Party congress museum undergoing expansion

The museum of the Third National Congress of the Communist Party of China is undergoing expansion and upgrades to meet growing demand from tourists wanting to better understand the history and development of the Party.

The museum, in the Yuexiu district of Guangzhou, Guangdong's provincial capital, is expected to reopen before July 1, when the CPC celebrates its 100th anniversary, said Zhu Hairen, its director and a senior researcher.

"After the expansion, the museum will have an exhibition floor space of around 1,500 square meters－double the current one－and will be able to accommodate more than 700,000 visitors annually," Zhu said.

The facility, which was built in 2006 and is listed as an important heritage site under State protection, received about 520,000 visitors in 2019. The expansion project kicked off in July last year and will cost 50.85 million yuan ($7.82 million), Zhu added.

The museum is also seeking to collect more historical relics related to the Third National Congress of the CPC from home and abroad, including valuable pictures, objects, literature, films, archives, registration certificates, representatives' cards and minutes taken during the congress, he said.

Zhu said the Third National Congress of the CPC, which was held in Guangzhou between June 12 and 20 in 1923, was a moment of great significance in the developmental history of the CPC.

During the event, the peasant movement led by Mao Zedong in his home province of Hunan was highly recognized and praised for its efforts in spreading communist principles among farmers, Zhu said.

Mao became the director of the Guangzhou Peasant Movement Institute to train future leaders of the movement in 1926 and led the CPC to found the People's Republic of China in 1949.

Mao was elected secretary of the five-person central bureau of the CPC during the congress, indicating he had entered the power core of the Party, Zhu said. Chen Duxiu was elected as its chairman. The other three members were Cai Hesen, Tan Pingshan and Luo Zhanglong.

Other congress attendees included CPC leaders Li Dazhao, Zhang Tailei, Xiang Ying, Qu Qiubai and the only female representative, Xiang Jingyu. Hendricus Sneevliet, a Dutch representative from the Communist International, also attended the event, the first CPC National Congress to be held in Guangzhou.

Forty people attended the congress.

The congress determined the principles and policies of anti-imperialism and anti-feudalism and established a united front with the Kuomintang, which was then led by Sun Yat-sen.

Three years after the congress, China witnessed a great revolution as the KMT and CPC jointly started a successful military campaign known as the Northern Expedition to topple the incumbent warlord-led Beiyang government.