American Marconi Wireless News - Explosions, red flags: Chinese tourists reenact communist victory

More than 1,000 people visited the mountainous battle site in Guizhou province over the weekend to relive the pivotal 1935 conflict between communist and nationalist forces -- an experience that has become a hit on Chinese social media.

"It was truly awe-inspiring -- it felt as though I was actually right there in the thick of the battle," 40-year-old tourist Jiang Jun told AFP.

"I felt as though I could experience what those martyrs must have felt back then."

The reenactment is part of Beijing's decades-long push to develop "red tourism", which draws tourists fascinated by the country's communist history to key landmarks.

The battle -- recounted by actors playing historical figures -- took place during the Long March when Mao Zedong's communist fighters broke through Chiang Kai-shek's nationalist forces.

A platoon of squealing children as young as five dressed in Red Army costumes raised toy swords and ran up the hill to capture positions held by the nationalist Kuomintang, victoriously raising bright red flags.

Smoke billowed at their feet as "bombs" went off beside them.

The capture of Loushan Pass marked the Red Army's first major victory against the nationalists, an occasion Mao sought to immortalise in a poem.

Xu, a participant who travelled from neighbouring Guangxi province, said it was important to memorialise such locations.

If Mao's forces had not broken through nationalist lines at Loushan Pass, "we wouldn't have the new China that we have today and our standard of living wouldn't be so good", he told AFP.

A.Rodriguezv--AMWN