Skip to main content
The Morning Star 2026 Conference
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
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
(L to R) How many Aunties?, Back Hares Mount, Leeds, 1978; M
Photography / 14 April 2025
14 April 2025

Peter Mitchell's photography reveals a poetic relationship with Leeds

The crowd at Manchester Punk Festival 2024
Culture / 11 April 2025
11 April 2025
Ben Cowles speaks with IAN ‘TREE’ ROBINSON and ANDY DAVIES, two of the string pullers behind the Manchester Punk Festival, ahead of its 10th year show later this month
MURDER AFORETHOUGHT: The execution of 56 Poles in Bochnia, n
Books / 28 March 2025
28 March 2025
RON JACOBS welcomes the long overdue translation of an epic work that chronicles resistance to fascism during WWII
Literature / 25 March 2025
25 March 2025
JESSICA WIDNER explores how the twin themes of violence and love run through the novels of South Korean Nobel prize-winner Han Kang