A 13.5-kilometer-long Red tourism route passing through several villages in western Yiwu, Zhejiang province, recently made a list of the province's best rustic tourism routes recommended by the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Culture and Tourism.
The most important scenic spot along the tourism route is Chen Wangdao's former residence in Fenshuitang village. Around Spring Festival in 1920, Chen (1891-1977), a scholar and translator born in Fenshuitang, returned from Shanghai to a woodshed in the village and started translating The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. In August 1920, the book was published and quickly sold out. Many of its readers later became Communist revolutionaries.
Boasting solid infrastructure and a livable environment, the village has so far received 385 travel groups and 16,000 individual tourists this year, which coincides with the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China.
Another popular destination along the tourism route is Hengtang village, which serves as a benchmark for rural governance and is frequented by cadres and officials looking to learn about the economic miracle taking place in Yiwu over the past four decades.
