On the morning of September 9, 2026, visitors were already gathering around the Red Well in Shazhouba, Yeping Town, Ruijin, Jiangxi. The well's bluestone rim has been polished to a warm sheen by countless hands over the years. As people lean down to draw water, the bucket's clink against the stone echoes like a sound from the depths of history. "When drinking the water, remember who dug the well; always think fondly of Chairman Mao." This phrase, carved on the stone tablet, is something every Ruijin local has known by heart since childhood. Tourists from across the country who come to trace their roots and pay homage here often exclaim: "This is the place we learned about in our textbooks."

Driving about forty minutes northwest, the camphor trees at the Yeping Former Site Complex still cast the same shade they did over ninety years ago. The wooden threshold of the First National Soviet Congress site, housed in the Xie Family Ancestral Hall, has darkened with age. Turning toward the Economic Development Zone in the south of the city, rolling machines inside the Jiangxi Jinla Copper Foil workshop are producing copper foil measured in microns. Out on the ridges of Fenglong Village at Yunshi Mountain, the navel orange trees have just begun to bear fruit. At four in the afternoon, a passenger plane from Shanghai lands on the runway of Ruijin Airport. The terminal's red star facade catches the glow of the setting sun.

"Shanghai is where the Party flag was raised, and Ruijin is the cradle where the red flag planted itself to found a government," said Liao Jiuping from the Ruijin Municipal Party History Research Office. On November 7, 1931, the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic was established in Ruijin. In January 1933, the CPC Central Committee secretly relocated from Shanghai to Ruijin, completing the final shift of China's revolutionary leadership from large cities to rural areas, a move that profoundly shaped the course of the Chinese revolution. American journalist Edgar Snow marveled: "Building a republic in the mountains without ports or railways is a miracle of state-building." More than ninety years later, this old Soviet base area is still on the rise. Official data shows that in 2025, Ruijin's GDP reached 23.928 billion yuan, up 5.9% year-on-year; revenue from industrial enterprises above a designated size hit 33.88 billion yuan, up 15.3%. The cultural tourism sector is growing even faster: since 2022, Ruijin has welcomed more than 20 million visitors annually for four consecutive years, accumulating over 93 million visits in total. So how has Ruijin managed the leap from "Red Capital" to "Industrial City"?

The Red Well Still Flows, Passing Down the Flame

On September 9, tourists streamed endlessly to the Red Well in Shazhouba. Most come to fulfill a childhood dream straight out of their textbooks. The story "When Drinking Water, Remember Who Dug the Well" has been etched into generations of childhoods, and though told repeatedly, it never loses its power to move. In April 1933, the Provisional Central Government of the Chinese Soviet Republic moved from Yeping to Shazhouba. Shortly after settling in, Mao Zedong noticed something strange: locals would rather walk several li to fetch pond water than touch the stagnant puddle at the village entrance. It turned out that local superstition held that "Shazhouba, Shazhouba, no water to wash a handkerchief; this is the drought dragon's domain, and moving earth will bring punishment." Mao laughed and said, "The Communist Party is here to subdue the drought dragon!" He personally surveyed the site and led Red Army soldiers and villagers in breaking ground with their hoes. When some grumbled, he explained the science while digging. Finally, a brick-and-stone well with a diameter of 1.7 meters and a depth of 6 meters was completed, sending clear spring water gushing forth and setting the whole village abuzz with joy. After the Long March began, Kuomintang troops tried to fill in the well several times, but villagers secretly dug it out each night. In 1950, a Ruijin consolation delegation dredged the Red Well anew and erected a wooden sign: "When drinking the water, remember who dug the well; always think fondly of Chairman Mao."

Today, visitors snap photos in front of the sculptural group beside the Red Well. Many lean over the edge to scoop up a ladle of the clear water. They're not just quenching their thirst; they're tasting a personified "original aspiration" and experiencing what it means to put the people first. "There must be a spiritual power behind this," said Liu Wei, head of the Red Well Former Site Management Office at the Ruijin Central Revolutionary Base Memorial Hall. During major holidays, the line to take photos and draw water can stretch for one to two hundred meters. To keep things safe and orderly, staff set up multiple drinking stations with free Red Well boiled water and herbal tea to ease the wait. "We also sing revolutionary songs, run interactive activities, and tell red stories," Liu Wei added. The most striking presence is the "Red Child Docents" in their red vests, weaving through the crowd and sharing tales of the revolution in clear, earnest young voices. Eight-year-old Zeng Yijia has already logged over 63 hours as a volunteer guide. On holidays and weekends, the Red Well scenic area is always packed with long queues.

