Award ceremony held to commemorate Lei Feng

The first Touching Yangxin award ceremony is held in Yangxin county on March 5. [Photo by Li Xinrui and Huo Xiangfeng for chinadaily.com.cn]

The first Touching Yangxin award ceremony, with its theme "Following Lei Feng's Footsteps", was held in Yangxin county – located in Binzhou city, in East China’s Shandong province – on March 5.

It commemorated the 61st anniversary of the death of national hero Lei Feng, a PLA soldier and philanthropist who died at the age of 21 and was renowned for his altruism and dedication. He's remembered through a national remembrance day held each year.

The ceremony honored seven individuals and three groups who’ve made outstanding contributions to the social and economic development of Yangxin, as well as promoting moral values and volunteer services.

They were singled after a rigorous selection process.

The organizers said that the Touching Yangxin award aims to showcase the exemplary role of moral models and good people in society – and to encourage more people to follow Lei Feng's spirit and contribute to the creation of a modern and happy Yangxin.

Yangxin has been carrying out various activities to cultivate and practice core socialist values and to promote Lei Feng-type volunteer service across the county.

It has established 455 Lei Feng post stations in counties, towns and villages and mobilized more than 130,000 registered volunteers to provide more than 1 million hours of service to 340,000 people.

Among the moral models and good people that have emerged from these activities, seven have been officially recognized as "Shandong Good People". (Edited by Fan Yuanyuan)