Communist Party exhibitions emphasize honor and duty among Chinese youth

“(Their stories) were a stark contrast to my life and made me reconsider my reason for joining the Communist Party,” she said.

Patriotic-themed exhibitions filled with young people in red scarves and students have become commonplace in recent years, especially during national holidays.

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Chinese Communist Party on track to reach 100 million members by year-end

Chinese Communist Party on track to reach 100 million members by year-end

The Red Building, a four-story red brick house, reopened in 2021 to serve as a memorial hall for the Communist Party’s early revolutionary activities.

“I feel like I’m with those students (in 1919), and I’m motivated to relearn Marxism and theories about the Communist Party,” she said.

“With exams coming up, I hope I have some luck here,” she added.

Some young visitors said not all historical relics were boring and monotonous. Wang, from Fudan University, loved a souvenir drawing of Lu Xun, a towering figure in modern Chinese literature revered by the Communist Party.

“It’s a gift from a friend who visited Lu Xun’s former residence,” Wang said. “Young people like (these souvenirs) and feel connected because these creations implant historical figures into people’s hearts in a more relaxed way.”

Young people’s enthusiasm was partly galvanized by a popular TV series about Communist Party heroes that aired in 2021.

The Age of Awakeninga state-produced television soap opera chronicling the May Fourth Movement and the founding of the Communist Party, has inspired a fashion for merchandise featuring celebrities and icons made popular by the show, although the popularity of such memorabilia may have begun to fade recently compared to three years ago.

But there were also visitors to these exhibitions who came out of obligation rather than passion.

At the Communist Party Museum near Beijing’s Olympic Park, some parents said they had come to help their children meet school requirements. One mother said her son had to fill out a form on the Red Army and write a story about a Red Army soldier.

“These tasks are hard, but they are required by the school. How can we refuse to do them?” she said.

An undergraduate student in the Red Building said the tour was a “waste of time.”

“It’s so boring and it’s all propaganda, and there’s nothing new in any of these (exhibition) rooms,” he said. “I could have spent my time better studying for the college entrance exam.”

“We waste too much time on ideological and political lessons – even during the summer holidays.”

Zeng Jingjing, an education graduate from Beijing Normal University, said that although the current circumstances are different, young people can still learn from revolutionary generations.

“What we can learn from our predecessors is their spirit,” Zeng said after visiting a patriotic education site in Shanghai.

Yuan Bo, who has completed her college education and works at a start-up in Shanghai, said she is often more interested in observing other visitors’ reactions than in the exhibits.

Yuan said she was indifferent about the memorial since the exhibition was similar to other patriotic education sites she had visited.

“We are told what we should think about history and the homeland, instead of having our own thoughts and ideas. We won (the war against the Japanese invasion) thanks to all the great work of our country and our people,” she said.

Watching the little children running and shouting “defeat the Japanese” at the memorial, Yuan said she was like them when she was their age, but had since experienced a change.

“Before I was able to form my own values, I was often fed different ideas by others, and it’s hard not to be influenced by all these anti-Japanese movies and TV series.

“But I don’t want to blindly follow others anymore.”

She said that while patriotism was important, it should not come at the expense of independent thinking.

“Patriotic education is certainly necessary, but there must be room for discussion,” Yuan said. “Promoting peace may be more important than promoting patriotism.”

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Jonathan Sullivan, associate professor of Chinese politics at the University of Nottingham, said that in China, “control over representations of the past is an ideological battleground.”

Just outside the exhibit, a cafeteria called Le Café du Peuple continues the patriotic message in its decor, which features red stars and other Communist Party symbols. A stereo plays patriotic songs on a loop, and revolutionary posters on the walls bear slogans such as “Taiwan independence is a dead end.”

Beijing views Taiwan as a part of China that must be reunified by force if necessary. Most countries, including the United States, do not recognize Taiwan as an independent state, but Washington opposes any attempt to take the self-ruled island by force and has pledged to supply it with weapons.

The cafe sells two types of cappuccino: one with foam in the shape of the Chinese territory and the other topped with foam in the shape of the word “China” in Chinese characters.

Its pineapple latte, launched in July, is decorated with the shape of the island of Taiwan and the words “must be flipped” on top.

“I felt like I was living in magical realism,” Yuan said, watching the chocolate foam diminish after ordering his cappuccino.