A commemorative symposium was held by the United Front Work Department of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) here Monday to mark the 20th anniversary of the death of Xinjiang's great patriot Burhan Shahidi (1894-1989).

People who attended the symposium hailed Burhan as a "loyal Communist soldier, great patriot, well-known public figure, and outstanding representative of the Uygur people."

They slammed the July 5 unrest, and called on people to learn from Burhan's patriotism to fight separatism, maintain national unity and work for the country's prosperity.

Vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress, Ismail Tiliwaldi, and vice chairmen of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) Du Qinglin, Bai Lichen, and Abdul'ahat Abdulrixit were present at the symposium.

Burhan Shahidi, a native of Aksu in northwestern Xinjiang, was of Uygur ethnic group and was born in Russia.

He was educated in Germany and began his revolutionary career in Moscow in 1933.

Since 1949, Burhan served as leader of many local government departments including the regional people's government chairman.

Later, he served as vice chairman of the second, third, fifth, sixth and seventh CPPCC National Committee, China's top political consultative body.

(Xinhua News Agency August 10, 2009)