The school that helped ignite a revolution

Ti Gong

Putuo District is known as "Red Huxi." Huxi, or West Shanghai, where the working class entered the political arena for the first time under the leadership of the Communist Party of China, is home to the first workers' school founded by the Party.

The district in Shanghai's northwest downtown was once home to a large swathe of China's earliest modern factories, and thousands of workers. The riverside region along Suzhou Creek is one of the birthplaces of China's modern national industries.

To mark the centennial of the Party, Putuo aims to promote its revolutionary history as the birthplace of China's labor campaigns.

It is also hosting a new memorial to the first workers' school founded by the CPC a century ago.

The Exhibition Hall of the Huxi (West Shanghai) Half-day School for Workers opened near the former site of the school on Anyuan Road along Suzhou Creek.

"Historians and researchers have studied a wealth of historical documents to arrange the exhibition and restore the historic school," said Pan Xushan, deputy director of the district's publicity department.

The Xiaoshadu area, or Hsiao Sna Ferry, was once desolate and remote until a road was built by the International Settlement in 1899.

Many Japanese textile plants began investing in the area, attracting a large number of migrant workers from neighboring provinces.

By the 1920s, a quarter of Shanghai's 800,000 workers were spinners, mainly in Putuo's Huxi area.

Of the city's 58 textile factories, about 20 were in Huxi.

When the anti-imperial and anti-feudal May 4th Movement broke out in 1919, the spinners of Xiaoshadu took an active part.

In 1920, Party member Li Qihan founded the school in the Jinxiuli neighborhood in the Xiaoshadu area, where most local textile workers lived and worked, to teach culture and promote Marxism and Party principles among local workers, as well as organize labor movements. The school was later expanded to become the Huxi Workers' Club.

Party leaders such as Qu Qiubai, Cai Hesen and Yang Kaihui, the wife of Chairman Mao Zedong, once gave lessons.

Many leaders of workers' movements were trained at the school. It was also where the Chinese version of "The Communist Manifesto," translated by linguist and educator Chen Wangdao, was promoted among local workers for the first time.

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"Workers had to work 12-hour shifts in the factories mainly founded by foreign companies and study for the rest of time at the school," Pan said. Workers, including many child labors under 15 years old, must stand and work for 12 hours without resting in the spinning workshops.

The two-story memorial documents the history of the school, with cultural relics and introductions to key historical figures. The site on the south bank of the Suzhou Creek includes the functions of collection, research, exhibition, education and tourism.

Four sections of exhibitions review the history of the Xiaoshadu area, the origin of the school, the workers' movements after the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China as well as development of other similar schools led by the Party across the city.

A classroom on the ground floor has been restored as well as the office and bedroom of some teachers on the second floor.

A phonograph plays classic Peking Opera by master Mei Lanfang and pop songs of the 1920s in the front of the classroom.

"It was difficult to invite the workers to attend the school because of their toilsome work," said Xu Chi, curator of the exhibition. "The organizers then put the phonograph on to attract the workers to rest before classes," she said.

Li and other teachers also played football with the workers, more than half of whom were under 15.

Jin Chongji, a famous historian, said Chen Wangdao once recalled it was difficult to make a speech among the workers.

Famous writer Shen Yanbing, better known by his pseudonym Mao Dun, used to make speeches to the workers. But most just ignored him.

"One of the most effective measures was to open night schools in a factory, along with workers' clubs to encourage them to fight for their interests," said Jin.

The classroom was restored mainly according to the memoirs of Huang Guisheng, one of the workers at a major Japanese textile factory in the Xiaoshadu area.

"A teacher wearing a grey gown invited workers to listen to the phonograph. We sat at 20 desks and chairs to enjoy the Peking Opera in the classroom," Huang recalled.

Huang said the teachers mainly taught based on a basic Chinese characters book. Teachers would inspire the workers with simple questions such as "why workers must live a hard life; how the imperialists oppressed us; and how the capitalists exploited us?"

Some key exhibits reflect the experience of workers for foreign business operators.

Several wooden boards, for instance, are displayed – workers had to apply to hold the board to go to the toilet. One quota for each workshop.

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The First National Congress of the CPC decided to establish labor unions and promote the advanced thinking among the workers.

Core Party members were sent to work in the unions. The National Labor Union Secretariat was established to unite all workers in a class war.

In August 1921, the school changed its name to the Shanghai No. 1 Workers' School.

According to a newspaper in 1922, one of the exhibits in the memorial shows over 200 workers, including some 20 women, applied to study in the school which ran classes between 7am and 9am for workers on night shifts and 7pm and 9pm for others.

The memoirs of early Party members who once gave lessons at the school are exhibited at the memorial. They include Bao Huiseng, a delegate at the first national congress.

"I gave two lessons every week about common political knowledge and the National Labor Union Secretariat," Bao recalled in his memoir in 1954. He later served as a teacher at the school.

Dong Chuping, an official with the secretariat, recalled in his memoir, that the teachers firstly talked with the workers and helped their children go to school.

"Most of the workers were undereducated who hoped their children can receive better education," Dong recalled.

Another key exhibit, a report written by Zhang Guotao, director of the secretariat, says "Only 5 percent of the Chinese workers can read and the others can neither read nor write.

"Some workers at foreign companies can speak poor English or Japanese."

Li was arrested in June 1922 for leading a strike by local postal workers. The secretariat was shut down in July and the school had to be suspended. Li was killed by the Kuomintang in 1927 at the age of 29.

Chairman Mao wrote an inscription in 1945 asking students to inherit the spirit of Li.

The memorial is free, with bookings (6266-1500) required for both individuals and groups.

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Workers Movement

Nearby is the memorial hall to Gu Zhenghong (1905-1925), who died during a workers' strike in 1925. It shows Putuo's important status in China's revolutionary history, according to the district government.

Renovation of the Gu Zhenghong Memorial Hall, about 700 meters away, has been completed. The sacrifice of Gu, who was inspired by his studies at the half-day school, later developed into the overwhelming May 30 Movement in 1925 against foreign imperialists.

The 16-year-old Gu left his hometown to work at local Japanese textile mills in 1921. He studied Marxism at the Huxi, or West Shanghai, workers' club in 1924.

When he led the workers to rush into the No. 7 textile company during a workers' uprising on May 15, 1925, the 20-year-old was shot dead.

The memorial hall of Gu exhibits a model of the textile company dormitory where he once lived. The simple house of brick and wood shows the poor living environment of Gu and his colleagues.

The Japanese officials required body checks when workers left the factory. Other exhibits include a bandage used by female workers to conceal their pregnancy and avoid being sacked.

A set of electronic cartoon paintings review how Gu and his workmates fought for their rights.

During his last protest, he was shot on the left leg but still encouraged others to hang on.

The Japanese businessmen shot him again in the belly and head after noticing he was the leader. Gu fell in his own blood.

Inspired by Gu, over 35,000 workers at 22 Japanese textile companies in Xiaoshadu and Yangshupu in north Yangpu District took part in a massive strike in February 1925.

It led to the May 30 Movement in the same year.

Ti Gong