Chongqing, home of China’s ‘red’ revival focus 06/24/2011 CHONGQING — At the international airport in Chongqing in southwest China, travellers are greeted with a massive sign inviting them to “sing red songs” and spread the Communist party’s good word. Thirty-five years after the death of Mao Zedong, the revolutionary spirit is alive and thriving in this teeming province-sized mega-city, despite the more capitalist leanings adopted by the world’s second-largest economy. The old-school Maoist propaganda campaign includes sending officials to work in the countryside, red chorales at state-run firms, patriotic television shows and cutting sentences for anybody convicted of a crime if they have been involved in boosting “red” culture. For Chongqing’s older residents, the movement is tinged with nostalgia. Every afternoon, people gather at the square in front of the city’s Great Hall of the People for impromptu — and somewhat out-of-tune — singing sessions.

Chongqing, home of China’s ‘red’ revival

focus

06/24/2011
CHONGQING — At the international airport in Chongqing in southwest China, travellers are greeted with a massive sign inviting them to “sing red songs” and spread the Communist party’s good word.

Thirty-five years after the death of Mao Zedong, the revolutionary spirit is alive and thriving in this teeming province-sized mega-city, despite the more capitalist leanings adopted by the world’s second-largest economy.

The old-school Maoist propaganda campaign includes sending officials to work in the countryside, red chorales at state-run firms, patriotic television shows and cutting sentences for anybody convicted of a crime if they have been involved in boosting “red” culture.

For Chongqing’s older residents, the movement is tinged with nostalgia. Every afternoon, people gather at the square in front of the city’s Great Hall of the People for impromptu — and somewhat out-of-tune — singing sessions..... MORE

Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20110624com7.html