China's Yan'an to be revamped into 'city of revolutionary museums'

XI'AN — Yan'an, a former revolutionary base of the Communist Party of China (CPC), located in Northwest China's Shaanxi province will be transformed into a "city of revolutionary museums," according to local authorities.

The National Cultural Heritage Administration has approved the revamp plan and the construction is slated to be completed in three years, said the Yan'an Revolutionary Commemoration Administration.

Yan'an hosted the then headquarters of the CPC and was the center of the Communist revolution from 1935 to 1948. The city is home to 445 former sites of the CPC's early revolutionary activities and boasts 30 revolution-themed museums.

Revolution-themed tourism has been booming in the city in recent years, with more than 800,000 people receiving "red education" in the past five years.

The city will enhance the protection and utilization of revolutionary relics in combination with urban and rural culture and the display of natural features, according to the plan.

"Museum is a bridge that connects history," said Xue Yaojun, with the management bureau of Yan'an Revolutionary Commemoration Administration. "We have adopted a raft of measures in recent years to enliven the red culture, which laid a solid foundation for the building of Yan'an into a city of revolutionary museums."

Yan'an will continue to develop its red tourism and cultivate the city into a "first-class" education and training base in China, Xue added.