Memorial of CPC's first congress opens in Shanghai Photo:Yang Hui/GT

Shanghai, the birthplace of the Communist Party of China (CPC), has issued guidelines to accelerate a high-quality development of the city's red tourism, Shanghai Culture and Tourism Bureau posted on its official website on Thursday, a move that takes advantage of the city's rich cultural resources related to the Party's history and hopes to build the city into one of the most attractive red tourism destinations.

The city marks the beginning of the Party's centennial journey which has been nurtured in rich red culture. There are over 600 related cultural ruins and memorials in Shanghai, according to the city's authorities.

Shanghai aims to build 20 national red tourism classic scenic spots, and establish 30 national red tourism scenic spots over AAA-level, and cultivate 40 municipal red tourism bases by 2025, the guidelines said. It will also develop 50 influential red tourism routes in the city, with the number of visits exceeding 40 million each year, an average annual growth of over 15 percent.

Red tourism has been quite popular in China recently with many people choosing to travel to some important places in the CPC's history such as the birthplace of the CPC, Shanghai, and Yan'an, a former revolutionary site of the Party in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Chinese people's warm enthusiasm in "red tourism" is the result of "Chinese people's pursuit of spiritual value in tourism," Wu Liyun, associate professor at the China Academy of Culture and Tourism of the Beijing International Studies University, told the Global Times on Thursday.  

During the centennial celebrations, it is easier for people to "look back on the history of the founding of the Party" and understand their hard-won happy lives today were due to the great achievements of revolutionary martyrs, Wu noted.

Notably, red tourism is not only popular for people born after the 1960s, 1970s or 1980s, indeed, many post-90s and post-00s are in favor of it as well. A 30-year-old young mother surnamed Yang told the Global Times that she would bring her 5-year-old child to visit some red sites related to the Party's history during the summer vacation as children also need to "inherit the spirit."

For those red tourism sites, they need to add innovative designs to improve the experience and interactivity with young visitors, Wu said, noting that new media such as short videos are one of the popular ways to promote red tourism sites, which could reduce the gap with young people.