"This is an ideological and political lesson at the site of history itself," Liu Wei said. To keep the red stories alive, the local government has devised numerous educational and entertaining methods to make them more memorable. Together, the First National Soviet Congress auditorium at the Yeping Scenic Area, the former seat of the Provisional Central Government in Fenglong Village at Yunshi Mountain, and the mobilization grounds from the eve of the Long March form a complete "state-building rehearsal" space: elections, road construction, schools, postal services, and a constitution. The Soviet government was building the skeleton of a modern nation in the mountains. Back then, the People's Commissariat for Internal Affairs issued the "Central Government Road Plan," mapping out 22 main roads radiating from Ruijin, a plan interrupted by the Long March. Today, Ruijin's road network exceeds 3,169 kilometers; the 2,600-meter airport runway has taken over the unfinished "main roads," passing the Soviet area's obsession with "clearing paths through mountains" from hoes to the control tower. At the Yeping Scenic Area, the First National Soviet Congress election has been turned into an immersive scenario where visitors raise their hands to "vote," and docents no longer just recite dates; they ask: "Whose interests does your chosen representative speak for?" The Xianghuli Cultural and Creative District layers Hakka intangible heritage, red-themed mystery games, and light dining together. The Cradle of the Republic tourist area has expanded from "visiting former sites" to a full "red-green-ancient" experience: the Danxia landforms of Luohan Rock, the night economy along the Mianshui River, and the red village development in Fenglong Village at Yunshi Mountain, all turning "lecture-style tourism" into a livable, consumable local lifestyle where visitors can stay overnight and simply unwind. "We want visitors to gain a stronger sense of participation and experience while receiving red education," said Yu Qiumei, deputy director of the Ruijin Municipal Bureau of Culture, Radio, Television, Press and Tourism. As transport improves, the source of visitors is changing: once dominated by Jiangxi, Fujian, and Guangdong, it has expanded to nationwide markets including Beijing, Shanghai, Sichuan, and Chongqing. According to statistics, in 2025, the city hosted 26.23 million visitors and generated 13.7 billion yuan in tourism revenue; in the first seven months of 2026, it received 14.29 million visitors and brought in 8.165 billion yuan in tourism revenue, up 1.4% and 17.1% respectively year-on-year. "It's not just holidays; we see more visitors on ordinary days too," Liu Wei said.

A New Look for the Old Soviet Area

While red stories form Ruijin's spiritual roots, industry and transportation are the pillars of its development. Jiangxi Jinla Copper Foil Co., Ltd. may not be the flashiest factory in the Ruijin Economic Development Zone, but it's the perfect snapshot of industrial transformation: producing 20,000 tons of precision copper strips and foil annually for the new energy and electronics sectors, it earned the title of National Specialized and Innovative "Little Giant" in 2024 and was recognized as a provincial-level "Little Lighthouse" in 2025. There's none of the drab gray of a traditional factory floor here. CNC screens on the rolling mills display parameters, with copper foil as thin as 4.5 microns. "A sheet of copper as thick as A4 paper can be spread across seven football fields," one technician said. Components for new energy vehicle batteries, photovoltaic inverters, and AI server busbars all come off this production line. As a new engine for Ruijin's economy, the development zone focuses on precision smart manufacturing, with copper-based new materials and wire and cable industries now ranked among Jiangxi Province's advanced manufacturing clusters. In 2025, the Ruijin Economic Development Zone was home to 130 enterprises above designated size, generating revenue exceeding 30 billion yuan and ranking 116th among the 229 national economic development zones nationwide.

To accelerate growth, Ruijin has aligned its rules and regulations with Shenzhen's standards, and the "Jinshi Jinban" business brand has compressed approval times down to days. Rail-sea intermodal transport now connects to Ningbo, Xiamen, and Yantian, with inland ports allowing copper foil rolls to be loaded at dawn and reach the port by evening. The Ruijin-Meizhou Railway is planned to open in 2027. This line, stretching about 240 kilometers from Ruijin to Meizhou with a design speed of 160 kilometers per hour for mixed passenger and freight use, will significantly boost economic revitalization and lower logistics costs upon completion. The Ruixingyu Express Corridor, linking the red zones of Ruijin, Xingguo, and Yudu, will also serve the old revolutionary base's development and fill gaps in the road network. With Ruijin Airport now operational, the city has established an "air-rail-road-port" integrated transportation network, sparing 6.8 million residents in eastern Gannan from having to travel over a hundred kilometers to catch a flight. Jinla Copper Foil's export orders routed through the inland port save two days compared to before; navel orange e-commerce uses air cold chain to get from orchard to Shanghai dining tables within 24 hours.

Transportation breakthroughs have expanded what's possible for industry. Ruijin is shifting from simply "taking in industrial transfers from coastal regions" to a new model of "coastal orders, Ruijin prototyping, inland port shipping, and airport passenger movement." "Ruijin Airport carries not only transportation significance but also historical and political meaning," said a local party and government official. In the spring of 1932, to accommodate the "Marx" plane flying in from Kuomintang-controlled territory, the Red Army mobilized the masses at Shazigang, northeast of Yeping, to clear a makeshift grass "airfield" using bare hands and shoulders, without machinery or blueprints, working around the clock for six days and nights. That event convinced locals that Ruijin could build an airport. More than ninety years later, on September 28, 2025, flight CA8697 from Beijing Daxing touched down at Ruijin Airport, making the aviation dream a reality. The terminal, designed on the concept of "a single spark can start a prairie fire," features a red five-pointed star facade, a 2,600-meter runway, eight aircraft stands, and a 7,637-square-meter terminal building, with a total investment of 1.72 billion yuan. Ruijin now offers direct flights to six cities: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Zunyi, Chengdu, and Nanjing. Since opening, passenger throughput has surpassed 190,000. Shanghai tourists flying to Ruijin has become routine, making it the route with the most passengers. Just twenty minutes after landing at Ruijin Airport, you can stand under the camphor trees at Yeping and take in the scenery. "The red capital from my textbooks turns out to be so close to the capital city," one visitor posted on social media. "Next, we'll open more routes," said Yang Nanchang, deputy director of the Ruijin Municipal Transportation Bureau.