Communist identity in China: a case study of red tourism

Abstract

The rapid development and change of China have drawn increasing attention globaly. The primary agents of those are the nation-state and capital, and one of the principal vehicles is tourism, in which places saturated with tradition and authenticity are produced and consumed. As such, the so-called ‘red tourism’ has been promoted by the Chinese communist nation-state since 2004. Built on the history of the Chinese Communist Party, ‘red tourism’ is hailed by the party leaders as a strategic engine for driving both the nation’s economic growth and rediscovering ‘an authentic communist ideology’ in the 21st century. From the broader context of China’s current modernization campaign, this paper analyzes ‘red tourism’ by especially looking into the reality of the nation-state political guidance in the tourism production process. Major research issues are concened with the social and economic factors for nation-state involvemen and the specific roles of the nation-state manifest the involvement, in order to question the implications of the so-called ‘red tourism’ for sustaining China’s communist identity.