In the dusty heart of Shaanxi province, the Yangjialing revolutionary site stands as a silent witness to a pivotal moment in Chinese history. It was here, in April 1945, that the Communist Party of China (CPC) convened its Seventh National Congress, an event that formalized Mao Zedong’s ideological supremacy and charted the path to the party's ultimate victory. Today, the Great Hall at Yangjialing remains a site of immense symbolic power, serving as a cornerstone for the party’s modern narrative of legitimacy.
President Xi Jinping has described the Seventh Congress as a milestone that marked the party’s arrival at political and ideological maturity. By framing the 1945 meeting as the moment the CPC found its "correct direction," Xi draws a direct parallel between the wartime consolidation under Mao and his own efforts to unify the party today. For the current leadership, the history of Yan’an is not merely past chronicle but a functional blueprint for modern governance.
The 1945 congress was notable for establishing the "three styles of work"—the integration of theory and practice, close ties with the masses, and the practice of self-criticism. These tenets are being resurrected in modern political discourse to combat perceived complacency within the rank and file. By invoking the "Yan’an Spirit," Beijing seeks to instill a sense of wartime discipline and ideological purity in its millions of members.
The physical accessibility of this history has been significantly enhanced by the 2025 opening of the Xi’an-Yan’an high-speed railway. This infrastructure project has effectively integrated the remote revolutionary base into a national network of "Red Tourism." What was once a grueling journey for 755 delegates in 1945 is now a high-speed transit for thousands of students and officials participating in state-sponsored study tours.
These educational pilgrimages are part of a broader strategy to transform historical sites into active classrooms for "patriotic education." By visiting the Great Hall where the slogan "Advance victoriously under the banner of Mao Zedong" once hung, modern visitors are encouraged to see Xi’s leadership as the natural continuation of that revolutionary lineage. The goal is to turn historical sediment into a driving force for contemporary political mobilization.