The 1st National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party was held in Shanghai and

Jiaxing Jiaxing (), alternately romanized as Kashing, is a prefecture-level city in northern Zhejiang province, China. Lying on the Grand Canal of China, Jiaxing borders Hangzhou to the southwest, Huzhou to the west, Shanghai to the northeast, and the ...

between July 23 and August 2, 1921. The Congress established the Chinese Communist Party. It was succeeded by the 2nd National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. The congress began in a ''

shikumen Shikumen (, Shanghainese: ''zaq⁸ khu¹ men⁶,'' IPA: ᴀʔ¹¹ kʰu¹¹ mən²⁴ is a traditional Shanghainese architectural style combining Western and Chinese elements that first appeared in the 1860s. At the height of their populari ...

'' building of the

French Concession The Shanghai French Concession; ; Shanghainese pronunciation: ''Zånhae Fah Tsuka'', group=lower-alpha was a foreign concession in Shanghai, China from 1849 until 1943, which progressively expanded in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. ...

area of Shanghai (near present-day

Xintiandi Xintiandi (, Shanghainese: ''Shinthidi'' lit. "New Heaven and Earth",Warr, Anne: ''Shanghai Architecture'', The Watermark Press, 2007, fig. "New World") is an affluent car-free shopping, eating and entertainment district of Shanghai. Xintiand ...

in Huangpu District). In early June 1921, Dutch national

Henk Sneevliet Hendricus Josephus Franciscus Marie (Henk) Sneevliet, known as Henk Sneevliet or by the ''pseudonym'' "Maring" (1883 - 1942), was a Dutch Communism, Communist, who was active in both the Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies. As a functionary of t ...

, also known as Ma Lin, a representative of

Comintern The Communist International (Comintern), also known as the Third International, was a Soviet Union, Soviet-controlled international organization founded in 1919 that advocated world communism. The Comintern resolved at its Second Congress to ...

, arrived in Shanghai, and urged various Communist cells in the country to get together for a national-level meeting. Russian Comintern representative also attended the meeting. At the time, there were 57 members of the Chinese Communist Party. Notably, the two founders of the party did not attend the congress:

Chen Duxiu Chen Duxiu ( zh, t=陳獨秀, w=Ch'en Tu-hsiu; 8 October 187927 May 1942) was a Chinese revolutionary socialist, educator, philosopher and author, who co-founded the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) with Li Dazhao in 1921. From 1921 to 1927, he ser ...

and

Li Dazhao Li Dazhao or Li Ta-chao (October 29, 1889 – April 28, 1927) was a Chinese intellectual and revolutionary who participated in the New Cultural Movement in the early years of the Republic of China, established in 1912. He co-founded the Chinese C ...

. The meeting was put to an end due to harassment from the

police on July 30. The delegates then agreed to move the meeting to a rented tourist boat on South Lake in Jiaxing. The Congress elected

as Secretary (in absentia),

Zhang Guotao Zhang Guotao (November 26, 1897 – December 3, 1979), or Chang Kuo-tao, was a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and rival to Mao Zedong. During the 1920s he studied in the Soviet Union and became a key contact with the Comi ...

as Director of Organization, and Li Da as Director of Propaganda. Of the 13 representatives who attended the congress in 1921, only two would be present at the proclamation ceremony of the People's Republic of China 28 years later: Mao Zedong and

Dong Biwu Dong Biwu (; 5 March 1886 – 2 April 1975) was a Chinese communist revolutionary and politician, who served as acting Chairman of the People's Republic of China between 1972 and 1975. Early life Dong Biwu was born in Huanggang, Hubei to ...

. Others either became casualties of war in the decades that followed or left the party in one way or another (e.g. by expulsion or defection). The site of the conference in Shanghai has been converted into a

museum A museum ( ; plural museums or, rarely, musea) is a building or institution that cares for and displays a collection of artifacts and other objects of artistic, cultural, historical, or scientific importance. Many public museums make these ...

since 1961. The South Lake Revolutionary Museum in Jiaxing located on a central island of the lake was constructed in 1959; a complex hosting more exhibits was constructed north of South Lake in 2011, also to commemorate the 1st Congress. The Congress would be followed by the 2nd Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Communist Party.

Representatives

* Li Da (Shanghai) *

Li Hanjun Li Hanjun (; 1890 – December 17, 1927) was an alternate member of the 3rd Central Executive Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. He was the younger brother of Li Shucheng. Born in Hubei Province, he studied abroad in Japan from 1902 to ...

(Shanghai) *

(Beijing) * (Beijing) *

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; also romanised traditionally as Mao Tse-tung. (26 December 1893 – 9 September 1976), also known as Chairman Mao, was a Chinese communist revolutionary who was the founder of the People's Republic of China (PRC) ...

(Changsha) *

He Shuheng He Shuheng (; 7 May 1876 – 24 February 1935) was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, born in Ningxiang, Hunan province. Biography In 1914, He made acquaintance with Mao Zedong while at Hunan Normal University, and the two would eventually b ...

(Changsha) *

(Wuhan) *

Chen Tanqiu Chen Tanqiu (; 4 January 1896 – 27 September 1943) was a founding member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Chen Tanqiu graduated from Wuhan Higher Normal School (present day Wuhan University) after which he played a leadership role in th ...

(Wuhan) * (Jinan) * (Jinan) * Chen Gongbo (Guangzhou) *

Zhou Fohai Zhou Fohai (; Hepburn: ''Shū Futsukai''; May 29, 1897 – February 28, 1948), Chinese politician, and second-in-command of the Executive Yuan in Wang Jingwei's collaborationist Reorganized National Government of the Republic of China during th ...

(representing Chinese students in Japan) * (representing the absent Chen Duxiu)

References

{{Authority control National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party 1921 in China 1920s in Shanghai 1921 conferences Jiaxing History of Zhejiang