6 CHINA DAILY | HONG KONG EDITION Tuesday, May 18, 2021 | 7 PATH TO GLORY THE PERFECT PLACE TO PREPARE FOR A REVOLUTION
Conditions in early 20th century Shanghai helped lay the ground for change and the foundation of New China
Situated at the mouth By XING YI in Shanghai Red Tourism sites of the Yangtze River [email protected] The city that is more than just a metropolis of modernity and on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean, rapping a red scarf Former Site of the Editorial Department Constitution — the fundamental guideline Shanghai is one of the around his neck, By CAO CHEN in Shanghai associate professor of history at of New Youth magazine for all Party activities — was formulated. country’s major cities, 10yearold Li [email protected] Shanghai Normal University. Revolutionary magazine New Youth, This site was the former residence of Li Da, has the nation’s largest Shiran stood in Shikumen buildings — a style which initiated the New Culture Move who undertook publicity work for the CPC port and is known for frontW of a twostory shikumen build Fastpaced lifestyles, a business featuring Western and Chinese ment and spread the influence of the Central Committee. its skyscraper ing — a traditional style featuring and fashion hub, and a technology elements — were often used to May Fourth Movement, was established Address: No. 30, 7 North Chengdu Road, dominated skyline. As Western and Chinese elements — in innovation center — these are the host the CPC’s revolutionary activ by Chen Duxiu in Shanghai in 1915. The Jing’an district the center of foreign downtown Shanghai’s Xintiandi things most people associate with ities. They are among the main editorial office was briefly based in Bei thought and culture in area and explained the site’s history. Shanghai today. However, despite attractions for tourists, Yao added. jing but moved back to Shanghai in The Fourth National Congress of the CPC China and home to the “The house behind me is the place these modern traits, the metropo “Cooperation between Shanghai 1920. The building also served as the Memorial Hall country’s first that hosted the First National Con lis is also rich in resources associ and other cities in the Yangtze Riv office for the Communist Party of China The Party’s decision to lead the revolu generation of the “new gress of the Communist Party of Chi ated with the history of the er Delta should be fostered to Central Committee in the 1920s. tion on its own amid opposition from the working class” in the na,” said Li, as his father filmed the Communist Party of China. gather resources because many Address: No. 2, 100 Nanchang Road, right wing of the Kuomintang was made early 20th century, it process. Primary students visit the Longhua Memorial of Revolutionary Ranging from memorials of his founding members of the Party Huangpu district during the fourth national congress. The was the birthplace of Like many of his youthful peers, Martyrs in Shanghai. PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY toric sites, to former residences of came from the delta. It will original site that hosted the congress was the Communist Party Li, a member of the Young Pioneers leading members, to martyrs’ become an important tourism Former residence of Chen Wangdao destroyed during wartime. The current of China. As a result, it of China, the CPC’s children’s wing, cemeteries, more than 657 cultur asset for the region,” he said. This threestory building was the home memorial hall was built in 2006. is rich in resources has been busy putting together a large population of “new working Xiong Yuezhi, vicepresident of the al sites related to the Party and To promote these sites, an offi of renowned scholar and educator Chen Address: 1468, North Sichuan Road, Hong associated with the school project to commemorate the class”; it was the center of foreign Association of Chinese Historians. revolutionary history can be cial online map developed by the Wangdao. In 1920, Chen completed the kou district Party’s history. 100th anniversary of the CPC’s thought and culture in China; and In his paper on Shanghai’s unique found across the city. government last year shines a first Chinese translation of The Commu Hundreds of Red founding. the city’s “foreign concessions” pro resources for the communist revolu In recent decades, the local gov spotlight on 99 venues in the city nist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich The Former Office of the Political Bureau Tourism sites are The meeting started on July 23, moted a relatively tolerant political tion, Xiong said that more than 75 ernment has been busy restoring and offers information related to Engels. He also served as President of of the Central Committee of the CPC scattered around the 1921, when 13 delegates from across environment. As one of the first percent of new publications in Chi these resources and integrating their history and architecture. Fudan University from 1952 to 1977. The (192831) city, including the the country, including future leader open ports in China, Shanghai was na from the late 19th century to the them into the tourism industry. Many sites have introduced new residence was transformed