楹联“数点梅花亡国泪，二分明月故臣心”，抒发悲愤心情。1943年9月，他考入南京中央大学电机系，入学不久便参加了党领导的爱国进步学生运动，发动同学走上街头游行，砸烟馆，烧烟土，面对持枪列队的日本宪兵毫无畏惧。他在《忆厉恩虞同志》一文中回忆道，“其情其景，大长了中国人民的志气，也唤起了群众的觉醒”。

Comrade Jiang Zemin's experiences of study and struggle in his hometown during his youth laid the foundation for his forming a Marxist worldview, completing his choice of life's path, and ultimately establishing his life ideal and faith of struggling for national liberation and the people's happiness. After the victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he transferred to study in the Department of Electrical Engineering at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and, in April 1946, joined the Communist Party of China, thereafter devoting all his energies to the Party and the people. Especially after the Fourth Plenary Session of the 13th Central Committee, in the face of the severe test of an extremely complex situation at home and abroad and serious setbacks for world socialism, he led the Party's central collective leadership, relied closely on the whole Party, the whole army and the people of all ethnic groups across the country, defended the great cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics, founded the important thought of the "Three Represents," and successfully carried socialism with Chinese characteristics into the 21st century—establishing indelible merit and winning the heartfelt love of the whole Party, the whole army and the people of all ethnic groups, as well as broad acclaim from the international community.

江泽民同志青少年时期在家乡的学习、斗争经历，为他形成马克思主义世界观，完成人生道路的选择，最终确立为民族解放、人民幸福而奋斗的人生理想和信仰奠定了基础。抗日战争胜利后，他转到上海交通大学电机系学习，并于1946年4月加入中国共产党，从此把毕生精力都献给了党和人民。特别是党的十三届四中全会以后，在国内外形势十分复杂、世界社会主义出现严重曲折的严峻考验面前，他带领党的中央领导集体，紧紧依靠全党全军全国各族人民，捍卫了中国特色社会主义伟大事业，创立了“三个代表”重要思想，成功把中国特色社会主义推向二十一世纪，建立了永不磨灭的功勋，赢得了全党全军全国各族人民衷心爱戴和国际社会广泛赞誉。

Comrade Jiang Zemin cared greatly about and attached importance to Jiangsu's development, was full of deep affection for his hometown, and always kept its people in mind. After becoming a leader of the Party and the state, he made nine inspection visits to Jiangsu and joined the Jiangsu delegation's sessions at the National People's Congress three times. He planned and guided Jiangsu's development from the standpoint of the national overall situation, stressing that "Jiangsu has a solid economic base, an evident locational advantage, and a deep cultural heritage, and possesses great development potential," and hoping that Jiangsu would "expand new advantages, achieve new accomplishments, and take the lead in comprehensively building a moderately prosperous society and in basically realizing modernization." He encouraged Jiangsu to boldly explore reform, went deep into the frontline grassroots for investigation and study on many occasions, stressed that realizing the transformation of the economic system and the mode of economic growth was a major task of economic reform and development, and hoped Jiangsu would play a leading and driving role for other regions. He stressed that "through deepening reform, the vitality of state-owned enterprises should be enhanced so that they form new advantages," and required that full play be given to the flexible mechanisms of township enterprises, taking the road of reform and opening and institutional innovation. When the Suzhou Industrial Park was first established, he encouraged the locality to accelerate its construction and accumulate new experience in developing mutually beneficial Sino-foreign economic and technological cooperation. He attached great importance to agriculture, rural areas and coordinated urban-rural development, stressing that "the foundational status of agriculture absolutely must not be shaken," and that the building of small towns must both suit local realities and take a long-term development view, achieving scientific planning, rational layout and careful construction. He paid close attention to the building of cultural-ethical progress, requiring that, while doing a good job of building material civilization, great importance be attached to building socialist spiritual civilization, and stressing the use of forms the masses enjoy to carry out education in patriotism, collectivism and socialism. He was always concerned about the safety and well-being of his hometown's people; in the summer of 1991, when Jiangsu suffered a once-in-a-century catastrophic flood that gravely threatened the people's lives and property, he went in person to the frontline of flood control and rescue in Suzhou, inspecting the disaster at the Taipu Sluice in Wujiang and the Xumen substation, wading through standing water to visit disaster-stricken residents, and giving enormous encouragement to the military and civilians engaged in flood relief. After stepping down from his leadership post, he returned to his hometown many times, going deep into enterprises, schools and cultural districts for inspection and study, caring about the development of the various undertakings of his hometown and expressing his deep affection for its people. Whenever the people of his hometown recall these things, they feel especially warmed.

