Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor has revisited Hongyan Revolution Memorial Hall, a “patriot's attraction” in Chongqing, 42 years after she first went there as a student.
Lam visited Chengdu of Sichuan Province, Xi'an of Shaanxi Province and Chongqing of Sichuan Province at the end of last month. During the trip, she shared on social media that she went to Hongyan Revolution Memorial Hall.
The memorial hall opened in 1958. When Guangzhou and Wuhan were occupied by the Japanese during the Second World War in 1938, the Kuomintang government moved its capital to Chongqing. The Communist Party of China sent a delegation headed by Zhou Enlai to the city to establish its office at Hongyan Village in Chongqing.
"When I visited Chongqing last week, I requested to add Hongyan Revolution Memorial Hall as part of my trip," Lam said.
She said when she visited the hall as a student, the new hall built in 2001 was not available yet. There was also no exhibition to tell visitors about history.
Nevertheless, she was still impressed by how China perservered through hardship.
She posted an old photo of her visiting the hall, in which she and several other students sat in front of the old memorial building.
"At that time (42 years ago), I was traveling to the mainland with some students from my university. And this time, I invited a few younger colleagues from the SAR government to take a photo in front of the old building," Lam said.
Lam herself did not replicate the pose in her old photo.
