Zhang Yiwen, who grew up in Guang'an and spent the first 15 years of his life in the country's western region of Sichuan, always felt a connection to late Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping.
Zhang, who has served as a guide at the Communist revolutionary's old mansion for the last 11 years, knows Deng's anecdotes like the back of her hand and relishes telling them to guests.
"Grandpa Deng has a great image in our heart," Zhang says CNN, referring to the man who is credited with modernizing and opening up China as the country's paramount leader from the late 1970s until his death in 1997.
She was one of two persons from Sichuan chosen to join the countrywide "Five Good Guides" program in late 2020, one of numerous Chinese government projects aimed at improving and promoting the country's fast growing "red tourism" business.
Officials from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism hand-picked 100 of the country's best tour guides to operate at so-called "red sites," which are historical and culturally significant to the ruling Communist Party.
The chosen ones were flown to Beijing for additional training aimed at making them "a firm inheritor of the red gene, a wonderful storyteller of red stories, a vivid interpreter of the red spirit, a loyal disseminator of the red culture, and a powerful leader of the red trend," as the government puts it.
Despite the fact that the notion of "red tourism" has been around for decades, it was not incorporated in the country's national tourist strategy until 2004. Some critics argue it gives a skewed interpretation of history, while others accuse it of blatant indoctrination.
Since taking office in late 2012, China's current strongman leader Xi Jinping has pushed "red tourism" on several occasions, spurring fast development of this hitherto niche market among local governments and domestic visitors.
As a result, in recent years, "red sites" have sprung up all throughout the country, highlighting anything from Communist revolution memorials to trees planted by Communist officials.
Pandemic gives 'red tourism' a lift.
Domestic travelers have given the "red tourism" business a boost, with the global travel market still hampered by the epidemic and Chinese visitors obliged to stay at home.
"By 2020, the number of red tourists will have surpassed 100 million, accounting for 11% of domestic travel," says Mimi Li, an expert on Chinese tourism policy and associate professor at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
"Wow, that's incredible."
With the country getting ready to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Communist Party's foundation in July, the timing couldn't be better for tourism industry firms wanting to cash in on this burgeoning market.
To coincide with this milestone, further "red tourism" activities are being launched practically weekly in both the public and commercial sectors.
