On 23 July 1921 the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) was founded in this French Concession building (then 106 rue Wantz). In one fell swoop this fact transformed an unassuming shíkùmén block into one of Chinese communism’s holiest shrines. Beyond the communist narcissism, there’s little to see, although historians will enjoy ruminating on the site’s historic momentousness.
On the ground floor you can be present in the room where the whole party began, in what was once the house of the delegate Li Hanjun. Up the marble stairs in the ‘Exhibition of Historical Relics Showing the Founding of the Communist Party of China’ is a highly patriotic hymn to early Chinese communist history with exhibits such as the Chinese translation of Mary E Marcy’s The ABC of Das Kapital by Marx .
The dizzying Marxist spin of the museum commentary is a salutary reminder that Shànghǎi remains part of the world’s largest communist state. The certainties of that era – whether you sympathise with Mǎlièzhǔyì (Marxist-Leninism) or not – exude a nostalgic appeal in today’s Shànghǎi, where ideology of any shade is met with a raised eyebrow.
A passport is required for entry; last admission is at 4pm.
