CELEBRATION OF THE “GREAT AND GLORIOUS” COMMUNIST PARTY OF CHINA’S 105TH ANNIVERSARY

The founding of the Communist Party of China (CPC) 105 years ago – during a time when the nation was beset by internal troubles and external aggression and the people impoverished and weak – “opened a historic great change that has turned the world upside down”.

In fact, it has been “105 years of unremitting struggle that has profoundly influenced the course of world”, and at the same time “fundamentally the future and destiny of the Chinese people”, according to the President Xi Jinping, who is also the leader of the CPC.

This is the assessment, and indeed assertion, by President Xi is only a fraction of phenomenal progress that the People’s Republic of China continues to enjoy under the stewardship of the CPC. In my humble opinion, Chinese runaway success in development and international stature has been enhanced by the CPC’s political consciousness to stick to the mission. The Party has adhered to its original aspiration and mission of seeking happiness for the Chinese people and seeking rejuvenation for the Chinese nation. There has never been any mission-drift throughout the CPC’s glorious 105 years of existence.

Said President Xi: “Our Party keeps firmly in mind the nature, purpose, and goals of struggle of a Marxist political party, vigorously carries forward the great founding spirit of the Party, and through hardships has become even firmer in fighting spirit and, through repeated tempering, even stronger.” He also said the CPC has earned the stripes to be described as a “great, glorious, and correct Party”.

President Xi was reflecting on the Party’s history at a conference to mark the celebrations of the founding of the CPC on July 1 amid an atmosphere of great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, where hunger and starvation, hardship and starvation are no longer a primary factor in modern China.

Members of the CPC with outstanding track-record in the nation-building mission of the CPC were also honoured with the July 1 Medals, a distinct recognition for the grass-root hard-work of dedicated comrades and patriots.

Throughout various epochs in the glorious history of the CPC, China has undergone different stages of development, each meticulously well thought-out by scholars relying on empirical evidence and lived experiences.

“Our 105 years of unremitting struggle have demonstrated the powerful vitality of Marxism. Our Party has persisted in combining the basic principles of Marxism with China’s concrete reality and with China’s excellent traditional culture,” Said President Xi, before adding:

“Our Party has continuously advanced the Sinicization and modernization of Marxism, and has formed Mao Zedong Thought, Deng Xiaoping Theory, the important thought of Three Represents, the Scientific Outlook on Development, and the Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, greatly enriching and developing Marxism.”

President Xi further said: “In the great practice of revolution, construction, reform, and the new era, our Party led the people through innumerable hardships and successfully opened up and upheld the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.”

He elaborated: “In only a few decades, China completed the process of industrialization that developed countries took several hundred years to complete, creating the two great miracles of rapid economic development and long-term social stability.

“Today,” he pointed out, “the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is unstoppable and shows an unprecedentedly bright prospect.”

He said the CPC was leading the people in advancing Chinese modernization. “We promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind, contributing Chinese wisdom, Chinese solutions, and Chinese strength to solving major problems facing humanity,” said President Xi.

This message surely is in sync with that of the founding fathers of the CPC. I look at Chairman Mao Zedong and his comrades, and think that when they established the People’s Republic of China on October 1, 1949, little they might have thought of the gigantic geopolitical powerhouse that they were building.

Modern China’s story is intrinsically intertwined with the proud collective efforts of the CPC throughout its various intervals of history.

For the uninitiated, it is pretty much understandable to view today’s People’s Republic of China through the simplistic prism of generic development. Yet, truth be told, the story of China’s meteoric rise in international affairs cannot be separated from the hard-work, commitment and dedication of Chairman Mao and lately President Xi, the CPC and many other ordinary Chinese people who continue to follow an anti-imperial vision.

Mao Zedong was one of the thirteen original people when the CPC was founded on a pro-labour and unification ticket at the beginning of July 1921.

As the CPC turns 105-year-old in 2026, it marks a truly significant milestone built on relentless drive and desire to pull the entire nation out of poverty, hardships, hunger and poverty. Above all, the CPC has built a modern China with an unmistakable sense of sovereignty as well as persistent commitment to public good.

Until today, under President Xi’s leadership, various administrations led by the CPC over the years have governed the populous nation through a deep sense of patriotism, ensuring that China will never be a colony again.

Additionally, modern Chinese State leadership has remained steadfast in the historical mission to galvanize the renaissance of the Global South. A good example of this is the Road and Belt Initiative. At the same time, modern China under the guidance of the CPC remains a catalyst of South-South relations, thereby ensuring the mobilization of the vast majority of former colonies that fought, and gained, independence from the Western colonial powers.

It is in this sense, therefore, that the CPC’s 105th birthday celebration – officially marked on 1st July – is not an occasion exclusively for the Chinese nation, but rather for the many like-minded nations often described as “developing economies”.

The phenomenal success of the CPC belies the horrendous background to the party’s historical difficulties.

The Party has come a long way. For instance, there was a time in 1927 when the communists were purged, especially in urban areas. The period has been historically recorded as the “White Terror of 1927”. That reign of terror was orchestrated by the powerful movement known as Kuomintang (KMT), led by Kiang Kai-Shek. It was during that time that the CPC, then led by Mao Zedong, shifted focus to rural communities, society’s most vulnerable.

There, Chairman Mao established strongholds, particularly in the Jinggang Mountains as well as in Yan’an. Of greater significance, it was there and then that the CPC formed the Chinese Red Army.

I paint this picture in the evolution of the CPC to contextualize the party’s challenging rise to influence, fame and glory in modernity.

From abject to poverty that had China ranking among the poorest nations during the colonial era, the CPC has catapulted the country to the world’s second largest economy and arguably the most technologically advanced by a mile.

The CPC has continued to develop China for the collective benefit of all, instead of a few politically connected.

A century since it was founded, the CPC has proudly lifted more than 800 million of citizens out of poverty, prompting the UN to heap praises for China’s attainment of one of the Millennium Goals ahead of schedule.

President Xi’s message of staying humble was crystal clear during his address to conference on July 1. He told the conference, and the Chinese nation, that understandably proud as they are: “We must by no means become arrogant and complacent or stop moving forward.”

He also said, in conclusion, as he vowed to build a fully “great modern socialist country” by the middle of this century:

“Time waits for no one! History waits for one! All Party comrades must not forget the original aspiration and must keep the mission firmly in mind.”

That mission, he elaborated, included being “modest, prudent and working hard, and strive to create new historical brilliance”.