Zhejiang Province - Red Boat on the South Lake in Jiaxing 嘉兴南湖红船

Anchored alongside an island in the middle of the South Lake in Jiaxing, Zhejiang Province, it is a replica of the boat on which the Communist Party of China (CPC) was founded. On July 23, 1921, 13 delegates of the Chinese Communists nationwide gathered in a French concession building at 76 Xingye Road in Shanghai to hold the CPC’s 1st National Congress. Some French policemen interrupted the meeting. Under the suggestion of a delegate’s wife who was from Jiaxing, the delegates, including Mao Zedong, decided to move the meeting onto the South Lake, a famous scenic area near Shanghai, in a boat reserved for visitors. Therefore, the delegates gathered on the boat and the Chinese Communist Party was founded at the end of the meeting. Early in 1945, the Party decided to name July 1st as its birthday right before it held its Seventh National Congress in the spring. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the local government in Jiaxing decided to replicate the boat to commemorate the historical event. On July 1, 1959, the 38th anniversary of the founding of the CPC, the replica, known as “Red Boat,” was launched into the South Lake and has since become the booming tourist attraction. The boat, about 16 meters long and three meters wide, is anchored alongside the bank just in front of the Misty Rain Pavilion烟雨楼. It has four cabins under wooden roofing, connected by a passageway. The front cabin is furnished with a square table at the center, several chairs and a long bed for smoking. There is a set of tea ware and a set of mahiong tiles lay out on the table. It was said that the delegates put mahjong tile on the table while meeting in the cabin. They would play mahjong in case the policemen came to check. Every piece of the furniture was duplicated according to the local style of those days and features elaborate carving. Under the meticulous care, they still look new. Behind the front cabin are middle, side and back cabins. There is a bed in the middle cabin and a cooking stove and a cupboard in the back cabin. A slender wooden tender is roped to the stern of the boat. In those days, this kind of vessel was used to shuttle the delegates onto the boat. The boat is certainly not the only item of interest on the South Lake.

Encompassing 416,000 square meters, the lake has been a scenic attraction since the Sui Dynasty. During the Song Dynasty, many gardens and mansions were built around the lake and it was named amongst the “three famous lakes in Zhejiang Province,” along with Hangzhou’s West Lake and Shaoxing’s East Lake. The Misty Rain Pavilion originally appeared on the lakeshore around 940. It was ruined by wars in the concluding years of the Yuan Dynasty. In 1548, local official heaped silt from the city moat into the middle of the South Lake while dredging the moat and formed an island with an area of some 12,000 square meters. The official built the double storey pavilion on the island and planted two ginkgo trees in front of the structure the following year. The structure experienced more destruction and restoration. A local official restored the present one in 1918. The two trees have grown to a great size and are now providing shade to the pavilion even today. Since the Misty Rain Pavilion was rebuilt on the island, more pavilions and bridges have been built there. Numerous famous people, scholars, poets and emperors have visited the island and left their poems, paintings and calligraphy. Emperor Qianlong of the Qing Dynasty paid six trips to the island and left 15 poems about the pavilion. He loved the structure so much that had it reproduced in the Mountain Summer Resort in Chengde of Hebei Province. The island has been developed into one of the best gardens in the province, with a diverse collection of pavilions, arched bridges, ponds, and rockeries. Various trees trim the lake shore of the island. Potted plants can be found all over the place. Standing on the second floor of the pavilion, visitors can see the lake stretching towards the city outlined by high rises, ferries, and barges shuttling on the water, and the Red Boat rippling in the breeze. People become aware of how good the decision to move the Congress onto the boat was. With the picturesque scenery, the lake also was a perfect place for sightseeing.

The South Lake Revolutionary Museum is the most conspicuous one and warrants a quick look. Various historical documents like photos, letters and writings, concerning the CPC’s founding, are in display.

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