The New Culture Movement Memorial Museum

The New Culture Movement Memorial Museum is situated on Wusi Avenue, Dongcheng District.

Built in 1916, the museum is a five-floor brick-and-wood building, whose plan looks like the letter I. It covers an area of 10,000 square meters. It is also known as the Red Building, because of the red bricks used for its main part. It was at first part of the school buildings of Peking University. Later it had served, at different periods, as students' dormitory, the administrative office of the university, a library, and a teaching building for liberal arts. During the Japanese occupation, it was used as the headquarters of the Japanese gendarmerie, and its basement was used to imprison and torture revolutionaries and patriots. In August 1945, when Japan surrendered, Peking University was reinstated here. In April 2002, it was officially opened to the public as the Beijing New Culture Movement Memorial Museum.

The Red Building played an important role in the history of the modern Chinese revolution. In 1917, shortly after he was appointed president of Peking University, Cai Yuanpei moved his office here. In Jan. 1918, Li Dazhao, one of the founders of the Communist Party of China, started to work here as the dean of the library and professor of economics. At the same time Lu Xun was working in the university as a professor of Chinese. Chen Duxiu, another founder of the party, was also a professor here in 1916. Many other renowned scholars, such as Qian Xuantong, Liu Bannong, Yang Changji, Hu Shi, Ma Xulun, Ma Yinchu, and Li Siguang, had also worked or taught here. Between August 1918 and March 1919, Mao Zedong worked here as secretary of the newspaper reading room.

The Red Building is the cradle of May 4th Movement, which marked the beginning of efforts to build New Democracy in China. After the October Revolution in Russia, progressive intellectuals at Peking University began to study Marxism and publish the earliest Marxist newspapers and magazines in China. On May 4, 1919, protestors gathered in the Democracy Square behind the Red Building and marched towards Tiananmen. The movement, which swept the country, paved the way for the founding of the Communist Party of China two years later in terms of ideology and leadership. In 1919, Li Dazhao, Deng Zhongxia and others created in Peking University a Marxist society, which later became a communist society. It continued to profess itself as the Marxist Society until 1927.

Today, the museum displays the New Culture Movement, Cai Yuanpei and Peking University, and periodicals published during the May 4th Movement period; it also displays the reproduction of Li Dazhao's office, the reading room where Mao Zedong had worked, and the lecture rooms. In the TV room are played documentaries on May 4th Movement and the former residences of famous participants of the New Culture Movement.

Address:No.29, Wusi Street, Dongcheng District, Beijing

Publishes at : 07-09-23 22:08

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