On its 170th birthday, Communist Manifesto hailed as 'lightning'

China marked the 170th anniversary of the publication of the Communist Manifesto on Thursday.

The document has been hailed as the guiding political document for the communist movement. With its publication by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels in February 1848, Marxism emerged "as if lightning cut through dark sky", an article published by Xinhua News Agency said on Thursday.

A commentary published in Thursday's People's Daily, the Communist Party of China's flagship newspaper, compared the document to "a glorious dawn in human spiritual history" and "a spiritual home for communists".