Birthplace of the First Communist Party Branch in the Xiamen Area

Birthplace of the First Communist Party Branch in the Xiamen Area

The birthplace of the first Communist Party branch in the Xiamen area is a Xiamen Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Unit.

The former site of the birthplace of the first CCP branch in the Xiamen area — the CCP Xiamen University Branch — is located at Building NanYing, Xiamen University, No. 422 Siming South Road, Siming District, Xiamen City. Constructed in 1921, it was among the first group of campus buildings erected by Tan Kah Kee when founding Xiamen University, and now serves as office and teaching space for the university.

The founding of the Communist Party of China in July 1921 brought a fresh new look to the Chinese revolution. After the Party’s establishment, worker and peasant movements surged across the country. Influenced and propelled by the national revolutionary situation, in 1925, some progressive intellectuals of Fujian origin in Shanghai, Guangdong, and other places joined the Communist Party of China and were dispatched by the Party to return to Xiamen and other locations to secretly establish Party organizations. At the same time, the ideological awareness of progressive youth in Xiamen also continued to improve through practical struggles, and conditions for establishing a local CCP organization in the Xiamen area gradually matured. In November 1925, Luo Yangcai, a student from Xiamen University, represented Xiamen at the Guangdong Regional Congress held in Guangzhou; in January 1926, Li Juemin, a representative of the Xiamen Kuomintang Party Department, also attended the Second National Congress of the Kuomintang in Guangzhou. During the conferences, the two were successively introduced by Yang Shanjí and Luo Ming in Guangzhou, approved by the Congress Party Branch, and joined the Communist Party of China. To establish a Party organization in the Xiamen area, in early 1926, upon the suggestion of Luo Ming, a publicity officer of the Propaganda Department of the Communist Youth League Guangdong Regional Committee, the CCP Guangdong Regional Committee decided to transfer Luo Qiu Tian, a student of Guangdong University and a Communist Party member, to transfer to Xiamen University. In February 1926, Luo Yangcai, Luo Qiu Tian, and Li Juemin — three Communist Party members — held a secret meeting in Room 111 of Luo Yangcai’s dormitory in Building NanYing at Xiamen University, proclaiming the official establishment of the CCP Xiamen University Branch and electing Luo Yangcai as the branch secretary.

The CCP Xiamen University Branch was one of the earliest CCP organizations established in Fujian Province. After the founding of the Branch, the revolutionary situation in the Xiamen area developed rapidly. By the end of February 1926, Luo Ming came to Xiamen in the capacity of a special envoy of both the CCP Guangdong Regional Committee and the Peasant Department of the Kuomintang Central Committee to help the newly established Youth League Branch and Party Branch run training classes, cultivate key members, and develop a group of Party members. By April 1926, there were 43 Party and League members in the Xiamen area. In May, after the establishment of the CCP Xiamen Special Branch, key Party members were dispatched to Western Fujian as well as Quanzhou and Zhangzhou areas to carry out Party-building activities. In January 1927, the Xiamen General Labor Union was established, with Luo Yangcai serving as chairman. Within just two or three months, more than 10 workers’ Party branches were set up in the Xiamen area, union membership grew to over 20,000, and the union successfully led the “25 Percent Wage Increase” struggle to improve workers’ labor conditions. In 1927, the “April 9th Counterrevolutionary Coup” took place in Xiamen, Luo Yangcai was arrested, and he was executed heroically on June 2. During the convening of the CCP Sixth National Congress, Zhou Enlai praised Luo Yangcai as a “student leader” and a “workers’ leader.”

Building NanYing is a three-story structure with a floor area of 2,316 square meters, largely preserving its original appearance from when it was first built. In July 2003, Xiamen University opened the “Memorial Room of the First CCP Organization in Fujian — the CCP Xiamen University Branch and Martyr Luo Yangcai” on the second floor of Building NanYing. The former site of the birthplace of the first CCP branch in the Xiamen area — Building NanYing — is a Xiamen Municipal Cultural Relics Protection Unit, while Building NanYing itself, as an early building of Xiamen University, is a national and provincial key cultural relics protection unit.

Protected area: The sides of the building are bounded by the building itself; the front and rear are each bordered by an extension of 12 meters from the building.