Museum that charts party history becomes new Beijing landmark

Building's shape symbolizes central role of working class

Believing that the Communist Party of China's history is the most vivid and convincing textbook, the CPC Central Committee, with General Secretary Xi Jinping at its core, decided to build a Party history museum in late 2017.

A piece of land reserved for cultural sites near the Beijing Olympic Park was chosen, taking into consideration its location, the height of the building and the surrounding environment.

The Beijing Institute of Architectural Design (Group), renowned for designing the Great Hall of the People more than 60 years ago, became the museum's leading design institute.

The museum's groundbreaking ceremony was held on Aug 26, 2018, and construction began on Sept 10 that year.

The construction work involved nearly 50,000 people, with Xi following its progress keenly.

In September last year, he listened to a work report on engineering construction and museum exhibitions, and outlined clear requirements for the next step.

He stressed the importance of demonstrating the theme of "staying true to the founding mission" to show that the CPC strives for the well-being of the people and national rejuvenation.

"The museum should be a sacred hall, a spiritual home for Party members, an educational center to guide the public to follow the Party's instructions, and an authoritative institute for Party history research and publicity," Xi said.

On Feb 8, Xi presided over a meeting to review the Party history exhibition plan.

The meeting stressed that representative and convincing elements should be used to clearly explain the historical background of the founding of the CPC, the historical inevitability of the Chinese people choosing the leadership of the CPC, and the Party's adherence to integrity, innovation and progressing with the times.

After nearly 1,000 days of construction, the Museum of the CPC was officially completed on May 5.

Details of the museum are full of historical connotations.

The museum is in the shape of the Chinese character gong, which means workers or labor in Chinese and looks like a horizontal H. The design implies that the CPC is the vanguard of the Chinese working class, the Chinese people and the Chinese nation.

"The color of the museum's facades is earthy yellow. It shows that the Party comes from the people who like the earth and that provides a solid foundation for the Party's growth," said Shao Weiping, chief architect at Beijing Institute of Architectural Design (Group).

The building adopts a traditional colonnade structure, fully representing the essence of Chinese architecture: upright and foursquare, simple but grand.

There are 28 colonnades on the eastern and western sides of the exhibition hall, symbolizing that after 28 years of struggle, the CPC established the People's Republic of China.

Five magnificent sculptures stand in the museum's square, with a huge CPC flag sculpture, aptly named Flag, denoting that the CPC flag offers direction and is a source of strength. In the four other sculptures, 276 figures tell the story of the CPC's 100-year struggle for the well-being of the Chinese people and national rejuvenation.

The museum also has some construction materials with special meanings, Bai Yimin, its deputy curator, said.

"For example, the cornerstone of the museum is from Yan'an, a former revolutionary base of the CPC," Bai said.

Nearly two-thirds of the main building area, or about 150,000 square meters, has been designed as exhibition space.

In the exhibition hall, a special post office has been set up to serve visitors and tell the CPC's history through its services, using a special postal code, 100100, that not only symbolizes that the museum was completed upon the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Party, but also that the CPC is marching forward toward its two centenary goals.