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Walking China’s red footsteps in Europe
In the early 20th century thousands of Chinese youth travelled to France and England to find answers for their nation’s future — they returned, armed with Marxism-Leninism, to lead a revolution that would change human history forever, writes ZHANG HE
GATHERING IDEAS: Zhou Enlai and his classmates in London [Tianjin Museum]

THIS year marks the centenary of the Communist Party of China.

It’s a good time to recall an important yet less talked about piece of history that has a close connection to Europe.

It provides a unique insight into the party that has grown into the world’s biggest Marxist ruling party, with over 91 million members, in a century.

'100 male and 6 female students have travelled from Shanghai to France,' article in Le Petit Marseillais, October 20, 1920
Deng Xiaoping in France and his worker’s card at the Schneider-Creusot factory, 1921

Xiaoping Square outside the Montargis Railway Station (Photo: CCTV)
The June 1920 meeting in Durzy Park, Montargis, France, where Cai Hesen made his famous speech
Group photo of Zhou Enlai and his classmates in London, 1921 (Photo: Tianjin Museum)
The Yishibao newspaper, established in 1915 in Tianjin, commissioned Enlai as a reporter during his time in England
The European branch of Chinese Youth Communist Party in Paris, February 1923 (Photo: Party History Research Center of the CPC Central Committee)
The 95th Anniversary Appeal
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