Yiwu: A commodity hub rich in cultural heritage

3. Red tourism site: Fenshuitang village

Fenshuitang village is a significant destination for red tourism in Yiwu. Visitors can tour the former residence of Chen Wangdao (1891-1977), a scholar who translated The Communist Manifesto into Chinese in 1920, one year before the founding of the Communist Party of China.

Chen returned to Fenshuitang during the Spring Festival of 1920 and lived in a woodshed, where he translated by the light of an oil lamp. In 1952, he became president of Shanghai's Fudan University.

Visitors can explore the restored woodshed, where a wax figure of Chen sits at a simple desk, holding a Chinese writing brush in one hand and a zongzi (a pyramidal glutinous rice dumpling) in the other. The scene is meant to portray the moment when Chen, so engrossed in his translation, mistakenly dipped the dumpling in black ink instead of brown sugar, only realizing it when his mother noticed his darkened lips.