As the Spring Festival approaches, some urban residents are in favor of visiting remote mountainous areas, foregoing the conventional options of relaxing at home, traveling abroad or returning to their hometowns.

In the mountain areas, traditional folk culture is well-preserved and offers a retro Chinese holiday rich in nationalist tourist attractions.

Having booked a hotel and got through all his chores, Li Xuefeng, general manager of a privately run company in the city of Xi'an, capital of the northwestern Shaanxi province, drove with his family to Shaanxi's mountainous city of Yan'an. There, he will spend the most important traditional festival for China -- the Lunar New Year, which falls on Jan. 23 this year.

Yan'an, known as the "red cradle" of the Chinese revolution for its use as a base in the movement before the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, boasts abundant traditional folk culture, notably paper cutting, waist drumming and folk songs featuring the Loess Plateau character.

"I went to Yan'an for business during the last Spring Festival and was attracted by the local folk culture and delicious snacks, so I choose to bring my family here to experience the rich festival atmosphere," says Li.

As Yan'an hosted the Communist Party of China (CPC) headquarters and was the center of the Communist revolution from 1935 to 1948, red tourism has blossomed in the mountainous city.

More than 350 sites related to the revolution in the city are open to visitors. Among them is one of Mao Zedong's former residences, a cave dwelling in a place called Zaoyuan, or Jujube Orchard.

According to Bai Huaijun, vice director of the Yan'an Tourism Bureau, the city received a record 20.5 million tourists in 2011 and brought in more than 11 billion yuan (about 1.74 billion U.S. dollars), up 43.8 percent from the previous year.

The figures confirm an increasing number of people interested in China's revolutionary history flocking to visit the destination, prompted by last year's celebration of the 90th anniversary of the founding of the CPC.

Although the main tourist season in Yan'an lasts from April to October, some city dwellers prefer to choose the revolutionary base as a special place to enjoy the original flavor of Spring Festival, says Bai.

"A group of tourists, mostly parents and their children, from the southwestern Chongqing municipality came to visit this morning," says Feng Caixia, a guide at Jujube Orchard.

They not only visited revolutionary sites but also expressed strong interest in local folk cultures such as paper cuttings and cooking rice cakes, Feng continues.

Many tourists called the tourism bureau to check the schedule of folk song and dance performances during the festival, says Gao Juan, an official with the bureau.

More and more city dwellers choose to come to Yan'an to reminisce about folk customs during the Spring Festival, Gao says.

"We can never enjoy such special folk cultures related to Spring Festival in big cities," summarizes Wu Yuping, a 26-year-old visitor from Chengdu, capital of the southwestern Sichuan province.