On Thursday, China will celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China, which was founded in Shanghai in July 1921. Thirteen delegates attended the First National Congress on July 23, while two other delegates sent from Comintern (Communist International) also attended as non-voting delegates.
A police search party forced the delegates to leave Shanghai after they neared the meeting place at 108 Wantze Road (now 76 Xingye Road).
After relocating to Jiaxing in Zhejiang province, the meeting finished on a pleasure boat in South Lake near the end of the month.
Since the official party founding date is not entirely clear, the CPC later decided to celebrate the anniversary on July 1.
The pleasure boat meeting on South Lake. Image via @求是/Weibo
The CPC is now one of the world’s two largest political parties, with a membership exceeding 95 million as of June 2021. The other political party is the Bharatiya Janata Party, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with more than 190 million members.
This year’s anniversary has been ripe with celebrations, from light shows in major Chinese cities to musical shows on the Great Wall to the re-release of Chinese movies – particularly, films with a nationalistic tone.
A sign celebrating the CPC’s100th anniversary at a park in Yunnan province.Image via @文旅普洱/Weibo
In the leadup to the 100th anniversary, Chinese travel agency Qunar reported that ‘red tourism’ contributed more than RMB1 trillion yuan to China’s economy last year. Red tourism is any travel related to China’s revolution by the CPC.
A woman taking a photo of revolutionary legends, including Mao Zedong, at a CPC history exhibition. Image via @建党百年庆祝活动新闻中心/Weibo
This Day in History: Founding of the Communist Party of China
[Cover image via @章敏Runner/Weibo]
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