SHANGHAI -- As the 100th anniversary of the Chinese Communist Party approaches on July 1, a museum here features President Xi Jinping more prominently than any other leader save Mao Zedong, the founder of modern China.

The exhibit at the site of the party's first National Congress opened in Shanghai earlier this month. Xi, the party's current general secretary, appears in 12 photographs, including one of him giving a speech at Tiananmen Square.

By contrast, Deng Xiaoping -- a core second-generation leader, who spearheaded China's economic reform and opening up --  was given four photographs. Xi's immediate predecessors Hu Jintao and Jiang Zemin were featured in three.

At the end of the exhibit, a plaque calls for continued progress in the lives of Chinese people under the so-called "Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era."

Xi's outsize exposure is not limited to this museum.

Photos of Xi Jinping are displayed at the memorial for the first Communist Party congress in Shanghai. (Photo by Tsukasa Hadano)

The party-run People's Daily recently published a list of 100 quotes from past Chinese leaders ahead of the centennial. Thirty quotes each came from Xi and Mao, suggesting the two leaders hold similar importance for the party. Fourteen were attributed to Deng, and 10 each to Jiang and Hu.

The Communist Party in 2017 incorporated the Xi Jinping Thought into its constitution, making Xi the first leader since Mao and Deng to be enshrined in the document.

Xi draws political inspiration from Mao, but is widely believed to disagree with Deng's focus on economic growth.