The site of the First Congress of the Communist Party (1921)
The site of the Communist Party’s First Congress - the row of red-and-black brick shikumen with bright ornamental gateways, on the corner of Xingye and Huangpi Roads - looked quite different back in 1951, when local historians scouted the city in search of Communist landmarks. The rediscovered building was then a combination of a sauce-and-pickle factory on the corner, a noodle shop and remodeled residences, all white-washed on the outside. To tell the history of the ruling party and Mao Zedong's rise to leadership, which allegedly took place at this address, the compound was rebuilt as a single-bay shikumen terrace, like back in the 1920s.
Photo: 上海市档案. PastVu: https://pastvu.com/p/2172446
“[...] In 1950, when Shen Zhiyu set forth on his search under the shade of Shanghai’s parasol trees, no one knew for certain where the First Party Congress Site was located. One can imagine his trepidation as he replied to Yao, “The task is indeed glorious, but it will be very difficult... the French Concession is so huge, how can we even begin?” [...]
“The search for the First Party Congress Site began with a counterrevolutionary document and the wife of a traitor. [...] Shen Zhiyu and Yang Shuhui [Zhou Fohai’s widow who was released from prison in order to assist in this revolutionary task] took walks along Beile Road, which had been renamed Huangpi South Road in 1943. Shen Zhiyu, bespectacled and dressed in his blue cadre suit, followed half a meter behind Yang Shuhui. Over thirty years had passed since Yang Shuhui had delivered letters to the house for her husband. In the much-changed landscape, she would seize upon a house but then determine that it was not the Li residence. Then, on one of their walks she suddenly stopped near the intersection of Huangpi South Road and Xingye Road (formerly Rue Wangtz), arrested by the sight of a two-story white-washed building labeled Hengchangfu Noodles. “This,” she said to Shen, “seems a bit like the Li family’s back door!”
“During subsequent days, Ms. Yang returned on her own to inspect the building, and Shen interviewed the neighbors. From Dong Zhengchang, the proprietor of a sauce-and-pickle shop, they learned that the house had been built in the 1920s by a woman surnamed Chen. The Li brothers had rented two of the units, knocking out the dividing wall to make one residence. In 1924 the woman Chen rented out the house to family members, who became secondary landlords. It later became a pawnshop, and when Shen and Yang Shuhui arrived in 1951, it was a small noodle
factory with two families residing on the second floor. In Shen Zhiyu’s account, when the occupants learned that their building was the birthplace of the CCP, “everyone clapped their hands and smilingly exclaimed, ‘So it turns out that the place where we live is on precious ground!’” Told that the site would become a memorial museum and that the families would have to relocate, Shen remembered that they gladly assented, stating, “that is as it should be!” (Adapted from Denise Y. Ho, Curating Revolution: Politics on Display in Mao’s China)
PastVu: https://pastvu.com/p/2171756
The site after the redesign. PastVu: https://pastvu.com/p/2172755
Address: 78 Xingye Road // 兴业路78号