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Political Pilgrimage During China’S Cultural Revolution: The Case Of Dazhai, Ian S. Mcintosh

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

During China’s Cultural Revolution (1966-76) political pilgrimage was a tool for promoting the communist ideal of collectivism. This paper explores the creation in the 1960s by Chairman Mao Zedong of one of the foremost sites of political pilgrimage, the small agricultural commune of Dazhai in north-central China. I argue that in the days of militant atheism, all the factors usually associated with the creation of a religious pilgrimage site were present and utilized to great effect by the communists to create a ‘super symbol’ of China’s desired future. These factors included a miracle, charismatic leadership, altruism, poignant sites of historical …