BEIJING -- Red lanterns and flower terraces dotted the Chinese capital ahead of Thursday's 100th anniversary of the founding of the China Communist Party. Cities across the country have been decorated in a similar fashion, with memorial halls hosting exhibits of the party's history, punctuated with self-acclaimed tributes and ideological slogans.
The party, founded in 1921 at a time of upheaval, came to power in 1949 after driving the nationalist Kuomintang to Taiwan and founding the People's Republic of China. The CCP, which boasts over 95 million members, is credited with lifting millions out of poverty during the country's rise to become the world's second-largest economy and keeping China's COVID-19 epidemic under control after the virus was originally discovered in Wuhan.
