Communism is a cult. And in China, worship is mandatory.
That’s why the Party is making a Mecca for Communism.
Welcome to China Uncensored, I’m Chris Chappell. You know the greatest thing about summer?
Taking a vacation.
And what better place to vacation than the killing fields of communist China?
Ugh, North Korea sounds like a more relaxing place to take a holiday.
But that’s what the Chinese Communist Party is promoting with its “red tourism” sites.
These are sites that have significance to the party’s history—although don’t expect to actually
learn history there. This is about promoting the Party and whitewashing all its red crimes.
Their history is about as accurate as Helen
Keller playing darts. The Communist Party has
been promoting these red tourism sites as meccas for atheist Communist Party devotees.
There, tourists get to experience firsthand what it’s like to be a communist in China,
From taking the party oath…
To ascending towards CCP heaven…
To holding aloft the holy book -Mao’s Little Red Book.
They also get to follow the revolutionary warpath that
the communists took in their journey to power,
places like Nanhu Lake, where the Communist Party held its first congress in 1921.
The story goes that the communists tried to hold their meeting in Shanghai, but then got kicked out
by police, so they had to have it on a boat. Which, I mean, can’t we all relate? Just
when the party’s really getting started, that’s when the cops show up, amiright?
According to state media, red tourism is becoming increasingly popular!
“Some 41.7 percent of respondents to a survey . . . said they visited red
tourist sites more than three times [in 2021], and over 40 percent of them went
to such places ‘frequently’ and ‘voluntarily’”
You know how people *never* describe their Hawaiian vacation? Totally voluntary! No
one forced me, I swear! I had tons of mandatory fun!
In 2019, Bloomberg described the crowd at one such site as “Groups from private companies,
state enterprises and government departments.”
In other words, not your average tourist who’s geeking out on the CCP fan-fiction.
I mean history. But I’m sure there
are some people who go just for the fun of it. I mean, who wouldn’t want to train like a Red
Guard for a day? Ok, maybe it’s not the full training. Like, you probably don’t
get to actually torture and kill your family members there. That probably costs extra.
War reenactments are another attraction. Here are Chinese soldiers acting out a
scene from the second Sino-Japanese war. “His performance as an imperial Japanese
officer evokes such strong emotions among the audience, that some have even thrown things
at him on stage.” Encore, encore!
And no red tourism trip would be complete without seeing the sites from a red spy balloon.
Oh wait, did I just say spy balloon ? I meant a totally civilian unmanned airship.
But why is the party putting all this energy into red tourism? I’ll tell you after the break.
Welcome back. The Communist Party is promoting red tourism, but why?
According to state media, these Communist Disneylands are part of
an anti-poverty campaign to give rural economies a little boost.
As opposed to Communist China’s old anti-poverty campaign of making policies
so bad all the poor people just starved. Can’t have poverty if they’re all dead.
Hm. I doubt they’ll teach that at any of these red tourism sites.
According to Bloomberg, “the government earmarked $370 million to develop red
tourism between 2016 and 2020, turning it into big business.”
Especially for places like Zunyi, where the Red Army hosted a meeting that led to some reforms.
State media claims it was red tourism that “injected vitality” into the city.
Look at all the vitality!
Last year alone, state media says Zunyi raked in “about 12 billion U.S. dollars” from tourism.
Wow, that seems like a lot of money. That’s almost three times as much as
Universal Studios Hollywood made in 2022. It makes sense. Kids *are* always saying,
“I don’t care about roller coasters or Harry Potter. I want to go see Zunyi!”
But if you read the fine print, only about 18 percent of that came from red tourism.
But speaking of the kids, the CCP wants you to think it's Gen Z that’s driving red tourism.
Hello fellow comrades!
But it doesn’t actually give any evidence of that. It just says Gen
Zers have become “the major participants” of red tourism, without giving any numbers.
But according to one Bloomberg reporter,
that was *not* the demographic he was seeing at these red tourism sites.
“So I’m here at Jinggangshan Revolution Museum, which is a very popular spot apparently. There’s
lots of people here today. Mainly older people, and they’re attired in red caps, red scarves.”
I wonder why China’s young people aren’t going? They should have lots
of time on their hands now that youth unemployment is at a record high.
So it's mostly older Chinese who are there because of their job.
Their idea to lift rural areas out of poverty is boomer field trips. Brilliant.
But what about foreigners? If it’s such a big hit in China,
surely tthere foreigners flocking there too, right?
According to state media, loads! Like, “delegates from several foreign countries,
including Cuba, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and African countries.”
Yes, unspecific African countries!
And when foreigners come, China will be ready for them.
At one red site, “there are about 80 guides . . . working in Chinese,
English, Russian, Italian and Japanese.”
Yeah, I’m sure the Japanese are going to *love* this.
How inspiring! So why is the Party really going to such lengths to promote red tourism? Well there’s
a much more sinister reason than fighting poverty, and I’ll tell you right after the break.
Welcome back. China says it's promoting red
tourism to alleviate poverty, but is that the real reason?
Red tourism in China isn’t new. It’s actually been around for quite a few years already.
According to the China Media Project, the concept of red tourism “first arose in the late 1990s”,
although the party was promoting its history for decades before that.
