Sites in China linked to the Communist Revolution and the war against Japan are set to receive large investments for improvements and expansions as major tourism sites. Various state departments have already allocated over four hundred million pounds to improve both infrastructure and the memorial sites.

This is to support the rise in interest in revolutionary-era history within China itself. The annual ‘Tomb-Sweeping Day Holiday’, which takes place in April attracted over thirty million people to pay their respects at sites across the country. The state is always ready to promote the educational aspects but from a purely economic standpoint this ‘tourism’ is expected to be worth in the region of eighteen billion pounds.

The three most popular sites for this are as follows:

Yan’an. Probably the centre of the red tourism, this was Mao Zedong’s revolutionary base area when the Red Army arrived at the end of 1935 after the grueling Long March. Many of the sites in this area are hollowed out caves, but to experience something a little more formal there is the Wangjiaping Revoultionary Museum. The area has been a strategic location throughout China’s history and there is the Hukou waterfall on the Yellow river to visit too.

Shaoshan: This is the hometown of Mao Zedong and as such has plenty of specific sites to visit including his residence, a Memorial Hall and Gardeen as well as the stone tablets of his poems. Smoked meat (of all types) is a local delicacy and almost every local restaurant features at least one such dish on its menu, and the use of chilles is somewhat on the heavy side, so you have been warned.

Nanchang. The capital of Jianqxi Province was the site of an uprising in 1927 which is regarded as the communists’ first counterattack against an attempt to wipe it out entirely by the Nationalist government of the time. The original Headquarters and the Pavilion of Price Teng are must see buildings.

There are other sites of note such as Jinggang Mountain and the city of Zunyi, but this area of tourism is set to expand and will become a major international destination as well. This could be a great destination to add to anyone’s wish list, so pack your walking trousers and get in on the ground floor for this great experience.