Beijing: Exactly a century ago, on July 23, the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) opened in a building in Shanghai. Attended by 13 Chinese participants and two foreign representatives from the Communist International, the historical meeting declared the founding of the CPC and laid out its guiding principles and workplan.
The two-story building on Xingye Road is next to Xintiandi, a bustling pedestrian area today. Built in the shikumen style, literally meaning stone-gated, the building is a traditional Shanghai-style terrace house with a stone archway, a combination of Western and Chinese elements.
The area was part of the French Concession at that time and the meeting had to be suspended because of a sudden police search on July 30. The participants shifted to a boat on Nanhu Lake in neighboring Zhejiang Province, where they concluded the meeting.
Since then, the CPC has developed from a party with only 50 members or so into the world’s biggest Marxist ruling party with over 91 million members. It has been in power for over 70 years in China.
A fresh look: The building, bearing the address 76 Xingye Road, was renovated to become a memorial museum, known as the Memorial for the Site of the First National Congress of the CPC, with the name on the board written by Deng Xiaoping, the architect of the reform and opening-up policy. A major historical monument under state protection, the museum houses nearly 120,000 items related to the CPC and in recent years has been visited by over 1 million people annually.
– The Daily Mail-Beijing Review News exchange item
Red boat of courage: About 100 km southwest of Shanghai, the Nanhu Revolutionary Memorial Hall in Zhejiang is also being renovated for the centennial.
The red boat on Nanhu Lake, the actual place where the delegates announced the official founding of the CPC, has become a symbol of the courage and pioneering spirit of the CPC.
The original boat was lost during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) but in 1959, when the memorial hall was established, a replica was built according to the memory of an old boatman and put on display on the lake.
Learning Party history: With the CPC’s centenary coming closer, a campaign to raise awareness of the Party history among all CPC members was launched on February 20.
At the meeting, Xi urged all CPC members to study the Party’s history, understand its theories and do practical work to build a modern socialist China.
The campaign focuses on the CPC’s century-long struggle, its contributions to building the nation and its purpose of serving the people.
CPC members will also study the Party’s major theoretical achievements in adapting Marxism to China’s conditions and the valuable experience of a successful revolution and reform.
