I found Chinese communists at China's "Party-Mass center", where communists & ordinary ppl meet

追加: 2026-06-01

[00:00:00]I hear this building is where the communists go.

[00:00:07]>> Are they communists?

[00:00:08]>> I'm being massaged by communism.

[00:00:11]I thought I was going to get kicked out.

[00:00:16]I'm about to enter the party mass center by the Communist Party.

[00:00:45]I didn't really understand any of that.

[00:00:49]It's okay.

[00:00:57]Once I came in, I was asked a lot of questions like, "What are you doing here?" I was just told by this nice lady that there are book readings.

[00:01:07]Uh there also healing sessions, >> singing bowl meditations are every Monday, 800 quiet per 10 sessions.

[00:01:13]>> This nice lady who's in charge of events and classes offer to take photos because apparently this balcony offers a great vantage point for the city skyline and has become an influencer hot spot.

[00:01:30]An Americano cost 8.8 quai, which is so much better than 15 to 24 quai on the market. But you don't have to buy anything. You could just bring your own hot water and sit here for the whole day. People here seem to just be locals who want a free space to work. And then I found myself involved in a really long conversation with a party secretary here, which is like the top communist in the small area.

[00:01:51]Okay.

[00:02:01]She just sent me like a million articles and a million activities and she said, "You should come to this one. You should come to that one."

[00:02:11]There's communism in this building.

[00:02:17]Ooh. None of those lifts are for us.

[00:02:20]Those lifts are for the JP Morgan people. They're not very communistic.

[00:02:26]Our lift is directly to the end.

[00:02:31]There's only the first floor and the 22nd floor. The floor for the party.

[00:02:39]We've arrived at communism.

[00:02:43]Something tells me I can't get in there without getting asked questions.

[00:02:48]Here's a meeting room.

[00:02:52]So, basically, this is a place where you could just go in and then have your own meeting. I guess you could just scan a code and then get whatever you want presented on that screen presented. Ah, no questions. Nobody seems to be administering the space. Seems like anyone could just get in. There's one person taking a nap and another person working here.

[00:03:17]This is communism. The rent for this extremely sunny space with a million dollar view is estimated to be 5 million quai a year. You need to put on some sunscreen to work here. Free books to read in. After a while, you seem to get used to the conveniences. Then you start to expect more. Isn't this place supposed to have like free water and stuff?

[00:03:45]In France, a place like this would be called a STO. In New York, this would be called a collaborative collective community. That is, if they manage to get built, sweetened ginger tea. On Saturday, there's free movie, rehearsals, practice. People book some room, but there's a free gym upstairs.

[00:04:11]There's also a free gym for elderly people, a free reading room, and 2-hour daycare for little kids, free ice water for delivery workers, taxi drivers, and ride hail drivers who are on the move all the time and are always dehydrated.

[00:04:23]Microwave for them to heat up their food.

[00:04:24]>> A gorgeous free reading room that's packed with young professionals. After about three of them, I get a little spoiled. I kind of wish for free food and free massages, stuff like that.

[00:04:38]totally starving. This one has a community canteen that's supposed to offer food at subsidized prices. Supposed to be served at 430. It's mostly visited by elderly people who get an additional 15% off.

[00:04:52]Okay, I think we should start here. Can we like please get some help here?

[00:05:01]>> And then we met some locals. Some are really helpful.

[00:05:07]Certainly to give a lot of advice to everybody else.

[00:05:30]She said, "We just got ripped off." The center is in a crowded old neighborhood and seem to be packed with people who already know about his conveniences like this. Three reading spaces, subsidized yoga and pilates class, leg shaping, back shaping, abdomen shaping, full body shaping. It's supposed to be a cheap motel that ran out of business, but then the government procured the building and turned it into a party center. Portions are pretty big. The only young person here eating 500 g of ku 38. That's not bad.

[00:06:12]I thought these were napping chairs, but they're massage chairs.

[00:06:16]5 to 20 minutes. Oh, welcome. I hope you register with that young man.

[00:06:36]We had to go somewhere else. And then the young man said we didn't manage to go to 20 minutes. So he wanted to basically just refund us for the five quai.

[00:06:48]Turns out this place is huge for its community canteen. Elderly locals, professionals, people with kids are all swarming into this place for lunch.

[00:06:56]Truth is, I think we did get ripped off cuz I read online that this place has like really good combo for only 12.9.

[00:07:05]Turns out the combo is only for delivery workers and elderly people. Most of these combo eaters work or live in this community and hence are well known by the staff people here. Everybody's getting like a huge platter of food.

[00:07:20]>> Take a look at these people. Apparently they all work here.

[00:07:26]>> Ah 51 quai. Are you kidding me?

[00:07:32]This is so good.

[00:07:35]You're a slap 505 restaurant style workers here are so helpful to see. So I forgot to grab chopsticks and brought me two hair.

[00:07:44]People here are really friendly. They weren't like what are you doing here?

[00:07:49]Like what do you want? They're all like let me help you with this. Let me help you find this.

[00:07:56]Personally I'd like to look for a part-time job translation or you know this center has a job consultation desk.

[00:08:08]Most of these part-time jobs are like bus boys, waiters, stalkers. Oh, teacher for TOEFL is another teachers needed for summer school and winter school programs. Okay, here. Submitted my application to be a science teacher. Later that day, I got a text message from the Social Security Bureau that I needed to fill in my resume, which showed the application I submitted was real. By the end of the trip, I basically got to enjoy all the good stuff at the best party centers in Shanghai.

[00:08:38]I got in super late.

[00:08:41]I thought I was going to get scooted.

[00:08:44]Shoe washer. 35 minutes for five quai for really soiled shoes.

[00:08:51]Four quai for fast cycle. Five quai for standard cycle. Cop thrillers on today.

[00:08:59]The free movie room is surprisingly packed with young and old people alike on a weekday. All kinds of free drinks, all kinds of reading rooms, all kinds of free or almost free jams. This one's 50 quai a month. And got to know bunches of locals who are sometimes very blunt. We were just asked to present our permit, but are still very kind.

[00:09:19]>> One of the elderly ladies here just told me, "Hey, you can use my elderly card and you can get food for 15% off." Some descriptions on China's social media are not exactly accurate, like how this is a free presentation room. Presentation room. Well, I mean, there's nothing to present. It's kind of semioutdoors.

[00:09:38]There are 12,000 of these centers in Shanghai. From what I understand, the party mass centers seem to be heavily subsidized community spaces that provide services you'd find around the city at significantly lower prices. But I guess a lot of people don't know that. They feel like they come here only for a lesson on the future of communism or the history of socialism. They see the word communist, the party, and they go, "Ah."

[00:10:00]I guess it's like a cheap place for a lot of stuff. If you just arrived in Shanghai and live in an apartment the size of a big bathroom, nobody feels like spending 30 quid for a coffee just to work somewhere for free. That's really the reality of working as a laborer in a big city. You know, it's really no different than working in a restaurant in New York. In New York, there isn't such thing as free anything.

[00:10:21]If you want to work, then take a $3 subway ride to the public library. Or you can go to a park and get eaten alive by the birds. But that's not the idea.

[00:10:29]The idea is to have multiple such places in every community. So anyone, whether you get paid 30,000 quo month or 3,000 quiet a month or no quiet month because you just lost your job. Everybody can just get in and take a breath. Some of these places are really tiny. They really just have one or two chairs and AC. So, anyone who comes in can take a load off for a few minutes and depending on the weather, warm up or get out of the rain or heat. I like these communist party centers for the people. Welcome to the party mass centers for the people.