Thread by @PeterMartin_PCM

"We're going to take the red spirit we learned here back to each of our kindergartens"

I travelled to Jinggangshan to learn about why the CCP is pushing red tourism and how the lines between loyalty to the party and loyalty to Xi are increasingly blurred

bloomberg.com/news/features/…

I took a special ‘red train’ from Beijing direct to Jinggangshan

It featured displays on party history and the staff had all been trained to sing red songs

Many of those riding were from the party committees of private companies, SOEs and from local governments

I stayed at the Jinggangshan Publicity Cadres Training Center which - surprisingly enough - advertises on Ctrip

My room even came with a red phone for calling the front desk

One common feature across the tourist sites was groups of cadres repeating their oaths to the party, including the promise to “keep its secrets” and the statement that they’re willing “sacrifice everything” for the CCP

Another was the ubiquity of Xi’s image. At one site, visitors took turns sitting in a chair where Xi had once sat. “It’s a feeling you can’t describe,” one visitor told me

Predictably, I suppose, sites have started using facial recognition systems for entry

Finally, here’s group of cadres from the Henan and Beijing governments listening to a lecture on Marxist history.

I asked one of the Beijing officials which department he was from and he said, “forget it.”