Memorial of Party birthplace opens
Print Edition
THIRTEEN early delegates of the Communist Party of China gathered in an 18-square-meter house in Shanghai for the First National Congress of the Party a century ago, triggering overwhelming changes to China and Chinese people.
Shanghai Party Secretary Li Qiang announced the opening of the memorial of the historic congress early yesterday.
The site in Huangpu District where the Party was founded in July 1921 includes the former site of the congress on Xingye Road and a new exhibition hall opposite Huangpi Road S.
“This place witnessed the founding of the Party and marked the great beginning of China’s revolution,” Li said. “It also carries the great dream of the CPC and inherits the great spirit of the Party members.”
Shanghai is the birthplace of the CPC and the origin of the guiding hearts of the Party members, which is the eternal glory of the city, Li added.
President Xi Jinping and six other members of the Politburo Standing Committee visited the site in 2017, a week after the closing of the 19th National People’s Congress.
The site has received an increasing number of visitors every year, making it essential to expand the structure. The former site was closed in November last year to give way to the expansion project.
The site has been renovated using traditional techniques and modern technologies to preserve the century-old shikumen (stone-gate) buildings while reinforcing the structure.
The new memorial features Shanghai’s unique architectural structure in accord with the buildings in the surrounding Xintiandi area. The main exhibition space covers about 3,700 square meters, quadrupling the previous exhibition space.
“The project is a well-blending of architecture and urban scenery and ambiance,” said Xia Bing, the senior architect in charge of the project.
A major exhibition about the origins of the Party was launched yesterday as the new memorial’s first exhibition. The “Epoch-making Beginnings: Founding of the Communist Party of China” documents the original aspiration and mission of the Party in seven sections dating from 1840.
The show features 1,168 exhibits about the birth of the Party and the revolutionary practices in Shanghai, including 612 cultural relics along with photos, videos, oil paintings, sculptures and multimedia works.
The memorial has collected a total of over 120,000 exhibits, mainly donations from descendants of pioneers and collectors.
Wang Yi, a researcher at the Shanghai History Museum, donated over 100 items he had collected over the years. They included a full Chinese version of “The Communist Manifesto” published in 1942. “I’d like to make more people see the precious cultural relics,” said Wang, 63.
Liu Shaling, another donor, presented the diary of her father, a former New Fourth Army officer, about the Party’s mobilization meeting as well as policies and regulations for the liberation of Shanghai in May 1949.
“I feel like fulfilling the wishes of my father by donating his diary to the memorial,” said Liu, 72, who worked at Shanghai Museum before her retirement.
Key exhibits include 72 editions of the “The Communist Manifesto.” The initial and second full Chinese editions translated by linguist and educator Chen Wangdao and published in August and September 1920 are on display.
Hu Xiaoyun, chief designer of the exhibition, said artistic creations and the latest technologies were involved in putting it together.
The memorial received its first batch of visitors from yesterday, including some former staff working at the site.
Li Shifeng, 87, was among the first generation of receptionists working at the historic congress site. She received national leaders such as Chen Yi, Shanghai’s first mayor, and Deng Yingchao, wife of China’s first Premier Zhou Enlai, as well as foreign guests, including then DPRK leader Kim Jong Il.
She was invited to return to the site where she had worked for over three decades ago to view the exhibition.
“I feel thrilled to return to the workplace and witness the glorious centennial of the CPC,” Li said. She recalled the poor condition of the site when it initially opened in the 1950s, a sharp contrast to the scene today.
The memorial is open between 9am and 5pm between Tuesday and Sunday. Reservations are required and daily visitors are restricted to 10,000.
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