EXHIBITIONS and celebrations are well under way in Beijing and Shanghai as the Communist Party of China (CPC) is set to embrace its centenary July 1.

An exhibition on the history of the CPC opened Friday in Beijing, showing how the CPC has united and led the Chinese people in blazing great paths and making massive achievements over the past 100 years, as well as the fine spirit and precious experience drawn from within.

A number of early revolutionary CPC sites, including the former residence of Li Dazhao, a pioneer of the CPC, and the first chamber collecting Marxist works, opened to the public in Beijing on June 1.

An exhibition on the role of Peking University in the early history of the CPC is also ongoing at Peking University Library.

Prof. Huang Daoxuan of Peking University (PKU) said that universities, limited in number over 100 years ago and mainly located in Beijing, made the city the center of the New Culture Movement and the May Fourth Movement, both of which greatly contributed to the early spread of Marxism in China and the founding of the CPC.

Xiong Yuezhi, a scholar studying Shanghai’s history, said that in the 1920s, Shanghai had many favorable conditions such as an expanding working class, a major publishing center, and convenient transportation and communication systems. Through the unremitting efforts of the Chinese Marxists, the CPC came to the stage in Shanghai.

A century has passed. A party that began with some 50 members now has over 91 million.

Through concentrated renovations and decoration, the presence of “red marks” is increasing in both Beijing and Shanghai, reminding people of the past sacrifices and glory of a party that is leading the Chinese people on the great path of national revival.

“Only under the CPC’s leadership can our country have such great development. We must unswervingly follow the Party,” said Zhou Liru, a tourist from East China’s Shandong Province, while visiting an exhibition on the 100-year journey of the CPC at the National Museum of China.

(Xinhua)