Historic flag-raising at Party constitution site

Despite heavy rains, more than 500 people turned out this morning to attend a special flag-raising ceremony held in front of the memorial site of the Party’s Second National Congress.

The site on Laochengdu Road N. in Jing’an District was where the first Party constitution was drafted.

On July 16, 1922, 12 Party delegates gathered in secret at the residence of Li Da in the Fudeli neighborhood, one of few remaining secret Party sites in the city following a series of police raids. In a footnote to history, Chairman Mao Zedong failed to attend the meeting as he forgot the address.

Over eight days, the 12 delegates shaped the first Party constitution, which contained six chapters and 4,000 words.

Currently, the memorial boasts China’s first Party constitution library.

After Tuesday's flag-raising ceremony, Zhang Shihua, nephew of one of the earliest Party members, Zhang Renya, shared stories about how his uncle took every effort to protect the first Party constitution.

Zhang Renya died of illness in 1932 after spiriting some important documents to safety in his hometown of Ningbo City, in Zhejiang Province. They included a copy of the first Party constitution, now preserved in China’s Central Archives in Beijing.