‘Red tourism’ increasingly popular with public
Print Edition
“RED tourism” is gaining popularity in China as the government pumps money into developing sites related to the Chinese revolution.
North China’s Shanxi Province in particular is trying to accentuate the historical credentials of revolution-era bases to attract tourists.
Wuxiang County in Shanxi hosted the headquarters of China’s Eighth Route Army and accommodated many of the country’s older generation of revolutionaries, such as Zhu De, Peng Dehuai and Deng Xiaoping. The Eighth Route Army was an armed force led by the Communist Party of China during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45).
In 2008, the Wuxiang government set up a themed cultural park, putting on stage shows telling war stories and offering travel itineraries that let tourists sample life as a guerrilla.
In 2013, 2 million visitors flocked there, attracted by the red tourism program, which has generated more than 2 billion yuan (US$300 million), according to the county government.
“At present, there are unprecedented opportunities for red tourism in China,” said Wang Shumao, a member of the country’s coordinating group for this sub-sector of tourism.
“We have included this into our national development plan, and will introduce policies to support it,” he said.
In 2013, the central government allocated 487 million yuan to back up red tourism. Civil affairs department also invested 2.8 billion yuan on constructing memorial sites.
And China’s transport departments have dedicated 1.5 billion yuan to improving road links to revolutionary sites.
During the this year’s Qingming Festival holiday, 30 million people paid their respects at red tourism sites, said Wang.
“We should make use of the educational function of red tourism,” said Dong Jiang’ai, a professor with Shanxi University. “It could help reduce corruption when we appreciate the efforts of these soldiers.”
It is estimated that by next year red tourism sites will welcome 800 million tourists a year and earn 200 billion yuan.
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