江泽民同志十分关心重视江苏发展，对家乡充满深情，始终惦念家乡人民。他在担任党和国家领导人后，先后9次到江苏考察、3次参加全国人代会江苏代表团会议。他立足全国大局谋划指导江苏建设，强调“江苏的经济基础扎实，区位优势明显，文化底蕴深厚，具有很大的发展潜力”，希望江苏“拓展新优势，再创新业绩，率先全面建成小康社会，率先基本实现现代化”。他鼓励江苏大胆改革探索，多次深入基层一线调研，强调实现经济体制和经济增长方式的转变，是经济改革和发展的重大任务，希望江苏为其他地区起到带头和促进作用。强调要“通过深化改革，增强国有企业活力，使之形成新的优势”，要求充分发挥乡镇企业机制灵活优势，走改革开放、体制创新的路子。苏州工业园区成立之初，他勉励当地加快园区建设，为发展中外经济技术互利合作积累新经验。他高度重视农业农村和城乡协调发展，强调“农业的基础地位绝对不能动摇”，强调小城镇建设既要结合各地的实际情况，又要有长远的发展眼光，做到科学规划、合理布局、精心建设。他十分关注精神文明建设，要求在搞好物质文明建设的同时，高度重视社会主义精神文明建设；强调要用群众喜闻乐见的形式进行爱国主义、集体主义和社会主义教育。他始终牵挂着家乡人民的安危冷暖，1991年夏天，江苏遭遇百年不遇的特大洪涝灾害，人民生命财产安全受到严重威胁，他亲临苏州抗洪抢险第一线，到吴江太浦闸、胥门变电站考察灾情，蹚着积水看望受灾群众，给抗洪救灾军民以极大鼓舞。从领导岗位退下来以后，他多次回到家乡，深入企业、学校、文化街区等考察调研，关心家乡各项事业的发展，表达对家乡人民的深情。家乡人民每每念及这些，都感到特别温暖。

Comrade Jiang Zemin's warm concern for Jiangsu's work has inspired the people of Jiangsu to forge ahead on the cross-century journey. Entering the new era, under the strong leadership of the Party Center with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, Jiangsu has comprehensively implemented the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping's important speeches on Jiangsu's work; bearing his instructions in mind and advancing with gratitude, it has resolutely shouldered the responsibility of a major economic province to bear its share of the load, kept high-quality development at the forefront, and achieved important phased results in the modernization drive of a "strong, prosperous, beautiful and highly civilized" new Jiangsu.

江泽民同志对江苏工作的亲切关怀，激励着江苏人民在跨世纪征程中砥砺奋进。进入新时代，在以习近平同志为核心的党中央坚强领导下，江苏全面贯彻落实习近平总书记对江苏工作重要讲话精神，牢记嘱托、感恩奋进，坚决扛好经济大省挑大梁责任，推动高质量发展继续走在前列，“强富美高”新江苏现代化建设取得重要阶段性成果。

Today, the best commemoration of Comrade Jiang Zemin is to continue to carry forward the cause to which he devoted his life, and to build his hometown into an even finer place. We will unite ever more closely around the Party Center with Comrade Xi Jinping at its core, take Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as our guide, deeply appreciate the decisive significance of the "Two Establishes," resolutely achieve the "Two Upholds," firmly take the lead and set an example in advancing Chinese modernization, strive to write a new chapter in the modernization drive of a "strong, prosperous, beautiful and highly civilized" new Jiangsu, and prove worthy of the care and affection that General Secretary Xi Jinping and the Party Center have shown Jiangsu.

今天我们对江泽民同志最好的纪念，就是把他毕生奋斗的事业继续推向前进，把他的家乡建设得更加美好。我们将更加紧密地团结在以习近平同志为核心的党中央周围，坚持以习近平新时代中国特色社会主义思想为指导，深刻领悟“两个确立”的决定性意义，坚决做到“两个维护”，坚定地在推进中国式现代化中走在前、做示范，奋力谱写“强富美高”新江苏现代化建设新篇章，不辜负习近平总书记和党中央对江苏的关心厚爱。