Restoration Design for the Former Site of the Secretariat of the Chinese Labor Federation-Shanghai Municipal Housing Architectural Design Institute Co., Ltd. – A Specialist in Building Design and Architectural Services

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Restoration Design for the Former Site of the Secretariat of the Chinese Labor Federation

发布时间：2023-02-21 14:54

The Secretariat of the Chinese Labor Federation was the first public organization under the leadership of the Communist Party of China dedicated to the workers’ movement. Its former site is located at No. 899 Chengdu North Road, Shanghai (formerly No. 19 C, North Chengdu Road). Construction of the building began around 1910; it is a two-story, traditional shikumen residence with a brick-and-wood structure, featuring one ground floor and one upper floor, oriented west-to-east along the street. In May 1959, with approval from the Municipal People’s Committee, the site was designated as a municipal-level protected cultural relic.

In September 1992, the site was restored and opened to the public through joint funding from the All-China Federation of Trade Unions, the district federation of trade unions, the district cultural bureau, and other organizations.

In 1993, the original exhibition hall was demolished to make way for the construction of the Chengdu Road Elevated Expressway, and the new hall was relocated to No. 3–7, Lane 893, Chengdu North Road, immediately to the west. On September 29, 1999, the reconstructed Exhibition Hall of the Former Site of the Secretariat of the Chinese Labor Federation was opened to the public and, in the same year, was designated by the Shanghai Municipal Federation of Trade Unions as the “Shanghai Workers’ Patriotic Education Base.”

This renovation of the exhibition hall is aimed at better leveraging the historic building and enhancing its functional use, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Party.

Historical Evolution

The Secretariat of the Chinese Labor Federation has distilled “Ten Firsts” that are highly representative in the field of Party history:

This was the first central organ of the Chinese Communist Party’s leadership of the workers’ movement;

It was here that the first workers’ movement following the founding of the Communist Party of China was led—the strike by workers at the Shanghai British-American Tobacco Factory.

Here, the first trade union organization established after the founding of the Communist Party of China was created—the Shanghai Anglo-American Tobacco Workers’ Union.

It was here that the first workers’ publication established after the founding of the Communist Party of China—the Labor Weekly—was launched.

Here, the first National Labor Congress was spearheaded; and the first upsurge of the Chinese workers’ movement was set in motion.

Here, the first labor legislation campaign led by the Communist Party of China was launched;

Here, the first Communist Party member to be imprisoned for his involvement in the Chinese workers’ movement—Li Qihan—made his appearance;

Here, for the first time, branch organs for leading the workers’ movement were established—the Five Major Branches of the Secretariat of the Chinese Labor Federation and the Tianjin Branch.

Here, the first workers’ school established after the founding of the Communist Party of China was set up: the Shanghai No. 1 Workers’ Supplementary School.

Map of the Former Site of the Secretariat of the Chinese Labor Federation Declaration of the First Labor Congress Former Site of the Secretariat of the Chinese Labor Federation

In July 1921, the Communist Party of China was founded in Shanghai. Its very first resolution, “On Current Practical Work,” designated “establishing industrial trade unions” and “raising workers’ class consciousness” as the Party’s fundamental tasks at that time. At the same period, more than 8,000 workers at the British-American Tobacco Factory in Shanghai were on strike. Meanwhile, the Secretariat of the Labor Federation was being set up, and the Party promptly dispatched Li Qihan to take part in leading the strike. On the day following the strike’s victory—August 11, 1921—the Chinese Labor Federation Secretariat was established in Shanghai. This marked the first publicly recognized organ under the leadership of the CPC for the workers’ movement. The director was Zhang Teli (Zhang Guotao), with Li Qihan, Li Zhenying, and others serving as secretaries. To this end, a founding proclamation was published in the monthly journal “The Communist”: “The Chinese Labor Federation Secretariat is a central body whose mission is to unite all labor federations; its work consists in developing labor federations, propagandizing among workers the necessity of forming such organizations, and uniting or reorganizing existing labor groups so that workers may attain class consciousness.”

Following its establishment, the Secretariat of the Chinese Labor Federation set up its administrative offices in a two-story shikumen house at No. 19 North Chengdu Road in Shanghai (now No. 899 North Chengdu Road), where it publicly displayed its sign. In addition, two rooms were rented in a lane on North Chengdu Road to serve as the residences of Li Qihan and Li Zhenying. The Secretariat established branch offices in Beijing, Wuhan, Hunan, Guangzhou, Jinan, and other cities, with the first directors of these branches including Deng Zhongxia, Luo Zhanglong, Bao Huiseng, Mao Zedong, Tan Pingshan, Wang Jinmei, and others.

