The Communist Party today, at the apex of its power, occupies far more opulent quarters in Beijing, and in every province, county, city and town in the country. The party boasts 80 million members — making it the largest political party in the world — and governs the world’s second-largest economy while sitting atop a sprawling and complex business and financial empire.

But, well aware of its woes, the party has been using its anniversary to try to rekindle popular excitement and support. A new feature-length movie, “The Birth of a Party,” starring 170 of the best-known Chinese actors, was just released to coincide with the anniversary. The normally secretive party threw open its doors to journalists for a series of press conferences over the past month. And people have been encouraged to visit so-called “red tourism” sites like Yan’an…

“The party has really serious corruption problems right now.” Zhu said. “I don’t think red tourism will help the party to enhance support for their regime that much. … When people see how hard the old Communist Party members worked, and how they lived plainly, they might become more unsatisfied with today’s reality.”