Communist Tradition and Market Forces: Red Tourism and Politics in Contemporary China

In recent years, five historic Chinese Communist revolutionary sites—Shanghai, Jinggangshan (Jiangxi province), Zunyi (Guizhou province), Yan’an (Shaanxi province) and Xibaibo (Hebei province)—have been labeled as the most sacred sites in the history of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) by local officials in order to promote tourism and patriotic education among young people. This widely publicized state campaign has been undertaken in an era of reform driven by unbridled capitalistic market forces when Communist ideology is losing its magnetic pull. However, the official promotion of these old revolutionary sites reveals several sharp areas of tension in today’s China: ‘red tourism’ (exploiting the heritage of the CCP for the tourism industry) versus ‘green tourism’ (scenic sightseeing for personal gratification), Communist ideology versus a market economy, and state domination versus local autonomy.