Womens Army shows the way for Red Tourists

On July 1st, on the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party operators throughout China are creating a selection of cultural and commemorative "red" tours.

On the island province of Hainan, visitors can travel to rural Qionghai, to visit Pan Xianying, mother of seven, and now nearly a 100 yrs old, and one of three remaining members of a famed Communist all-women army unit in China and a living attraction on a "red" tour of the southern island province of Hainan.

Pan was about 15 when she joined the unit in 1931; the battalion was formed by a Hainanese Communist to promote gender equality. It was created to protect party leaders and fight rival Nationalist forces during China's civil war, the unit and composed of 140 women. The unit was disbanded after several years, when Nationalist forces drove local Communists underground. But its members were hailed as heroines after Mao Zedong's victorious forces took over China in 1949 and the unit has since inspired a popular ballet, The Red Detachment of Women, and several films.

Local authorities in the rural community of Qionghai decided to capitalise on the detachment's fame this year with tours of its former training grounds and meeting spots. The tours attracted 360 people in April, some coming as part of events organised by their employers, others independently. Besides old revolutionary sites -- one of them just a bare field where influential communists once met long ago -- outdoor sports such as hiking are also on offer.

The hikes are billed as instilling army-style camaraderie among tour members and follow a route that Red Army soldiers are said to have struggled through. The tour guides sport revolutionary-style green caps complete with a red star, which visitors can buy for 10 yuan. They can also choose to wear a full soldier's uniform for 100 yuan.

'Red' tourism is not new in China, where the party has deftly managed to keep alive memories of the communist revolution even as it has transformed the country into an economic powerhouse. The Hunan province city of Shaoshan where Mao was born and the longtime Communist base of Yan'an in Shaanxi province are already star attractions.

But the trend is gaining ground. In the southwestern city of Chongqing, authorities have ordered state radio and television to promote the mass study of "red songs" praising the Communist Party. Citizens are being urged to download tunes from websites, while newspapers print their lyrics, state media reported. Other cities have made similar moves.

Chen Doushu, head of the agency organising the tours, said red tourism reflects a desire by many to look fondly back at the past after more than 30 years of focus on the future during China's rapid recent modernisation.

"Chinese people cannot forget their history, and the best way to do that is to go and remember it, to study it. That's where red tourism comes from," he said.