Xi Jinping, top cadres visit birthplace of China’s Communist Party in Shanghai
Seven members of Politburo Standing Committee cement links to party’s heritage at site of founding fathers’ first congress in 1921
President Xi Jinping made a high-profile visit to the birthplace of China’s Communist Party in Shanghai on Tuesday alongside his colleagues from the new Politburo Standing Committee.
The symbolic visit echoed the call Xi made at the recently concluded 19th national congress for the party to stay true to its founding mission.
And so China’s seven most powerful men flew by private jet from Beijing to the memorial site where the party held its first national congress more than 96 years ago, state broadcaster CCTV reported.
The grey brick building in the tree-lined former French Concession was where Mao Zedong and 12 other delegates met in secret in July 1921. At that time they were representing 57 members of China’s fledging Communist Party, which is now the world’s biggest political group with almost 90 million members, or more than the entire population of Germany.
In the same building on Tuesday, the Standing Committee members took the oath, swearing allegiance to the party and all of its decisions.
A video clip from the state broadcaster showed the six men standing in a row behind Xi, the “core” of the party leadership, facing a hammer and sickle as they repeated Xi’s words.
