Chinese technology moguls’ latest obsession: red tourism

Women visit a statue of late Chinese chairman Mao Zedong in Shazhou village, Rucheng county, Hunan province, China December 3, 2018. Picture taken December 3, 2018. To match Insight CHINA-ECONOMY/DEBT-RUCHENG. REUTERS/Shu Zhang

China’s Internet watchdog rallied the founders and Communist Party representatives of 45 startups for a “study tour” celebrating the life of Mao Zedong, as Beijing tightens its grip on the country’s largest Internet firms. 

The chief executive officers of companies including Tencent Holdings Ltd-backed Zhihu – China’s answer to Quora – and the head of the Party branch at live-streaming giant Kuaishou took part in a tour this week to the southeastern province of Fujian. There they visited key historical sites that commemorate military achievements by the ruling party during its guerrilla warfare era in the 1930s, a local paper reported.