Sixty years make a child an old man. But the expectation held by the Chinese leadership for the country's younger generation remained the same since the founding of New China in 1949.

The Outlook Weekly magazine carried a report recalling Chinese leaders' expectations for children as successors to the cause of socialism on Saturday, two days ahead of the international Children's Day.

In April 1942, late chairman of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Mao Zedong wrote an inscription for the children's day, calling on kids to "unite and learn to become the masters of new China."

Six years later, China officially designated June 1 as the Children's Day of the People's Republic of China.

In late September 1951, Mao wrote eight words in a notebook presented to a children's representative in Beijing, which read "study diligently and make progress everyday."

The eight Chinese characters quickly spread around the nation. The words can still be seen in most primary school classrooms.

Deng Xiaoping, core of the second generation of China's leadership, also stressed that teenagers should be cultivated as qualified builders and the successors to the cause of socialism.

In November 1979, Deng cautioned all CPC members that "picking the right successors is a major strategic issue that can affect the long-term interests of the Party and the country."

In a congratulatory letter for the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Young Pioneers of China sent by Jiang Zemin, core of China's third-generation leadership, Jiang highlighted that "the cause of proletariat revolutions must be carried forward through unremitting efforts of generations."

"The children today would have to shoulder the responsibility to build our socialist motherland in the 21st Century," Jiang said in the letter, "The cultivation of our successors must begin from their childhood."

At a work conference held in May 2004, Chinese President Hu Jintao urged the whole Party and the whole society to highlight "education on children's ideology and ethics and cultivate the builders and successors to the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics."

"Children are the hope of the Party and China," Hu said, "They are the hope of the Chinese nation."

(Xinhua News Agency May 30, 2009)