The scene is commonplace in theme parks: a boy is photographed by his mother, imitating the pose of a puppet behind him. Children play skeet shooting with their parents, while giant screens in the environment show movies of combat. Far from movie or comic book characters, however, the heroes here are Mao Zedong and his companions.
As a gift to the Chinese Communist Party on its centenary, the Wanda Group invested around 12 billion yuan (1.54 billion euros) in the inauguration of a revolutionary communist-themed tourist complex in June last year in the city of Yan’ an. The point of arrival of the Long March – as the more than 10,000 kilometers undertaken by the Chinese Red Army between 1934 and 1935 became known –, the place is a kind of “sacred ground” for the party.
With a total area of 2.7 square kilometers, Yan’an Wanda City features a 1.5-kilometer-long red street, military theme park, shops, restaurants, galleries, hotels, a theater and a lake, in addition to other attractions for tourists. The objective, according to the developer, is to create a new experience of the so-called red tourism, through the integration of high technology with the revolutionary theme.
Visitors can shop for souvenirs and local handicrafts, sample traditional cuisine, and enjoy themed entertainment, such as the first ice-dancing version of the Chinese opera “The White-Haired Girl”, one of the classics of revolutionary China. For the scenario, an artificial ice megalago was built, capable of lasting through the seasons.
“It is a state-of-the-art comprehensive cultural tourism project. Visitors can receive a patriotic education, experience popular customs and enjoy a relaxing vacation,” said Wanda Group President Wang Jianlin in speech at the founding ceremony from Yan’an Wanda City in April 2019.
In order to function as a “holiday resort”, the complex has the luxurious Wanda Realm Yan’an. The hotel has panoramic views of the lake and is strategically located (20 minutes from the airport), offering guests banqueting and conference rooms (which can even take place on outdoor lawns), as well as entertainment and fitness spaces.
There are 178 rooms – some of them cave-style, allowing you to experience the local culture – with daily rates ranging from 428 to 12,888 yuan (something between 61 and 1,843 euros). The latter, an apartment of 196 meters, overlooking a paradisiacal landscape. “The planned five-star hotel will fill the void that there was no luxury vacation hotel in Yan’an,” said Wang Jianlin at the inauguration of the project.
Yan’an Wanda City is expected to receive more than 10 million visits per year, creating around 10,000 jobs. “This will greatly improve the local economy and boost its transition, creating new fronts for economic growth,” Wang said at the time. The minimum wage in Shaanxi province is 1,950 yuan (about 279 euros).
The China Daily newspaper, run by the country’s Communist Party, said that the opening of the red street, on June 12, exceeded public expectations, reaching the mark of 260,000 tourists. “It evoked, as the name implies, another time with its spaces and atmosphere. The street bustled with a collective memory shrouded in red culture. Gray shingles, sloping eaves and yellow clay walls were reminiscent of a land of the past.” the text said.
Rise
According to the 4th Chinese Traveler Sentiment Survey, published by Dragon Trail in September, 12% of Chinese declared themselves interested in the so-called red tourism as a destination for their next vacation. Nature (74%), trips to beaches and islands (56%), theme parks, water parks and zoos (51%) and cultural tourism (44%) appear as the most cited topics among those heard by the survey.
“In 2020, the number of red tourists exceeded 100 million and contributed to 11% of domestic travel. This is quite phenomenal,” said Mimi Li, an associate professor at the Polytechnic University of Hong Kong and an expert on Chinese tourism policy, for CNN.
Professor of International Law and coordinator of the Center for China-Brazil Studies at FGV Direito Rio, Evandro Menezes de Carvalho, explains that the Chinese people love to travel, being responsible for a significant portion of world tourism.
In the expert’s opinion, the context of the pandemic and a more intense trade war since the Trump administration, which has led China to an international scenario of more protectionism, favors the creation of domestic attractions, such as the Wanda red complex.
“The Chinese who traveled around the world, with resources, are prevented. There is a pent-up demand, a great potential to offer alternatives to domestic tourism, which was already intense. In this movement of looking further in the next three years, which the pandemic worsens and the war deepens, the domestic market becomes attractive. China has 400 million people in the middle-income bracket, and by 2035, the goal is to double that. There is an impressive market to be explored”, he projects.
Experience tourism
A published report on the Wanda Group website states that as of July 12, 2021, Yan’an Red Street “has broken the record of 2 million visitors in a month after opening. Among them, the post-80, post-90 and post-00 generation accounted for more than 50% of the passenger flow”.
In the article, the dean of the China Tourism Research Institute, Dai Bin, hailed the venture as a milestone in red tourism innovation, filling a gap in offering visitors experiences.