into an exhibi This twostory residential building served Memorial of the Site of Mao Zedong and two representa the country’s most populous city in early 20th century were published According to Su Zhiliang, director offerings to enhance the visitor tion hall for the manifesto in 2018. as the office of the Political Bureau of the the First National tives from the Communist Interna the 1920s. Of its more than 2 million in the city. of the urban culture research center experience. For example, the Address: 51 Guofu Road, Yangpu district Central Committee of the CPC between Congress of the tional organization, gathered at the people, a quarter were workers, “The translations of almost all the at Shanghai Normal University, a Memorial of the Site of the Fourth 1928 and 1931, after bureau members were Communist Party of building for a historic event — the according to research by Su Zhi important Marxist works, including growing number of sites have been National Congress of the Commu Huangpu Wharf prosecuted by the Kuomintang in April 1927. China, the Fourth first national congress — and pro liang, a history professor at Shang The Communist Manifesto and Das renovated and opened to the public nist Party of China in Hongkou Huangpu Wharf in Yangpu district was Xiong Jingding, who worked for the CPC National Congress of claimed the birth of the Party. The hai Normal University. Kapital, were first published in since 2011, the 90th anniversary of district uses holography to the departure point for about 650 Chinese Committee in Hubei province before being the CPC Memorial meeting was later forced to relocate “Spurred by foreign and national Shanghai,” he said. the CPC’s founding. present a scene in which Party del students who headed to France from March assigned to work as a Party accountant in Hall, and the Wing On to Nanhu Lake in Jiaxing, Zhejiang investment, the emergence of mod In addition to the growing work “Shanghai has been a major egates are holding a conference. 1919 to December 1920 to further their Shanghai, made the location a safe house Department Store. province. ern industries in Shanghai had ing class and the spread of commu center of China’s modern revolu In Pudong New Area’s Xinchang studies. They included Zhou Enlai, later the for Party members. A century later, the CPC is the formed the new working class in nist ideas, the foreign concessions in tion since the 1910s. This has cre town, the threestory building that first premier of the People’s Republic of Address: 171 to 173, Central Yunnan Road, world’s largest political party, with China and thus laid the foundations Shanghai, which were outside the ated rich resources related to was once used as a secret commu China, and Deng Xiaoping, later the leader Huangpu district more than 90 million members. of the future communist revolu control of the warlordled Beiyang politics, the military and culture,” nication station for Party mem of the PRC. Every year, hundreds of thou tion,” Su said. government (191228) of the Repub Su said. bers allows visitors to roleplay as Address: 32 Qinhuangdao Road, Yangpu The CPC delegation office in Shanghai sands of people like Li and his fami During the antiimperialist May lic of China, provided room for politi He noted that the city has been revolutionaries and experience district This fourstory Spanishstyle garden res ly members travel to Shanghai to Fourth Movement in 1919, when cal organizations to flourish. promoting those resources since movielike scenes. idence, which housed the CPC delegation visit numerous sites related to the news of government arrests of patri As a modern metropolis situated 1949, with the most famous being Interpreters at some sites have The Memorial of the Site of the First office, was built in the 1920s. It also served Party’s early activities. otic students in Beijing spread to at the mouth of the Yangtze River the Memorial of the Site of the Clockwise from right: The May 30th Movement (1925) Monument on the campus of Shanghai Jiao Tong also tailored their interaction with National Congress of the Communist as the residence of Zhou Enlai from 1946 to “Shanghai holds a unique place in Shanghai, more than 180,000 work and on the west coast of the Pacific First National Congress of the University. The former residence of Chen Wangdao, who completed the first Chinese translation of The visitors based on demographics. Party of China 1947. The building was renovated in 1979 the Party’s history and has played a ers from different sectors, such as Ocean, Shanghai’s geographical Communist Party of China. Communist Manifesto, by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, in 1920. The site of the editorial department of “For foreign audiences, for The site, formerly the residence of CPC and opened to the public in 1986. crucial role in its development. Like cotton mills, steel plants and trans advantages also contributed to the The venue was where 13 Chinese New Youth magazine in Shanghai. PHOTOS PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY example, we get to know their founding member Li Hanjun, hosted the Address: 73 Sinan Road, Huangpu district Yan’an (Shaanxi province) and Jing