Full coverage: China’s Leaders

China's top leaders have attended a ceremony to mark the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sun Yat-sen, The forerunner of China's democratic revolution. President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote speech and asked for a drive towards national unification, which was something the revolutionary aspired for and whose legacy is recognized by both the mainland and Taiwan.

"He had faith in his nation..He did not blindly worship western social systems."

President Xi was forthright in his admiration of Sun Yat-sen. Speaking at the Great Hall of the People in the Chinese capital, Beijing to commemorate the revolutionary's outstanding legacy, Xi also call for confidence in China's socialist establishment.

"We should consistently follow the leadership of the Party and China's socialist path. We have had great achievement in developing our country with our own hands. So we should be confident with our culture and political system. We should adhere to socialism with Chinese characteristics to build a great country," President Xi said.

Over a century ago, Sun led an uprising which overthrew the Qing dynasty, ending thousands of years of monarchy, before founding the country's very first republic. His legacy is recognized by both the Communist Party of China and the Kuomintang Party. And President Xi called for Chinese nationals on both sides of the strait to build a united and prosperous country.

"People on the mainland and Taiwan have a common destiny in achieving China's national rejuvenation. All Chinese nationals should join hands to fight against any force that tries to split Taiwan away from China. We still remember the miserable history of the 20th century when China was subject to strong powers' bullying and splitting. So now we firmly protect our sovereignty and territorial integrity and will never allow that history to repeat itself!" President Xi said.

Sun Yat-sen framed an exciting blueprint for infrastructure and economic development in China. It was so ambitious, it was considered unrealistic in the early parts of the 20th century.

"Mr. Sun's vision was hard to achieve in a poor China one century ago. But today, under the leadership of the CPC, Chinese people have realized the blueprint and have even gone beyond. We now have a rail network reaching Tibet, highways connecting the whole country, ports connecting to the world and diverse industries. And we're even going into space. The strong and prosperous China that Sun described is now manifesting itself in the orient," President Xi said.

"The revolution has yet to succeed. Comrades should keep up the hard work"

Quoting the revolutionary's famous motto, Xi called on all Chinese nationals from all parties and places to unite and work towards national rejuvenation.