On Sept 7, 1901, the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) government signed the humiliating Treaty of 1901, or Xinchou Treaty, with 11 Western powers that turned China totally into a semifeudal, semicolonial society. In the 120 years since then, the Chinese nation has gained many achievements, from standing up to becoming moderately prosperous, and from a weak poverty-stricken country to one moving closer to national rejuvenation.

What has made this possible?

The simple answer is: the leadership of the Communist Party of China. As General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee Xi Jinping said in his speech to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Party on July 1, without the CPC, there would be no New China and no great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

The invasion of China by the eight-nation allied forces and the signing of the Treaty of 1901 epitomized the misery that China suffered at the hands of bullying foreign powers before the founding of the People's Republic.

If the First Opium War (1840-42) signaled China's descent into a semifeudal, semicolonial society, and increased the miseries of the Chinese people, the Treaty of 1901 pushed the Chinese nation into a survival crisis. Since then, realizing national rejuvenation has been the greatest dream of the Chinese people.

In order to help China get the better of the survival crisis, some people with vision and insight organized the Chinese people against the injustice and exploitation perpetrated by the foreign and Chinese powers but, despite their conviction, courage and sacrifice, their efforts ended in failure. So China urgently needed new ideas and new political organizations to instill vitality into the Chinese people and drive the nation forward.

The October Revolution in Russia in 1917 provided the answer, by introducing Marxism-Leninism to China.

Armed with the philosophy of Marxism, the Party led the Chinese people and aligned all the revolutionary forces to defeat the foreign powers and the comprador bourgeoisie, and founded the People's Republic in 1949.

After its founding, the CPC applied Marxism to China's real conditions and shouldered the task of leading the Chinese people to realize national rejuvenation.

Its glorious achievements over the past 100 years are proof that only the Party can lead the Chinese people to achieve national rejuvenation. Since its founding, the CPC has made serving the people and realizing national rejuvenation its mission. It has united the people, fought tirelessly to achieve its people-centric goals, and make the people the masters of the country, thus creating the basic social conditions for national rejuvenation.

The Party has made great achievements in socialist development, too, and established a basic socialist system, laying the institutional foundation for China's national rejuvenation. It has helped people to forge ahead with determination, successfully implemented reform, opening-up and socialist modernization, and developed socialism with Chinese characteristics, thus boosting the cause of national rejuvenation.

In its century-long struggle, the Party has combined the basic tenets of Marxism with China's actual conditions and traditional culture. Thus, it is clear that China can realize national rejuvenation only by following the path of socialism with Chinese characteristics.

Through its efforts, the Party has promoted the coordinated development of China's material, political, spiritual, social, and ecological civilization, and boosted the country's modernization drive.

Thanks to the glorious achievements of the Party, national rejuvenation is now inevitable. As such, adhering to the Party's leadership to realize the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation is the right choice.

After building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and achieving the first centenary goal, China has embarked on a new journey to realize the second centenary goal of building a modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced and harmonious by the middle of this century.

China's journey to achieve national rejuvenation has entered a crucial stage amid the fast-changing international situation. Due to the complex development environment, both at home and abroad, China faces both unprecedented opportunities and huge challenges. So for the Chinese people, the strong leadership of the CPC is key to overcoming the challenges and eventually achieving the goal of national rejuvenation.

On the 120th anniversary of the Treaty of 1901, we should look back at history and the constructive and exemplary role the Party has played in China's rise as the world's second-largest economy and an influential global power to realize that its leadership is indispensable to achieving the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.

The author is a research fellow at the Central Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of China Daily.

If you have a specific expertise, or would like to share your thought about our stories, then send us your writings at [email protected], and [email protected].