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Red tourism

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Red tourism

Red tourism (Chinese: 红色旅游; pinyin: Hóngsè lǚyóu) is a subset of tourism in the People's Republic of China in which Chinese people visit locations with historical significance to Chinese Communism "to rekindle their long-lost sense of class struggle and proletarian principles." The Government began actively supporting red tourism in 2005 to promote the "national ethos" and socioeconomic development in those areas, which are typically rural and poorer than East China. In July 2010, officials representing 13 Chinese cities signed a "China Red Tourism Cities Strategic Cooperation Yan'an Declaration" to develop red tourism; the cities are: Guang'an, Yan'an, Xiangtan, Jinggangshan, Ruijin, Zunyi, Baise, Shijiazhuang, Linyi, Anyang, Yulin, Shaanxi, Qingyang, and Huining. A Chinese official said "This is a major project that benefits both the Party, the nation and the people, either in the economic, cultural and the political sense."

Contents

Locations

  • Gutian, site of the Gutian Congress, where Mao Zedong stamped out "ultra-democracy" (voting among Red Army members). The resolution in the conference stipulated the basic principles for building the Party and the army.
  • Yan'an, near the endpoint of the Long March, and thus became the center of the Chinese communist revolution from 1936 to 1948. Chinese communists celebrate Yan'an as the birthplace of the revolution. Tourists can participate in daily mock battles portraying the “The Defense of Yan’an” against Chinese Nationalist Army forces.
  • Jinggangshan, the cradle of the Chinese Communist revolution, where Mao Zedong and other leading members of the Communist Party of China established the first rural base for the revolution in 1927.
  • Zunyi, the site of the Zunyi Conference
  • Japanese Germ Warfare Experimental Base in Harbin
  • Xifeng Concentration Camp
  • Shaoshan, the birthplace of Mao Zedong
  • Hainan Island
  • Nanjie, Henan province: Small village where its local residents still live under Maoist ideas and live according to commune principles.
  • Shanghai: Site of the 1921 Communist meeting.
  • Nanchang, Jiangxi Province: Site of the BaYi Uprising (August 1, 1927).
  • Chongqing: Communist sites from WWII.
  • Ruijin, Jiangxi Province: Headquarters of the Communist Party in the early 1930's.

    • Outside China

    Other former Communist countries can have red tourism, such as the Czech Republic, previously part of Czechoslovakia and ruled by the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia.

    Events

    The China Red Tourism and Cultural Festival is held annually in Hunan. The 2010 Festival took place in July and took advantage of high-speed rail in China.

    Criticism

    Aging original members of the Red Army criticise the "Disneyfication" of what should be solemn war memorials.

    References

    Red tourism Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA