Ruijin's Red Legacy

By Angela Judith Pruszenski ( CRIENGLISH.com )

Updated: 2011-12-26

"It won't fall into disrepair because the government has allocated special money for repair work," she explained. "In historical sites, there is no electricity as a safety measure, and guards patrol at regular intervals. Even if it rains heavily, the guards will check and fix any problems."

Ruijin's local government is proud of the city's role in the formation of the new China, so these cautious moves are seen more as a labor of love than as an administrative task. According to a local official surnamed Lin, these sites are not mere tourist spots, but a hub for patriotic education that drew almost 2 million tourists last year.

"Because of Ruijin's crucial role in the history of Chinese Communist Party, the central and local governments have spared no effort to protect and promote historical sites by building education centers and sites every year," he said.

Although Ruijin's role as an educational site is growing in importance, tourist Nian feels that the site's meaning is weakened for new generations.

"People born in the 1950s like me are sentimental about this period of time, while younger generations know little about it," she says.

In the old government complex, visitors can peer into the petite construction that housed new China's first treasury, which employed exactly three people. In the old congressional meeting hall, delegates sat together on narrow wooden benches. The simplicity of the Communist government's origins is a stark reminder of the country's ideals.

A modernizing China does not have to bury its past. An old Chinese proverb says, "When you drink the water, remember the person who dug the well." You can find the well that Mao dug on the site of new China's original government complex, along with buildings where the first patriotic officials created today's China.

The Treasury of the Chinese Soviet Republic was housed in this petit building and employed three people.[Photo: CRIENGLISH.com]