Editor's note:

Children across Jilin province celebrate International Children's Day, on June 1, in various ways, especially this year, when parents have even more choices for their kids and more ways to get involved at the festival. The emphasis is on more group activities in public space, such as schools and parks. The provincial government is also getting more closely involved with local children this year by taking part in games, art exhibitions and shows. Both Bayinchaolu, the provincial Party chief, and Jiang Chaoliang, the governor, playing a hands-on role in these activities.

Pupils from Jilin city's Shiyan Primary are playing the classic opera, Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy, at the festival, on May 26. [Photo by Wang Mingming/ asianewsphoto.com]

Background story of Children's Day

The International Children's Day was established in 1949 by the Women's International Democratic Federation (WIDF). Currently, many countries in the world annually observe the International Children's Day on June 1.

In June 1942, Nazi soldiers shot dead over 140 citizens of the Czech village of Lidice, aged above 16-year-old, and sent all women and children to concentration camps, including 90 kids sent to a concentration camp in Poland. Only 17 of the 90 kids survived the war.

In order to commemorate the children who died in Lidice and worldwide during WWII and protect the rights of children, the WIDF council convened a congress in Moscow in November 1949 and formally designated June 1 as a festival for children, i.e., the International Children's Day.

On Dec 23, 1949, the People's Republic of China officially designated the International Children's Day as a holiday for children in China, known as "the June 1 International Children's Day", starting from 1950.

—from Xinhua (English.news.cn)

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