Experts credit Red Boat spirit with China's rise

The courageous and pioneering spirit of the Communist Party of China, along with its wholehearted devotion to the people — known as the Red Boat spirit — has fueled China's sweeping transformation over the past century and remains a powerful force behind the country's modernization efforts and engagement with global challenges, officials and experts said on Saturday.

At a forum held by Nanhu Lake in Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, Wang Hao, Party secretary of the province, said the enduring spirit has helped the nation navigate change and adversity.

"It has rallied formidable strength to advance Chinese modernization," he said.

In 1921, 13 Party delegates gathered on a small boat on Nanhu Lake to conclude the CPC's First National Congress, which had been suspended in Shanghai due to police harassment. That vessel — now widely known as the Red Boat — is regarded as the physical birthplace of the CPC.

In a June 2005 article in Guangming Daily, President Xi Jinping, who was Zhejiang's Party secretary at the time, introduced the concept of the Red Boat spirit, describing it as the embodiment of the Party's pioneering ethos and its unwavering commitment to the people.

For China's more than 100 million Party members, the boat is far more than a tourist site; it is a living symbol of the CPC's roots.

"Since its founding, the Party has upheld the pioneering spirit, unceasingly exploring the laws governing China's revolution, development and reform," said Zhou Aibing, editor-in-chief of Qiushi Journal, the flagship magazine of the CPC Central Committee. "It has successfully blazed a new trail of Chinese-style modernization and created a new form of human civilization."

As the cradle of the Red Boat spirit, Jiaxing and Zhejiang reflect values of innovation, diligence and devotion. Official data show that Jiaxing's GDP surged 5.5 times, from 116.6 billion yuan in 2005 to 756.95 billion yuan ($105.3 billion) in 2024. Over the same period, Zhejiang's GDP grew from 1.34 trillion yuan to 9.01 trillion yuan.

Xinfengming Group, a chemical fiber manufacturer based near Nanhu Lake, exemplifies the Red Boat spirit, said company president Zhuang Yaozhong.

"The essence of the spirit lies in that it encourages us to overcome the impossible and achieve the unattainable," Zhuang said.

"Since its establishment 25 years ago, the group has focused on perfecting the making of chemical fiber, aiming to become not only one of the best in China, but in the whole world."

Thanks to that unwavering focus, the company's operating revenue surpassed 130 billion yuan last year for the first time.

The Red Boat spirit continues to resonate beyond China's borders, said Jose Medeiros da Silva, a Brazilian sinologist at Zhejiang International Studies University.

"I have lived in Zhejiang since 2015 and witnessed its intense development inspired by the spirit," he said.

"My family have benefited from many aspects of this prosperity, particularly in education, healthcare, transportation, public security, public spaces, ecological civilization and museums, among others."

Da Silva said that as the world confronts rising geopolitical tensions, including the threat of nuclear war, the courage and wisdom embodied by the Red Boat spirit are more essential than ever.

"To safeguard peace, promote friendship and deepen mutual understanding among civilizations stands as an urgent task of our present era," he said.