Tides have surged for a century, and the spirit of the red boat has been passed down from generation to generation.

100 years ago, the red boat of Chinese revolution set sail in Nanhu Lake, Jiaxing. Over the past 100 years, people in Zhejiang have strongly carried forward the “spirit of red boat” under the strong leadership of the Communist Party of China, dedicated to the great tides of the Chinese revolution and the construction of socialism with Chinese characteristics with epoch-making and pioneering spirit, persistence in pursuing the ideal in spite of repeated setbacks, and commitment to serving the interests of the people and staying loyal to the people. They “took concrete actions, took the lead, and rode the waves” to change Zhejiang from a province with limited land resources to an economically developed province and finally to an economically strong province and to change people’s life from meeting basic living needs to basically moderate prosperity and finally to high-level moderate prosperity in all respects. Their efforts have brought Zhejiang political advantages in being the starting point of the red boat of the Chinese revolution, the pilot region of reform and opening up, and an important birthplace of Xi Jinping’s thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era.

Culture has been a priority over the development course for a century. As an important birthplace of Chinese civilization, Zhejiang has a long history, outstanding people, and profound cultural heritage. Previous provincial party committees and governments have attached great importance to cultural construction. In 2003, Comrade Xi Jinping, then secretary of the Zhejiang Provincial Party Committee, made the decision of building ZJAM with a distinctive Chinese style. “We should combine the natural scenery of West Lake with the humanistic charm of the art museum harmoniously. That’s the beauty of the times and Chinese temperament.” The deep anticipation and ardent trust of General Secretary Xi Jinping towards the cultural construction of Zhejiang permeated ZJAM, from the selection of the site by the West Lake to the choice of the architectural style. ZJAM consciously inherits and makes innovation in Chinese excellent traditional culture and has launched a series of brand projects with oriental wisdom and Chinese characteristics. It actively responds to the overall call for national cultural construction with the diverse and innovative Zhejiang culture and has become a living model of the creative transformation and innovative development of Chinese excellent traditional culture.

To pay tribute to the centenary of the Communist Party of China and showcase the century-old “red boat spirit” and “Zhejiang spirit”, ZJAM grandly launches “Surging Tides in the Starring Century — Graphic Art Exhibition to Celebrate the Centenary of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China”. Over the past two years, this special exhibition has collected works from nearly a hundred artists from all over the country who focus on telling on historical stories that happened in Zhejiang as “the starting point” during the 100 years of the Communist Party of China to celebrate the love for “red boat”. The exhibition is held in an immersive new media interactive space and presents the achievements of the digital reform in Zhejiang. It carefully records the party’s history, emotionally recalls the memory of the party, and skillfully paints the whole picture of the party.

The new era brings about a new mission to assume and a new chapter to write. Facing the future, Zhejiang will adhere to the guidance of Xi Jinping’s thought on socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, serves a successor and guardian of the “red heritage”, makes more fruitful achievements in loyally implementing the “Double-Eight Strategy” and a series of important initiatives such as creating an “important window”, “striving to building a pilot province of socialist modernization” and “building a demonstration region of common prosperity by pursuing high-quality development”, assumes more hard-core responsibilities, fully displays “the beauty of culture, landscape, morality, customs, and hard work”, and more revealingly presents the glorious image of a century-old party in its prime through an “important window”!