portation, went on strike to show CPC’s early development. members and two foreign dele nationalities and professional initial session of the Party’s first national gangshan Mountain (Jiangxi pro their support for the students. “After its birth in 1921, the Party’s gates of the Communist Interna backgrounds so we can highlight congress before the event was relocated The Longhua Memorial of Revolutionary vince), Shanghai is a sacred place of “The collective power of the work central committee was located in tional organization convened the All such items will be catego Congress, received 172,500 visitors example, sites in Yangpu district the key points they may be famil to Nanhu Lake in Jiaxing, Zhejiang pro Martyrs the revolution,” said Zhao Yingang, ing class impressed many intellectu Shanghai for 12 years and held three famous meeting in July 1921. The rized and afforded different pro during the weeklong National Day in the north, where docks and fac iar with,” said Li Xintong, an inter vince, in July 1921. The congress The memorial was built to commemo director of the Party history als at that time, including Chen national congresses in the city. One venue has been open to the public tective measures accordingly. Holiday in October, a yearonyear tories were once situated, offer a preter with the communications approved the Party program, elected its rate 24 CPC members who were murdered research department at the Shang Duxiu, one of the CPC’s founders, of the important reasons for this since 1952. In light of this year’s 100th anni rise of more than 24 percent. glimpse into movements initiated and education department at the central governing body and established by Kuomintang troops on Feb 7, 1931. hai Administration Institute. who returned to Shanghai in 1920 to was the city’s unique location,” said A threeyear plan initiated by the versary of the CPC’s founding, by workers. Site of the First National Congress the CPC. Address: 2591 Longhua Road, Xuhui dis Scholars agree that in the early promote Marxism among workers Liu Tong, a professor of modern Chi local government in 2018 outlined many sites are undergoing renova Greater engagement By contrast, Huangpu district, of the Communist Party of China. Address: 76 Xingye Road, Huangpu district trict 20th century, Shanghai had three through speeches and publications,” nese history at Shanghai Jiao Tong requirements to improve infrastruc tion and are expected to reopen “Compared with reading books where the Party’s founding mem “We also use simple words and factors that made it the ideal place Su said. University. ture, facilities and customer services soon to mark the occasion. or watching documentaries, tour bers lived and worked, is an ideal games to pique the interest of chil The Memorial of the Site of the Second Wing On Department Store for the birth of the Party: it had a Today, Shanghai continues to be a at CPCrelated tourist spots. Data from the Shanghai Munici ism offers a more engaging way for place to explore the history of the dren and offer them a platform to National Congress of the CPC Opened in 1918 by Chinese entrepre Gateway pioneer in the country’s reform and In March, drafts on the protec pal Administration of Culture and residents to learn about history,” Party’s founding and its initial use their imaginations. We hope This was where 12 CPC members con neurs from Hong Konglisted Wing On From the late Qing Dynasty (1644 openingup process. tion of historic resources in Tourism show that eight sites, Su said. development. the kids will love their hometown vened for the Second CPC National Con Company International, the Wing On 1911), Shanghai had been a gateway Many people consider the site of Shanghai stipulated that the city including the memorials of the He pointed out that tourism “Historic resources have been more after the visit.” gress in July 1922, during which the CPC Department Store played a pivotal role for Western culture and thought. the CPC’s first congress to be the government will set up a database Site of the First National Congress resources in each district have born out of, and closely integrated during the War of Resistance Against Japa The earliest instance of Marxism spiritual home that has spurred the of Partyrelated resources. and the Site of the Fourth National their own characteristics. For with, local cultures,” said Yao Fei, nese Aggression (193145) by supporting being promoted in the city can be development of Shanghai and the the CPC via donations of money and found in an 1899 article in Wan Kuo rest of the country. goods. The first national flag was hoisted in Kung Pao, a monthly magazine, Zhou Yunhua, 80, recently visited front of the store to mark Shanghai’s liber which introduced different socialist the site with his grandson. ation in 1949. schools in Europe, according to “I have been a Party member for Address: 635 East Nanjing Road, Huangpu 47 years,” he said. “While our coun district try has achieved great success under the Party’s leadership in the past century, I want to tell the younger generation about the miracles that were forged through difficulties. The road ahead is still long. Striving forward is the only way to go.”