I actually just visited Yan'an (like, I'm in China right now, and just got the Yan'an express train to Xi'an today). Pics related. Highly recommend it, there are many places in the city that are not only just cool to visit but actually incredibly educational from a theory perspective - there's a lot to learn at the Yan'an Revolutionary Memorial Museum that Leftists across the world - especially in the west - would do very well to take note of. The day-to-day operations of revolution, how a revolution is organised, what life was like in Yan'an in that period, and how victory was achieved. It was a very educational experience. Plus there's a lot of - admittedly kinda expected, but nice nonetheless - merch and shit you can buy that's just kinda nice. The first thing I saw in the Yan'an airport was little chibi red army figurines. Pins, bags, stamps, prints, shirts, hats, the lot, you name it. It's all ridiculously cheap (i.e. usually >$10) and… well, the money probably goes directly to the CPC and the people of Yan'an anyway, so why not.
Go to Beijing first though (mostly because the easiest way to get to Yan'an is the daily flight from Beijing). The usual non-Commie tourist destinations are genuinely very cool - Forbidden City, Great Wall, Temple of Heaven, Summer Palace, etc - but, Tiananmen Square is nice, the Great Hall of the People and National Museum of China are right next to it, as is Mao's Mausoleum (I couldn't get inside, I think it's closed atm? Maybe it won't be when you go). The Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution is also cool to visit, a lot of museums of that type still have their 100th Anniversary of the CPC exhibits still on, so it's cool to see those.
One thing you'll find if you visit China is that while there are specific sites that are important for Communists, practically the entire country, every square inch of it, lives and breathes Socialism. Communism is very normalised here, it's very common to see portraits of Mao and various signs of the CPC. CPC members, actually, are pretty common as well, which is unsurprising, since the party has 100 million members - which means around one in eleven of all Chinese over the age of 15 are party members. Talking to Chinese people makes it very clear that Marxist philosophy and dialectical thinking is also a pretty normalised fact of life here. Every single person here, consciously and unconsciously, has a Dialectical outlook on the world that's prett
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