Foreigners reflect on Party's success over past century

Overseas friends of CPC laud multiple achievements

Before he died in 1994, Hans Muller repeatedly told his wife, "Never leave China."

Fifty-five years earlier, when World War II broke out, Muller, a young German with a medical degree from Switzerland, arrived in Yan'an, Shaanxi province.

He fought side by side with the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people in the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), and later in the War of Liberation in the late 1940s. After the founding of New China in 1949, he devoted himself to the country's socialist construction.

Since the CPC was founded in 1921, it has attracted many foreign friends such as Muller during different periods of revolution, construction and reform. Their interactions with Chinese Communists over the past century have opened a window through which the world can better understand the Party.

Today, the CPC is the world's largest political party, with more than 95 million members. Over the past century, it has led the Chinese people to achieve national independence, end a humiliating history of being arbitrarily exploited by foreign powers and transformed China from an impoverished country into the world's second-largest economy, which enjoys all-around moderate prosperity.

The CPC, which celebrates its centenary on Thursday, is leading the world's most populous country toward the goal of the Chinese nation's great rejuvenation.

In 1936, United States journalist Edgar Snow journeyed to northern areas of Shaanxi province to find out what Chinese Communists are like.

In a cave dwelling, Mao Zedong and Snow had many lengthy discussions. Over a period of about four months, Snow also interviewed Peng Dehuai, Xu Haidong and other senior CPC officials and ordinary soldiers, and also experienced life in the Red Army.

In his book Red Star Over China, Snow mentions the tenacity with which the Chinese Communists clung to their principles, as well as the invincible, incredible soldiers led by the CPC and the indestructible energy behind them.

George Hatem, a US doctor known in China as Ma Haide, visited northern Shaanxi with Snow. Moved by the bravery of the Red Army, he decided to stay on at the end of his tour, joining the CPC in 1937－the first Westerner to gain Party membership.

To make a contribution, one must have strong spiritual support, Hatem said late in life.

Over the past 100 years, the CPC has stayed true to its founding aspiration and mission, leading the Chinese nation in a tremendous transformation. It has stood up, become better off and grown in strength. The nation has achieved two feats rarely seen around the world－rapid economic growth and long-term social stability.

According to British political scholar Martin Jacques, the CPC has arguably been the world's most successful political party over the past century.