Photo: Lu Ting/GT

As the Chinese saying goes, “Women hold up half the sky.” An exhibition highlighting women’s contribution to China’s development over the past century kicked off at the Memorial Hall of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China (CPC) in downtown Shanghai on Tuesday.

The exhibition showcases some 50 sets of historical objects, and numerous photos and documents, revealing China’s outstanding female individuals and collectives.

Visitors can see the important roles that women play in the CPC’s development as well as China’s revolution, construction and reform, said Director of the Memorial Hall Xue Feng.

Whether in the difficult war years or the current new era of modernization, “hundreds of millions of Chinese females have made immortal contributions … to the emancipation of women, and to realizing the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” Xue said in a speech at the opening ceremony of the exhibition on Tuesday.

The exhibition has two main sections. One is about women’s involvement in the CPC’s leadership in the past century, said the exhibition’s curator Bai Chen.

In this section, visitors can see valuable historical materials, such as an item that revolutionary martyr Wang Genying sent to her family, and the Marriage Law of the People’s Republic of China, promulgated in 1950, which for the first time established the freedom of marriage and monogamy.

The other section is an introduction of 113 outstanding Chinese female individuals and collectives and their stories. They include Zhang Guimei, educator and founder of a free public high school for girls, Huang Wenxiu, a village official in the front line of China’s war against poverty, and Wang Yaping, China’s first female astronaut.

“They are all household names that have inspired lots of Chinese people, particularly young females,” Bai told the Global Times on Tuesday.

Many of the exhibits are from the Beijing-based China National Museum of Women and Children, and they are being displayed in Shanghai for the first time, said the museum’s director Liu Huabin.

“Through the exhibits, we hope that visitors can feel the spiritual strength from different historical periods,” Liu told the Global Times at the exhibition on Tuesday. “They are the proof of Chinese women’s active participation in revolution and socialist construction, and their continuous contribution in the new era.”

The exhibition attracted many visitors, especially females, on Tuesday. At the exhibition hall, the Global Times reporter saw many women in their 20s or 30s who were carefully looking at the photos and introductions of the outstanding Chinese females.

One visitor, Xu Yanqiu, is a police officer serving at the Shanghai General Station of Immigration Inspection. She said she found the exhibition deeply moving and it made her feel proud.

“Together with over 800 female immigration administration police officers in Shanghai, we will continue contributing to the country with our loyalty, dedication, hard work and responsibility,” Xu said.

The exhibition is scheduled to run until mid-April.