HANGZHOU, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Riding on the success of the country's booming film industry, China has found a novel way to tell the history of the Communist Party of China (CPC) to the public: on the silver screen.
Officials in Dongyang City, in east China's Zhejiang Province, organized a Party class themed "Lofty Faith, and the Spirit of Yan'an" in a major cinema in the downtown area. During the class, a film was screened depicting the story of late Premier Zhou Enlai returning to Yan'an, a former revolutionary base of the CPC in northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
"The film allows people to travel back to Yan'an in the early days through the eyes of late Premier Zhou," said Chen Xueling, the class instructor. "We get to re-experience the hard struggles of the Party, and remember the Party's fighting spirit."
The Yan'an spirit depicted in the film, including the tenets of self-reliance, working hard and serving the people whole-heartedly, are worth learning, Chen told the crowd of Party members.
"It was a most special and touching Party class for me," said one of the CPC members at the class. "By listening to the instructor and watching the film, I gained a deeper understanding of the glorious history of the Party."
The class is part of the city's efforts to "incorporate quality cultural resources with Party education." According to local officials, they have selected a series of films highlighting rural revitalization, patriotism and Party history.
The film industry is skyrocketing in China, where the number of film screens ranks first in the world, according to a report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). By the end of last year, film screens owned by cinemas across the country totaled 60,079, 3.6 times higher than in 2012.
China's movie box office will reach 12.28 billion U.S. dollars by 2020, surpassing the United States to become the world's largest film market, according to PwC analysis.
China's investment in the cultural sector has also surged, reaching over 92.8 billion yuan (about 13.38 billion U.S. dollars) in 2018.
According to the local Dongyang Daily newspaper, Party members will watch the films in groups in the future, and experts will be invited to teach classes on their content. Meanwhile, the city will also host a series of activities, such as writing film reviews, to strengthen the influence of the learning campaign.
"We will enrich the forms of imparting Party classes, so that more Party members will learn the knowledge, theories and thoughts of the CPC," said Jiang Lingshu, head of Dongyang's publicity department.
