This year marks the centenary of the founding of the Communist Party of China and to help celebrate it, an exhibition opened at the Overseas Chinese History Museum of China in Beijing on May 17, marking the contribution overseas Chinese made during the CPC's path to the present.

With over 360 items on display, the exhibition – which runs to July 15 – features stories about prestigious figures among overseas Chinese.

A total of 18 of the exhibits are from Lishui, the prefecture-level city in East China's Zhejiang province. They tell the patriotic stories of overseas Chinese and students from the city over the past century, according to Lishui media outlets.

Let's take a look at some of the exhibits.

Group photo of overseas students and workers from Qingtian county in Paris

[Photo/WeChat account: wxlishui]

In 1922, Zhou Enlai, then head of the European branch of the CPC, often visited the Qingtian overseas Chinese in France to learn about their work, life and ideas, to introduce progressive newspapers and books to them – and explain current affairs, politics and Marxist-Leninist thought.

Under the guidance of Zhou, from 1923 to 1924 two overseas Qingtian groups of the CPC were set up in Paris and a total of seven overseas Chinese from Qingtian joined the Party organization.

Photo of Lin Deguang, Jin Zhifu and Huang Li working at the Giu Guo Sh Bao newspaper in Paris in 1936

[Photo/WeChat account: wxlishui]

The Giu Guo Sh Bao was a Chinese newspaper led by the CPC, to promote the anti-Japanese national united front overseas. Lin Deguang, Jin Zhifu, Jin Yingguang and other overseas Chinese from Lishui's Qingtian county participated in collating materials from the newspaper.

The paper was first published on May 15, 1935 in Paris and it ceased on Feb 10, 1938. It published 152 issues in total and was distributed in 43 countries and regions. Each issue averaged more than 20,000 copies.

Kang Zhan Bao, Issue 75

[Photo/WeChat account: wxlishui]

The Overseas Chinese Anti-Japanese War Support Association – mainly composed of students from Qingtian county in Lishui – printed and publicized the Kang Zhan Bao, or Anti-Japanese War Daily, in Czechoslovakia and other places to support the Chinese people's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45).