Marketing socialism? Chinese businessman to build Communist Party theme park for $1.74 million

Beijing, Dec 18: It's only recently that we came to learn that Chinese tycoon Jack Ma is a member of the country's Communist Party. Before we could completely overcome the shock, here is another story related to the Communist Party again. Sixty-four-year-old Chinese businessman Wang Jianlin, founder of real estate giant Wanda Group, has announced his mega plan of building a theme park valued at 12 billion yuan ($1.74 billion) in the revolutionary city of Yan'an in Shaanxi province. It was here that the iconic Red Party, China's ruling and only one, found a shelter at the end of the historic Long March which saw the emergence of Mao Zedong as a leader, Shanghaiist reported.

Yan'an, known as the "Cradle of the Chinese Revolution", is a noted pilgrimage sites for the so-called "red tourism" in a country which has made a big contribution to world Communism. Caves where Mao and his comrades lived and worked are spots of tourist attractions today. Wang now aims to capitalise on the tourism potentials of the Communist Party. Market Socialism leads to marketing of socialism, indeed.

Wang, who himself had served in the People's Liberation Army between 1970 and 1986 before making his fortune in the real estate domain, was once China's richest man but a government crackdown on companies that had foreign debt and assets saw him selling of a huge portion of his tourism assets.

The planned amusement park on the theme of the Communist Party is set to see construction in 2019 and will be completed by the time the centenary year of the founding of the Communist Party arrives in 2021. The park, located over 1.26 square kilometres, will feature buildings like shopping malls, hotels and theatres like those in the 1930s, the report added.