To carry forward the spirit of struggle embodied by our revolutionary forebears, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the Secretariat of the Chinese Labor Federation, the CPC Jing’an District Committee decided to establish a memorial exhibition hall at the site of its original headquarters. With the support of the All-China Federation of Trade Unions and the Party History Research Office of the Municipal Party Committee, the hall was completed and opened to the public on September 28, 1992. Due to the construction of the Chengdu Road Elevated Expressway, the exhibition hall was relocated and rebuilt at No. 7, Lane 893, Chengdu North Road in 1999, and reopened to the public on September 29.

Architectural style

The former site of the Secretariat of the Chinese Labor Federation was first constructed in the 1910s and has now stood for more than a century. In 1993, the original exhibition hall at the site was demolished, and a new building was relocated to No. 3–7, Lane 893, Chengdu North Road, immediately to the west. During this relocation, Nos. 3–7 underwent extensive renovation, resulting in some alterations to the architectural appearance. On September 29, 1999, the reconstructed Exhibition Hall of the Former Site of the Secretariat of the Chinese Labor Federation was opened to the public. Further partial restoration work was carried out in 2005, yet the building still exhibits signs of aging and damage.

This renovation involves revising the exhibition content of the museum and integrating Exhibition Halls 9 through 11 into the museum, thereby expanding its scale, making better use of the historic building, and enhancing its functional utility in preparation for the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of China.

The building plan is rectangular, constructed by combining single-bay units with two-bay, one-side-room units. The structure comprises five units in total: the southernmost unit features a two-bay, one-side-room layout, while the remaining four units are single-bay. The main entrance is located on the east side of the building. Upon entering a single-bay unit, one first encounters a small courtyard; beyond the courtyard lies the living room, followed by the stairwell, then the kitchen and a rear courtyard. Above the ground-floor kitchen is a “pavilion room,” and above that is a drying platform. In the two-bay, one-side-room unit, the northern bay has the same floor plan as the single-bay unit, while the southern bay is primarily used as a side room.

The building’s exterior features exposed brickwork in alternating blue and red bricks, with lime-based pointing to highlight the masonry; arched brick vaults; and Baroque-style gable ends adorned with ornamental “Guanyin” motifs. On the east elevation, the front courtyard wall is flush with the second-floor window sills; its upper portion is crowned by a red-brick coping, while the lower section consists of a brick plinth finished with cement-sand mortar. The stone-arched door frames are constructed in brick and faced with water-washed stucco, with triangular vortex-patterned decorative elements above the lintel. On the west elevation, the brickwork below the cement-plastered plinth and the section below the terrace balustrade are identical to those on the other elevations; however, the terrace side facing the courtyard is fitted with prefabricated, patterned reinforced-concrete balustrades, whereas the remaining sides retain solid brick walls. Rainwater from the terrace is channeled via projecting reinforced-concrete open gutters along the wall surface into downspouts for discharge. In each unit’s kitchen, a brick chimney projects rearward from the corner at a height of two meters, aligning precisely with the level of the terrace balustrade.

Restoration Project

Key points of the restoration design:

1) Restoration of the exposed brick wall. The original exposed brick wall had suffered significant weathering and damage; during the 1999 renovation, it was replaced with a cement-sand mortar imitation exposed brick finish. Following verification, it was determined that the original joint pattern of the exposed brick wall was an “yuanbao” joint. This time, the imitation finish has been removed to restore the wall’s original appearance and the characteristic yuanbao joint.

2) During the 1999 restoration, the Shikumen facades were reconstructed using GRC cement replicas; they are now being restored using traditional techniques.

Before-and-After Comparison of Clean-White Wall Restoration

Before-and-After Comparison of Shikumen Facade Restoration

3) Roof renovation. The small blue tiles on the roof have aged, cracked, and suffered severe water leakage; the original brick purlins have been replaced with wooden roof decking. Following a thorough assessment, the original brick purlins will be reinstated, and the aged and cracked blue tiles will be repaired using authentic, period-appropriate tiles to ensure consistency in style and form. In addition, an additional waterproofing layer will be installed on the roof.

4) Restoration of the stone drum steps beneath the wooden post-and-beam pillars. The stone drum steps primarily serve to prevent moisture from rising from the ground; however, due to numerous historical alterations, they have become deeply buried beneath the surface. Following restoration, their original function has been reinstated, and a moisture-barrier layer has been installed in both the flooring and the walls, effectively mitigating dampness at the ground level.