Learn from Lei Feng Day in China Date in the current year: March 5, 2024

Lei Feng was a soldier of the People's Liberation Army of China. He was born in 1940. Lei Feng was orphaned at a young age, joined the army when he was 20 and died at the age of 21 in an accident.

After his death, he was portrayed as a model citizen, a modest and selfless person who was devoted to his country, the Communist Party and its Chairman Mao Zedong. Lei Feng was made a cultural icon and the subject of a nationwide propaganda campaign.

On March 2, 1963, Mao Zedong's call to follow the examples of Comrade Lei Feng was first published. On March 5, it was quoted by the People's Daily, the official newspaper of the Chinese government. The phrase became a propagandist slogan, and March 5 was declared Learn from Lei Feng Day.

Learn from Lei Feng Day involves various school and community events such as cleaning up parks, schoolyards and other community locations. Biographical films about the life of Lei Feng are screened on this day. However, the role of Lei Feng in popular culture and interest in the holiday have been decreasing as details of his life have been disputed.