Former CPC and Red Army strongholds are drawing large numbers of visitors keen to follow in the footsteps of history

Tourists experience the life of Red Army soldiers during a one-day trip to the Jinggang Mountains in Jinggangshan, Jiangxi province. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Dressed in replica Red Army uniforms, groups of teenage tourists walked along a rugged path in the Jinggang Mountains, Jiangxi province.

The path was part of a route used by the Red Army, a forerunner of the People's Liberation Army, to carry daily supplies up the mountain when the force was based in the area in the 1920s.

As part of a popular tourist program to experience the life of a Red Army soldier, visitors laden with rifles and sacks of food have to complete several tasks along the 5-kilometer trail, including finding herbs.

People from all over the country come here (the Jinggang Mountains). It’s the eternal spiritual home and the highland of faith in the mind of the nation

Jiao Xuejun, mayor of Jinggangshan, a city nestled deep in the mountains

They can also cook a meal in local people's kitchens to get a taste of the soldiers' diet, which mainly consisted of foods such as pumpkins and corn, before ending the day with a chorus of revolutionary songs featuring inspiring lyrics and melodies.

As the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party of China approaches, tourists are flocking to the mountain range, known as the "cradle of the Chinese revolution", to learn about the Party's history and retrace the footsteps of the revolutionary generation.

During the recent May Day holiday, the number of tourists who visited Red Tourism sites in Jiangxi rose by 300 percent year-on-year, while attractions in the Jinggang Mountains were swamped with visitors, according to the local government.

"People from all over the country come here. It's the eternal spiritual home and the highland of faith in the mind of the nation," said Jiao Xuejun, mayor of Jinggangshan, a city nestled deep in the mountains.

"They feel encouraged to overcome life's difficulties after learning what our revolutionary ancestors sacrificed for their ideals and beliefs," he said, adding that this year's travel season is just beginning, so he expects to see many more tourists arrive.

Red Tourism

Jinggangshan, located in a remote location near Jiangxi's border with Hunan province, was an ideal base for the CPC and the Red Army in the 1920s, but its topography and isolation resulted in local people becoming impoverished in more recent times.

After landing at Jinggangshan Airport and driving for an hour through green forests occasionally dotted with houses and fields, visitors reach the Jinggangshan Revolution Museum, a must-see venue in the center of the town.

The mountains seem like a huge museum without walls, with 120 old sites where the revolutionary generation lived and fought. They are also home to many relics that record the Party's history during the period.

In recent years, Jinggangshan has made good use of its historical resources to design courses that promote the red education industry, which is focused on understanding the Party's history and theories.

Mao Haofu gives engaging English-language tours and lectures at historical sites to visitors from overseas.

In 2016, the 32-year-old quit his job in a bank in Nanchang, Jiangxi's capital, and returned to his hometown to make use of his language skills and tell stories related to local Party history.

He made the decision after seeing a special New Year's greeting card in the museum. The card had been written in English by a Red Army soldier to his fiancee. Mao, who has a master's in finance from the University of Hull in the United Kingdom, was surprised that a Chinese person could write English at that time.

"I was picky. I checked to see if there were any grammar or spelling mistakes, but the beautiful writing showed that the writer must have been an educated person," he said.

He later discovered that during revolutionary times many 20-something university graduates, including some who had studied overseas, came to the mountains. Many sacrificed their lives.

"Those young people didn't work in big cities; they joined the revolution and shouldered their responsibilities, which moved me a lot. Through that greeting card, I had a spiritual dialogue with the martyr," he said, noting that the young man died in battle.

"I am confident about telling the history of the Chinese revolution to people from all over the world. By carrying on this legacy, we have achieved a great deal in the new era."

Better lives

In February 2017, Jinggangshan was removed from the national list of poverty-stricken cities. It was one of the first places in the country to be taken off the list as a result of a growing red education and tourism industry that has created many jobs and boosted local incomes.

There are about 250 red history educations centers in Jinggangshan, offering Party history courses that feature immersive and interactive experiences. The number of attendees saw an average annual increase of 40 percent between 2014 and 2019, according to official data.

Xie Yanjun, who runs a red education and tourism agency, said the industry was affected by the COVID-19 epidemic last year, but this year the mountain town will see an influx of tourists as the Party's centenary draws near.

He said the booming industry has brought great changes for the residents, who have opened guesthouses to improve their incomes. Moreover, the vegetables they grow and the chickens and ducks they raise fetch good prices at the market because demand is high.

"People are more confident and smiling more because they now have access to friends from all over the world," he added.

He said many of his childhood friends have returned to Jinggangshan to start businesses thanks to the improved infrastructure and business environment, plus central government efforts to vitalize rural areas.

Nestled in the mountains, Mayuan village has clean new concrete roads, while recently renovated three-story buildings stand beside a lotus pool.

The village, with a population of about 1,000, features a bridge that was crossed by troops led by Mao Zedong to build their base in the mountains.

The development of rural tourism prompted Mayuan native Xie Xiaomin to return and open the first guesthouse in the village in 2017. The hostelry has 30 rooms and 80 beds, with each room costing about 100 yuan (US$15.50) a day. In total, the village can accommodate 1,200 guests.

The 54-year-old is the grandson of Yuan Wencai, an influential local figure who helped Mao Zedong found the revolutionary base in the mountains and later joined the Red Army. At the entrance to Xie's guesthouse, a photo shows his grandfather as a young man.

"I admire my grandfather's courage, and my guests love to hear stories about him," he said, adding that he will keep telling the tales as long as people are willing to listen to them.

Poetry and posterity

In April, a group of cadres was reciting a poem at the site of the Huangyangjie Sentry Post. The verse was written by Mao Zedong to commemorate an important victory there in 1928, when the Red Army took advantage of the natural barriers of steep mountains and misty climate to defend themselves against an attack.

Zheng Xiaoming, who joined the Party in 2008 and is deputy general manager of the Hunan Sports Industrial Group, said, "This on-site activity helps make abstract concepts vivid and prompts deep emotions."

He was attending a two-week session at the China Executive Leadership Academy of Jinggangshan for Party cadres from industries nationwide. The training featured on-site visits, lectures, videos, case studies and discussions.

Located in the mountains, the facility, which opened in 2005, is one of three executive leadership academies in China offering short sessions for middle- and high-level Party cadres.

By March, 1,988 training programs had been organized, involving 100,000 people.

Mei Liming, the academy's vice-president, said, "We use the Party's revolutionary history to enlighten the cadres. Through it, they can draw the wisdom and strength needed to guide now and in the future."

The education focuses on the cadres' abilities in terms of research, decision making, problem solving, emergency response and working within communities. The latest Party theories and national documents, including the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-25), have been integrated into the teaching content, Mei added.

Zheng said, "Just like the spirit of relying on the masses during revolutionary times, the goals set by a business also depend on all staff members working together."

Luo Jinfei, another attendee and deputy head of the government of Tianjin's Hebei district, said: "As a leading cadre at the grassroots level, it's important for me to understand the needs of the masses. Under very difficult circumstances in the Jinggang Mountains, the Party was able to obtain effective resources to carry out the struggle. Facing the current economic situation and social developments, we must also learn to work in accordance with local conditions."

Du Dongyun, another trainee and vice-president of the South-Central University for Nationalities in Wuhan, Hubei province, said the session had helped him understand that Party members should always serve the people.

"Last year, during the epidemic prevention and control measures in Wuhan (Hubei province), many arduous tasks were undertaken by Party members," he said.

Contact the writers at zhangyi1@chinadaily.com.cn