Qu Duyi attends a ceremony to promote a feature movie about her parents in Beijing in 2011. [Photo by CHEN CANGKE/FOR CHINA DAILY]

When asked about the most valuable advice her parents had ever given her, 99-year-old Qu Duyi would reply, "Always love the motherland."

Qu Duyi, a veteran journalist who worked for Xinhua News Agency, devoted her life to journalism.

Qu received the July 1 Medal on June 29－the highest honor presented by the Communist Party of China to its outstanding members to reward their outstanding dedication to the Party and the Chinese people. The CPC handed out the awards as it celebrates its 100th anniversary this year.

Andrey Denisov, Russia's ambassador to China, later sent Qu a message congratulating her on winning the honor and wishing her good health and happiness, Russia's Sputnik News Agency reported on June 30.

Qu, who grew up in Xiaoshan district in Hangzhou, capital of Zhejiang province, was born in Shanghai in November 1921 and joined the CPC in August 1946.

She is the daughter of Qu Qiubai, one of the first leaders of the Party. Her mother, Yang Zhihua, became a Party member in 1924 and was vice-chairwoman of the All-China Women's Federation from 1949 to 1967.

Qu Qiubai went to Moscow in the former Soviet Union in 1920 to serve as the Party's representative. Some years later, Yang came with Qu Duyi to join him.

Qu Qiubai returned to China to participate in the revolutionary cause in July 1930. In order to avoid the brutal crackdown on protesters by troops deployed by the Kuomintang in China, Yang and Qu Duyi stayed behind in Moscow.

Qu Qiubai was killed by KMT troops in June 1935.

Qu Duyi returned to China after the WWII started in 1939. She was later seized by a warlord along with 150 CPC cadres and their family members. In 1946, she was rescued and sent to Yan'an, Shaanxi province, which was the cradle of the Chinese revolution led by the CPC.

On Oct 1, 1949, Qu accompanied delegates from the former Soviet Union as they stood on the Tian'anmen Rostrum to witness the founding of the People's Republic of China. She was the first person to broadcast the news about the historic moment in Russian to audiences worldwide.

"I was so excited at that moment and felt very honored to be able to report the establishment of the PRC to the world," she said.

In 1950, Qu and her husband, Li He, went to Moscow and set up a Xinhua bureau there, China's first news agency established in a foreign country after the founding of the PRC. They also served as translators for then Premier Zhou Enlai and Chinese delegations who visited the former Soviet Union.

In 1957, Qu returned to China and went to work at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences. In 1978, she was transferred to the Russian section of Xinhua's International Department, where she worked as a translator and editor until her retirement in 1982.

CAI JINGWEN contributed to this story.