In the shadow of the Yalu River, where the Chinese border meets North Korea, a small pavilion in Dandong’s Yuanbao District has become the latest focal point for the Communist Party of China’s (CPC) intensive campaign to weaponize local history. Station No. 73, once the private home of the Zhao family during the Korean War, has been officially repurposed as a 'red resource' to cultivate ideological loyalty. By transforming a residence that once housed Chinese 'Volunteers' into a state-sanctioned education base, Beijing is signaling a shift toward more immersive, grassroots nationalist education.
This initiative is part of what local officials describe as a 'rescue-style' excavation of history. With the youngest veterans of the Korean War now approaching their nineties, the Yuanbao District government is racing against time to document oral histories and identify physical sites before the living memory of the conflict vanishes. This urgency is not merely archival; it is a strategic effort to cement the party’s narrative of the 'War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea' as a foundational pillar of modern Chinese identity.
The pedagogical approach in Dandong has evolved from traditional classroom lectures to what cadres call 'scene-based' teaching. Instead of reading from texts, party members now stand at the sites of former clandestine bicycle shops and inns that served as intelligence hubs during the Japanese occupation, or at banks that once managed the logistics of the volunteer army. This 'immersive' method aims to bridge the gap between historical abstraction and personal emotional resonance, effectively turning 'static ruins' into 'living textbooks.'
Beyond the local historical value, these efforts are being integrated into a broader 'red teaching chain' that links small-scale sites like Station No. 73 with major landmarks such as the Yalu River Broken Bridge and the Memorial Hall of the War to Resist U.S. Aggression and Aid Korea. By creating a seamless circuit of revolutionary sites, Dandong is positioning itself as a premier destination for 'Red Tourism,' a sector that the central government has heavily promoted to stimulate local economies while reinforcing state ideology. This domestic focus on the Korean War also serves as a subtle but persistent reminder of China’s historical resilience against Western military intervention.