China pushes 'red tourism'
2005-02-22 12:09
Beijing - China has launched a "red tourism" program in an effort to boost the waning image of the ruling Communist Party and bring in badly needed funds to impoverished regions, state press said on Tuesday.
"This is a major project that benefits both the party, the nation and the people," an official at the national coordination group on "red tourism" told Xinhua news agency.
As China's economy steams ahead and ordinary people enjoy unprecedented social and economic freedoms, Marxist idealism has been dwindling and few young people these days care about communist ideology.
The five-year program hopes to boost tourism to former revolutionary bases such as Jingangshan and the Taihang mountains, poor areas that were once the nurturing grounds for the Communist Party's guerrilla warfare strategy.
According to Xinhua, some 20 million people visited 150 major "red tourism" sites in 13 provinces and regions in 2004, and in recent years have brought in up to 20 billion yuan ($2.4bn) in tourism annually.
The program is aimed at making "people, especially young people, further consolidate their faith in pursuing the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics and realising the great rejuvenation of the nation under the leadership of the party," the official said.