“In the past when I went to Yan’an, I might have seen some caves, a table and a chair. Now there are traditional revolutionary sites like Yangjialing and innovative projects like Yan’an Red Street that include interactions such as immersive performing arts, smart technology, etc. Experience. Visitors can not only watch the exhibition, but also stay and participate in the interaction”, he celebrated.
At the Yan’an theme park, visitors go through experiences that stir their senses, such as the approach of actors who recreate the difficulties faced by communists when fleeing the nationalist army.
“In China, there is only one origin story, and it is not up for debate. It’s at the heart of the propaganda. It’s vital for the party that people feel an emotional connection to this story, and you’re only going to get that where it took place.” for the newspaper O Globo.
Professor Evandro de Carvalho considers that the venture combines the business acumen of billionaire Wang Jianlin with a context of pleasing the Communist Party. For him, while the park is symbolic of a current effort by the party to position its own historical narrative, it is also a response to a growing pride in traditional Chinese culture among younger people. Thus, in his view, more than an ode to communism, the venture would be a business opportunity in a scenario of “China’s rejuvenation”.
“Values like respect for hierarchy and a strong leader were not invented by the Communist Party. Mao Zedong even fought traditional aspects of Chinese culture, which he saw as one of the causes of Chinese passivity. He attacked, for example, the filial piety of Confucianism, urging him to denounce any counterrevolutionary, no matter if he was his father. With his death, little by little these traditional elements take their place”, analyzes Carvalho.
The PhD in Social and Political Sciences and academic manager at Ibmec Brasília, Ricardo Caichiolo, who studied the relations between Brazil and China in his master’s degree in History of International Relations at the University of Brasília (UnB), agrees that investments like this serve the interests of the government Chinese in two ways: by generating revenue, from the promotion of domestic tourism, and by promoting the revolutionary legacy, especially among young people.
“The park follows the celebration of the Chinese Communist Party, encouraging young people to visit historic sites, so that they understand the revolutionary legacy. This is a type of visit that involves recovering the history and cultural part of the country. Chinese thinking is very focused on the issue of culture, of conciliation, and these visits serve to show the evolution of China since its creation in 1949. [ano da fundação da República Popular da China]”, it says.
Partnership
In his 2019 project presentation speech, Wang Jianlin stated that “the red tourism brand is jointly built by Wanda Group and Yan’an City for the centenary of the Chinese Communist Party”.
The Draft National Red Tourism Development Plan 2004-2010 provides for the market mechanism and flexible measures “to encourage society to participate in the development and operation of red tourism”, according to the Wanda Group website. In Dai Bin’s opinion, the model would favor “the balance between government guidance and social participation”.
The Chinese conglomerate Wanda Group is one of the largest commercial real estate developers on the planet. The brand sponsored the 2018 World Cup and has already participated in Spanish football club Atlético de Madrid. The group’s chairman, Wang Jianlin, one of China’s richest men, served in the Chinese military from 1970 to 1986 and was a deputy in the country’s 17th National Congress of the Communist Party, according to Forbes.
In 2016, Wang told Chinese state TV that Disney shouldn’t have come to the country. “We want to act in a way that Disney cannot be profitable in this sector in China in 10 or 20 years,” he said.
Owner of the film studio Legendary Entertainment and operator of one of the largest movie chains in China, in recent years the billionaire has sold part of his stakes in hotels and sports and entertainment ventures.
He was reportedly “forced to sell many of his assets abroad after Chinese authorities became alarmed by his rapidly growing debt,” the statement said. Japanese newspaper Nikkei Asia. The article, from February of this year, opines that “Wang, who once said he would ‘keep some distance from politics’, is now aligning himself with the Xi government. [Jinping, ditador do país]”.
In the opinion of Evandro Carvalho, the search for protection of the Chinese State by the companies has grown in the international scene. “Wanda’s manager saw this as an opportunity to make money and to be in agreement, to please the government. Before Trump’s trade war, the number of companies that had a partisan (Communist Party) unity within them was low. Now this movement of companies seeking to protect the Chinese state and its interests is starting to increase,” he adds.
Ricardo Caichiolo recalls that the Chinese prosperity of the last decades has been closely monitored by the leaders of the Communist Party, which includes the performance of companies and the entry of multinationals in the country. Thus, freedom of action occurs as long as there is convergence of interests. “Companies need to adapt to the demands of the government, which are those of the party. It’s all very well aligned. And for companies, adapting to these requirements and entering a market like China is profitable,” he analyzes.
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