The Jiao Yulu Memorial Hall in Lankao county, Henan province, is seeing an increasing number of visitors who are part of a wave of "Red tourism" across the country — a celebration of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China this year.

Jiao Yulu, born in 1922, was appointed Party secretary of Lankao in 1962, when the county had many problems, including water-logging, desertification and a poor harvest due to alkaline soil. Jiao dedicated his life to changing the surroundings and improving the lives of the masses. He died of liver cancer in 1964.

He is loved by the locals, and memorialized as role model for CPC members. Many of Jiao's ideas as a grassroots official — keeping close to people, devotion to service and being persistent in face of difficulties — are promoted today for officials across the country.

Zhou Juncai and his colleagues from Tianshui, Gansu province, came to Lankao county for business and visited the memorial hall on Tuesday. Zhou said the spirit Jiao displayed in volunteering to do difficult work will never go out of fashion in any era.