Yunnan county links Long March heritage sites in red tourism push
In short
China News Service reported that Weixin County in Yunnan, home to Zhaxi town where the Zhaxi Meeting was held in February 1935, has been restoring Long March-era revolutionary sites and upgrading venues. The county has built a red-themed experience hall and a Long March slogan hall and links its core sites, which it says are open to all visitors. Tourists were photographed visiting the slogan hall at the Zhuangzi meeting site on October 3.
Read the full story 1 min read
China News Service reported on October 5 that Weixin County in Yunnan Province, in the Wumeng mountain area, has been developing tourism around its Long March heritage. The county's Zhaxi town hosted the Zhaxi Meeting in February 1935, which the report described as famous. In recent years, the outlet said, the county has repaired revolutionary sites and upgraded venues, adding a red-themed experience hall and a Long March slogan hall. [ 2 ]
According to the same report, the county has linked its core sites — the Zhaxi Meeting Memorial Hall, Zhaxi Red Town and the Shuitian Huafangzi meeting site — and opened the whole area to visitors. It said the sites are tied together with rural housing and ethnic customs, an approach the outlet described as using red culture to advance culture-tourism integration and to “polish Yunnan's red cultural tourism brand”. China News Service published a drone photograph of tourists visiting the Long March slogan hall at the Zhuangzi meeting site on October 3. Xinhua ran a feature under the same title, “A red town in the mountains”, the previous evening; the documents contain only its title. [ 1 , 2 ]
Why it matters
The reports show a local government using Long March heritage to build a tourism circuit in a mountainous county, a pattern China's official outlets present as culture-tourism integration. The coverage is promotional in character, so any economic effect on Weixin County and whether visitor numbers follow are not established by the documents.
Key facts
- Zhaxi town in Weixin County, Yunnan Province, in the Wumeng mountain area, hosted the Zhaxi Meeting in February 1935, according to China News Service. [ 2 ]
- In recent years Weixin County has repaired revolutionary sites and upgraded venues, building a red-themed experience hall and a Long March slogan hall, the outlet reported. [ 2 ]
- The county links the Zhaxi Meeting Memorial Hall, Zhaxi Red Town and the Shuitian Huafangzi meeting site as core attractions and says they are open to visitors across the area. [ 2 ]
- China News Service published a drone photograph of tourists visiting the Long March slogan hall at the Zhuangzi meeting site on October 3. [ 2 ]
- Xinhua and China News Service both ran features under the title “A red town in the mountains”, a day apart. [ 1 , 2 ]
Confirmed by several sources
- The Zhaxi Meeting was held in February 1935 in Zhaxi town, Weixin County, Yunnan, according to the official outlet China News Service. [ 2 ]
- Weixin County has been repairing Long March-related revolutionary sites and upgrading exhibition venues, including a red-themed experience hall and a Long March slogan hall, the same official outlet reported. [ 2 ]
Still unclear
- What prompted the reports, and whether the county announced a new project or milestone. Neither document describes a new announcement or event; one item gives only a title, and the other gives background on sites and a tourist photograph.
- Any visitor numbers, investment figures, opening dates or names of the bodies that funded the site work. The documents do not state these details.
- Whether the October 3 visit was an organised event or routine tourism. China News Service describes it only as tourists at the slogan hall, illustrated with a drone photo.