Historical Markers in Shanghai

The Communist Party of China sculpted today’s modern, thriving nation, and in its wake are the legacies of eminent leaders and significant events imprinted on sites in Shanghai. This series takes you to historic buildings and places in the city where you can visit the past and hear the stories of the building of a nation.

AMONG the historical houses on Sinan Road that once housed the rich, powerful and famous, the most-visited is the former residence of Zhou Enlai, the first premier of the People’s Republic of China.

Zhou’s time there was brief. He took up residence when the home housed the Shanghai Office of the Delegation of the Communist Party of China in 1946 and 1947.

The Party was ousted from the building in March 1947 by Kuomingtang forces hostile to the Communists.

“It was here that Zhou Enlai and other Party officials met with people from all walks of life and held press conferences,” said Huang Chengang, director of the management office of the historic site

“Though the office was used for only a short time, the activities here promoted the Party’s consistent message of peace and democracy,” he said. “It also exposed the Kuomingtang’s ploy of feigning peace negotiations while planning a civil war.”

The house was listed as a protected heritage site in 1959 and turned into a memorial in 1979. Original furnishings were lost or destroyed. The memorial today houses replicas crafted from old photos.

Zhou’s residence at 73 Sinan Road was one of 51 houses built in the 1920s by a Belgian firm in what was then the French Concession. For unknown reasons, it is the only four-story structure, while the others have only three floors.

The building today reminds younger generations of the perils and bravery of the early Communist Party of China.

When China achieved victory in the war against Japanese aggression in 1945, the Communist Party and the KMT held talks ostensibly to build a new coalition government. The negotiations took place in Chongqing and later in Nanjing, but the Communist delegation decided to set up an office in Shanghai because the city was so politically, militarily and