Explainer | Why China’s Communist Party celebrates anniversary on July 1, earlier than first official meeting
- The party held its first national congress in July 1921 but the political confusion of the times left exact day unclear
- Date of the inaugural gathering was lost through incomplete records, a police raid and the country’s civil war
This is the 13th in the South China Morning Post’s series of explainers about the Communist Party of China in the lead-up to the party’s centenary in July. Here, Jane Cai explains why the anniversary is celebrated on July 1, even though the first national congress was held in late July, 1921, and how that particular meeting did not go according to plan.
For a long time though, the exact date of this meeting was unclear, in part because of the ensuing confusion in a police raid. Attendees got wind of it and managed to flee beforehand, travelling 100km (62 miles) to the city of Jiaxing in Zhejiang province where they finished their historic gathering in a boat on Nanhu Lake.
05:27
‘Socialism with Chinese characteristics’ explained
Many papers and documents were lost because of the raid. Later, caught up in the chaos of China’s civil war, which only ended in 1949, celebrating the party’s birthday was the least of members’ worries. It was only in the 1950s, after records held by the Soviet Union were transferred to China, that there was any official confirmation of dates relating to the first national congress.
Zhang Baijia is the former deputy director of the Party History Research Office. In 2011, in an article in History Reference, a magazine belonging to the People’s Daily newspaper, Zhang wrote: “No one remembered the opening date of the first party congress. They just remembered it was in July, so they decided on July 1.”
