Jiaxing, Zhejiang province, a city historically significant as the birthplace of the Communist Party of China (CPC), continues to embody the revolutionary spirit that emerged from the 1921 First National Congress held on a boat in Nanhu Lake. Marking the Party’s 105th anniversary in July 2026, Jiaxing has evolved into a center for technological innovation and industrial development that draws inspiration from its historical legacy.

The Nanhu Revolutionary Memorial Hall, a key site commemorating the CPC’s founding, welcomes more than three million visitors annually. It educates audiences on the Party’s origins and its role in China’s transformation over the past century. Wu Jianhua, Party secretary and director of the memorial hall, noted that international visitors are particularly impressed by China’s progress from its early struggles to its current status as a global power. This enduring spirit resonates in the younger generation, exemplified by Gao Qingxuan, a fifth-grade student and volunteer guide, who emphasizes that understanding the revolutionary legacy involves embracing the courage and pioneering mindset that continue to drive development today.

Modern Jiaxing harnesses this revolutionary ethos through its growing portfolio of research institutions and innovation centers. The Yangtze Delta Region Institute of Tsinghua University, established over twenty years ago, stands as a prominent example. The institute has developed a unique model combining self-finance with market-oriented operations, fostering strong linkages between government, industry, academia, finance, and end users. Under the leadership of Party secretary Huang Kaisheng, the institute has attracted more than 1,200 high-level overseas talents, nurtured over 2,600 technology companies, and supported 82 firms in going public. Huang emphasized the integration of the "red spirit" with a commitment to passion, responsibility, and striving for excellence as core to their achievements.

Similarly, the Innovation Center of Yangtze River Delta at Zhejiang University focuses on sustainable development, leveraging environmental science and engineering expertise. Deputy director Zhu Liang outlined the center’s emphasis on future-oriented, green technologies, targeting bottleneck areas such as smart cities, green foods, biomaterials, and advanced equipment. Since its inception three years ago, the center has formed 47 research partnerships with enterprises, incubated 90 companies, and generated over 400 million yuan ($59 million) in output value. Party secretary Shen Liyuming highlighted the center’s approach of aligning research directly with enterprise needs, facilitating the transformation of challenges into market-ready innovations.

Adding computational strength to Jiaxing’s innovation ecosystem is the "Light of Wuzhen" supercomputer center, operational since March 2022. Its processing power is described as capable of completing in one second calculations that would require four years if performed sequentially by all Chinese citizens at one calculation per second. The center supports more than 100 applications across essential sectors including meteorology, oceanography, environmental science, bioinformatics, and industrial computing. Wan Senlin, manager of the Zhejiang solutions department at the national supercomputing internet platform, noted that the facility plays a crucial role in China’s move toward advanced manufacturing and high-tech industries such as aerospace and automotive engineering, which demand increasing computational resources.

Through a combination of historical remembrance and cutting-edge research, Jiaxing exemplifies how revolutionary ideals continue to shape and energize China’s contemporary ambitions in science, technology, and sustainable development.