Sitting between two of her sons, frail and wrinkled Pan Xianying does not at first glance look like a tourist attraction.

But the mother of seven, now nearly a century old, is one of three remaining members of a famed Communist all-women army unit in China and a living attraction on a “red” tour of the southern island province of Hainan.

As the Communist Party marks the 90th anniversary of its founding on July 1, a wave of officially-encouraged interest in the revolutionary era has bubbled up – even on Hainan, which is known more for its luxury hotels and beaches.

Ms Pan’s family believes she is around 95 – accurate Hainan birth records from those days are hard to come by – and was about 15 when she joined a newly created all-women army unit in 1931.

A young local Communist formed the battalion in Hainan in a push for gender equality.

Created to protect party leaders and fight rival Nationalist forces during China’s protracted civil war, the unit – composed of 140 women at its height – disbanded several years later when the Nationalists drove the Communists underground in Hainan.

Local authorities in the rural community of Qionghai decided to capitalise on the detachment’s fame this year with tours of its former training grounds and meeting spots.