The CCP was founded in 1921 by Chen Duxiu and Li Dazhao with assistance from the Russian Bolsheviks and the Communist International. From its origins as a small revolutionary movement, the party fought a civil war against the Kuomintang, paused for an uneasy alliance against Japan during World War II, and emerged victorious when Chairman Mao proclaimed the People's Republic of China in 1949. The centennial celebration was, at its core, a statement of survival and dominion: no other political party in the modern world has held unbroken single-party power over a comparable population for as long. The preparations reflected the scale of that claim, with China Central Television producing a patriotic series called 'The Awakening Age' and security forces flooding Beijing with additional personnel in the weeks before the event.

The main events unfolded at Tiananmen Square, where the PLA Honour Guard marched from the Monument to the People's Heroes for a flag-raising ceremony. The national anthem, 'March of the Volunteers,' accompanied the raising of the flag. The Communist Youth League and the Young Pioneers read messages of congratulation. Three days earlier, on June 28, an extravaganza at the Beijing National Stadium -- the Bird's Nest -- had featured over 90 celebrities and concluded with fireworks and a mass rendition of 'Without the Communist Party, There Would Be No New China.' The traditional military parade was replaced by the aerial flypast, a decision announced months in advance when General Li Jun stated that no ground parade would take place.

General Secretary Xi Jinping delivered an hour-long speech that served as both celebration and warning. He declared the realization of the first of the Two Centenaries' goals and praised the party as 'the foundation and lifeblood of the party and the country.' His most widely quoted line warned that foreign forces attempting to bully China would 'find their heads broken and bashed bloody against the great wall of steel forged by the blood and flesh of 1.4 billion Chinese people' -- though the official English translation softened this to a 'collision course with a great wall of steel.' On Taiwan, Xi reiterated the one China principle and the goal of completing unification, while Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council called for democratic transition in China.

The anniversary fell on the same date as the 24th anniversary of Hong Kong's handover from the United Kingdom. In Hong Kong, where the national security law had been implemented exactly one year earlier, thousands of police were mobilized to prevent demonstrations. Victoria Park, the traditional starting point of the annual July 1 march, was declared off limits. The Civil Human Rights Front canceled its plans, and police refused applications from other pro-democracy groups citing COVID-19 restrictions. That evening, a 50-year-old man in Causeway Bay stabbed a police officer and then himself; the attacker died, and Hong Kong's security secretary declared it a 'terrorist act.' When mourners began leaving flowers at the scene, police warned that the gesture amounted to 'supporting terrorism.'