In 2004, it was officially added to the country’s tourism plan.
But it became much more popular after 2012 when Xi Jinpingcame to power.
While former leaders focused on development over ideology,
Ximade communism a centerpiece of his political philosophy.
For him, promoting red tourism isn’t just about teaching “history.”
The officially atheist communist party has spent decades trying to turn communism into
China’s religion. Cult might be more accurate Party members go through an initiation ritual,
where they pledge their life to the party. “Be ready at all times to sacrifice my all
for the party and the people.” It has a God-like figure
a prophet a lineage of popes, and an army of priests
who interpret the dogma for the masses .
And even sometimes go door to door.
Although it’s hard to read their good book with that black bag over your head
. The foundation of the belief
system is Marxism-Leninism, but each Chinese leader has their own theological interpretation
that’s part of the Party’s constitution. It demands ideological purity from its members,
and forbids them from practicing other religions, even for officials who are no longer in the party.
Which is just wrong. Everyone should be free to find their way to the one true faith:
Jediism. May the Force be with you. And also with you.
Karl Marx is famous for saying that “religion is the opiate of the masses.”
But the Communist Manifesto goes further, saying religion is antithetical to communism.
It says “Communism abolishes eternal truths, it abolishes all religion, and all morality.”
Mao took this to heart, and, during the Cultural Revolution ,tried to root out
what he called the 4 olds: Old Ideas, Old Culture, Old Customs, and Old Habits.
A lot of traditional beliefs, like good being
rewarded with good and evil with evil, were struck down as heresy.
There was really no moral code, except to obey the party,
no matter how dehumanizing or dangerous it was.
That led to things like children turning in their parents for being counter revolutionaries,
people being killed based on rumors or accusations,
and yes, even cannibalism.
This probably won’t be brought up at red tourist sites. Which is a shame, because
that’d be a perfect tie-in for their food courts. “Try our hot dogs, before you eat your grandma.”
After Mao died in 1976, the Cultural Revolution ended.
And while things were definitely more stable,
the Cultural Revolution had wiped out a lot of the morals that kept society
together. That turned out to be a problem when “normality” became the goal.
In 2001, the Party came up with a code of ethics that seemed to be its atheist
solution for the vacuum that religion had filled. It calls for “upholding the ideals of Marxism”,
promoting the “traditional virtues of China,” and “creating a socialist moral system.”
Yes, clearly the problem with the Cultural Revolution was not a strong enough belief
in the ideals of Karl Marx . But here’s where it starts to
sound really preachy. It says that to promote the fine traditions set by the party leaders,
people must “inherit the red gene, and renew the spiritual lineage.”
The red gene? I always thought communism was just a bad idea. Apparently, it’s a disability.
The spiritual lineage and red genes part it’s referring to it’s revolutionary spirit,
which Party leaders are hoping to pass down to younger generations,
…not that the Party is encouraging anyone to actually go start a revolution right now.
…and they had a lot of mixed messages about creating younger generations.
Xi has been trying to whip up excitement for the communist cause that got so many young
people involved during the Cultural Revolution.
“In a series of quotes published . . . by the party’s official magazine,
Xi called on members to ‘make good use of red resources, inherit red genes and pass on the red
country from generation to generation.’” In China, apparently there’s no such thing
as too much red. I mean look, they’re even putting red lipstick on poor kids.
Going back to red tourism, part of this whole “red gene” thing is about
learning the Party’s history by visiting what the party calls its holy sites.
The Party ethics document calls for “patriotic education bases” and “revolutionary commemorative
facilities” to promote what it calls the “fine traditions created by the
party’s leading people”. Yes, the fine traditions
created by the party’s leading people. “In party literature and state media,
former revolutionary bases are labeled ‘holy sites,’ and the almost obligatory visits to
such locations by the rank and file are meant to ‘baptize’ members in the Communist ‘faith.’”
Though considering how much they use torture, though, it’s hard
to tell if its baptism or waterboarding.
So what do you think of red tourism? Leave a like and your comment below.
And remember, China Uncensored wouldn’t exist without your support. Leave a like and a comment,
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And as a thank you, I answer questions from
the China Uncensored 50 Cent Army at the end of episodes.
Today’s question comes from arigaa You've mentioned many times that the
world subsidizes China by giving them developing nation status,
and thus very cheap shipping costs... what is the process to get this changed and how can we help?
Great question! So for instance, China still classifies itself as a developing nation
with the World Trade Organization. Even though it's the second largest economy in the world.
It gets loads of subsidies and benefits because of it.
But get this—there’s no process for changing that in the WTO. A country gets to declare for
itself if it's a developing country and China’s not going to say otherwise while it benefits.
Could we kick them out of the WTO. There’s also no process for that!
So what can be done? Well, we have to tell our elected officials to get tough on China.
When every country in the WTO starts demanding accountability, because
the people of those countries are demanding accountability, that’s when things will change.
That’s why I’m so grateful for all the help fans give in making this show possible. Together we are
changing how people view the Chinese Communist Party and we are making a real difference.
Thanks for your question and your support.
And thank you for watching. Once again,
join the China Uncensored 50 Cent army over at patreon.com/chinauncensored.
I’m Chris Chappell. See you next time.