Chinese Communist Party Centenary
The CPC marked its 100th anniversary with a mass ceremony in Tiananmen Square; Xi Jinping declared China had achieved "complete victory" in eliminating absolute poverty and that the era of being "bullied" by foreign powers was "gone forever."
The Celebration
On July 1, 2021, the Chinese Communist Party celebrated the 100th anniversary of its founding at a mass ceremony in Tiananmen Square, attended by tens of thousands of carefully selected participants. Xi Jinping delivered a major speech declaring that China had achieved "complete victory" in eliminating absolute poverty — fulfilling one of the Party's centenary goals — and that "the Chinese people have stood up," echoing Mao Zedong's 1949 proclamation.
Historical Narrative
The centenary became an occasion to consolidate an official narrative of CPC history. A new Party history resolution — only the third in the Party's history, following resolutions in 1945 and 1981 — was adopted at the Sixth Plenary Session of the 19th Central Committee in November 2021. The resolution elevated Xi Jinping's contributions to the same tier as Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping, describing the "New Era" under Xi as the third great transformation of modern China.
Xi's Declaration
In his speech, Xi issued a stark warning that China would never allow "any foreign force to bully, oppress or subjugate" China, and that "anyone who dares try will find their heads bashed bloody against a Great Wall of steel forged by over 1.4 billion Chinese people." The language was more combative than previous centenary rhetoric and signalled a more assertive foreign policy posture. The speech crystallised what many analysts described as the end of China's post-1978 strategy of "keeping a low profile."