JINGGANG Mountain, regarded as the Red Army’s birthplace and the cradle of China’s revolution, would be the subject of an application for UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage status this year, local authorities said Monday.

    The Jiangxi Provincial Government has included the application in a list of nine major tasks for 2011.

    “Jinggang Mountain deserves the honor because of its green resources, biodiversity, red culture and revolutionary history,” Jinggangshan City Party chief Mei Liming said.

    “We began preparing the application in 2009 and listed the submission on our work agenda this year.”

    The heavily forested parallel ridges on Jinggang Mountain are in the Luoxiao mountain range in the border region between Jiangxi and Hunan provinces.

    The mountain was where late Chairman Mao Zedong established the first rural revolutionary base in October 1927.

    Along with Yan’an in Shaanxi Province, Jinggang Mountain has become one of the country’s most important revolutionary sites. It is celebrated on posters and in songs and operas.

    The mountain has become an increasingly popular attraction for domestic tourists interested in revolutionary history.

    It lured about 70,000 foreign tourists to Jinggangshan City in 2009, and Mei said he expected more this year.

    Local teacher Zhou Yanhong said she expected tour guide jobs to become lucrative if the site wins the UNESCO designation.

    “Jinggang Mountain is part of Jiangxi Province’s calling card,” the 24-year-old said. “A tourism boom could change my hometown’s poverty-stricken image.”

    Zhou said the recently opened airport would attract more tourists and also serve residents.

    (SD-Agencies)