Legal protection for memorial sites, heroes enhanced in China

BEIJING -- China has enhanced the management of memorial sites dedicated to national heroes and martyrs through legislation over the past five years, China Daily reported on Monday.

The Law on the Protection of Heroes and Martyrs came into effect on May 1, 2018. And from then to last year, Chinese prosecutors have dealt with more than 8,000 administrative public-interest cases concerning government agencies' ineffective protection of memorial sites, according to the newspaper.

This helped with the renovation of 23,000 memorial sites, the newspaper quoted Liu Dongbin, a prosecutor from the Supreme People's Procuratorate, China's top procuratorate, as saying.

The law stipulates that defamation of heroes and martyrs or distortion and diminishing of their actions are banned. It also states that television and radio programs, videos, movies, publishers and internet sites and users must not harm their name, image, reputation or honor.

Prosecutors have tackled 100 public-interest cases involving damage to the name, image, reputation and honor of heroes and martyrs during the five-year period, Liu was quoted as saying.

As the judiciary has stepped up the protection of heroes and martyrs, efforts to maintain memorial sites have also increased.

Data from the Ministry of Veterans Affairs showed that China has 160,000 facilities and sites memorializing heroes and martyrs, with 1,600 institutes specializing in their maintenance. And there are 300 Chinese national memorial facilities in 50 countries and regions across the world, where 110,000 heroes and martyrs were buried.

Over the past five years, the ministry has worked with relevant departments to renovate domestic memorial facilities, as well as focused on maintaining memorial sites overseas, according to the newspaper.