International relations: Beijing remembers the role of communism in the history of Russia-China relations

On July 5, 2011 the Russian Center of Science and Culture in Beijing held a lecture-meeting which marked 90th anniversary of the Communist Party of China and a decade since signing of the Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation between the People’s Republic of China and the Russian Federation.

The event was co-hosted by the Russia-China Friendship Association and the Chinese Association of Graduates of Europe and America.

The meeting was opened by the executive director of the Russian Center of Science and Culture in Beijing Manas Sirakanyan. He noted that the Communist Party of China was founded under a significant influence of Bolshevik party’s establishment, ideas of Lenin and October Revolution in Russia, and future relations between two countries were largely determined by the nature of relations between two parties. Today most experts both in Russia and China acknowledge that relations between Russia and China have been released from the influence of ideology, and have a positive view of this fact. At the same time, it is necessary to preserve the memory of revolutionaries, who laid the foundation of friendship between the peoples in the early 20th century and became symbols of this friendship.

The grandson of Ren Fuchen, first Chinese Bolshevik, participant of the October revolution, prominent leader of workers’ movement in China, spoke about his grandfather and the role of Russia in the life of the family. His speech was illustrated by unique materials from the family archive.

The lecture-meeting which coincided with celebrations of 90th anniversary of the Communist Party of China has become a notable event in the work of the Russian Center of Science and Culture in Beijing and was of great symbolic importance for the Chinese community.