Visitors flock to historic site

There were only dozens of Party members when the first national congress of the CPC was held in 1921.

However, after a century it has evolved to have more than 90 million members. The whole process is worthy of public commemoration, Li says.

Preparation for the exhibition began late last year, and it expands historical items that enable visitors to more vividly relive the past.

The exhibition covers an area of 5,600 square meters and offers more than 1,100 historical items.

The memorial hall's authority has ensured the provenance of every exhibit, as well as incorporating new approaches in the display of the Party's history, including phantom imaging and oil paintings.

"We've received about 10,000 tourist visits a day," says Li.

In particular, families have accounted for a considerable portion of the total number.

"We've found that more parents are willing to bring their children here to learn about the history of the Party," Li says, adding that the exhibition is aimed at helping the public, especially young people, understand the struggles and hard-won victories of the past, so they can appreciate the difficulty in obtaining the happy life they enjoy today. Hopefully, he says, they will be inspired to do their part to contribute to the country's development.

The Nanhu Revolutionary Memorial Hall was established in 1959. Its aim is to promote and protect the site of the first national congress of the CPC. It was expanded and upgraded in 2011 to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the CPC. Since then, the memorial hall has continued to expand its collection of historical objects. At present, the venue is home to more than 10,000 artifacts, including revolutionary relics, precious documents, as well as valuable paintings and calligraphy works.

One of the most treasured exhibits is a second-print edition of the Communist Manifesto by the two great German thinkers Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in the Chinese language. To date, there are only 11 such copies that have been found, according to a tour guide with the hall.

After the expansion, the Nanhu memorial hall covers an area of 2.73 hectares, with a total construction area of more than 19,600 square meters, which is 10 times that of the original building. The exhibition area is now 7,700 square meters.