A mass singalong of leftist songs initiated by Chongqing party boss Bo Xilai swept across the country yesterday as the Communist Party marked it 90th anniversary, along with other events including a red games in Gansu celebrating the Red Army's Long March.
In Shanghai, the authorities arranged for more than 13,000 people to join a red singalong on Thursday night outside the site where the first congress of the Chinese Communist Party convened 90 years ago.
In Wuhan, Hubei province, nearly 140 performances and events were organised as part of the city's red song campaign. In the city centre, the authorities pieced together a party flag using more than 20,000 flowers.
Meanwhile, Bo launched a public counterattack on mainland scholars who strongly criticised Chongqing's mass red song campaign, saying it was neither leftist nor a return to the Cultural Revolution, municipal government mouthpiece the Chongqing Daily reported yesterday.
He told a group of artists who joined the city's red song campaign from across the country that 'the accusation is sheer nonsense'.
'I believe anyone who is clear-headed will have a correct conclusion towards our campaign,' he said, adding that red songs were good for the country and its people.