two brits finished their "new long march" tour across china, and published a book based on their experience.
book link: new long march (in chinese)
the news about their tour: long march for brits
about long march (from ms encarta reference library):
Long March, historic 9600-km (6000-mi) journey from Jiangxi Province in southeastern China to northern Shaanxi Province, undertaken by the Chinese Communist forces in 1934 and 1935 to escape the Kuomintang’s Communist extermination campaign. Those who survived the arduous march were later lauded as heroes in Chinese Communist lore. The Long March also marked the emergence of Mao Zedong as the dominant leader of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
In the early 1930s Mao established a Communist government, known as the Jiangxi Soviet, in a poor and remote area on the border of Jiangxi and Fujian provinces. There Mao experimented with social reforms and enlarged the Red Army under the command of Zhu De. Determined to wipe out the Communists and bring all of China under Kuomintang (KMT) rule, KMT leader Chiang Kai-shek surrounded the Jiangxi Soviet, forcing the Communists to abandon their base. In October 1934 the Communists broke out of Chiang’s encirclement and began their Long March. Leading the way were Red Army divisions under the command of Lin Biao and Peng Dehuai. Following behind were thousands of Communist officials and Red Army soldiers. Approximately 80,000 people began the Long March, of whom 35 were women.
The Communists first trekked west through Guangxi and Guizhou provinces. In January 1935 they halted in the city of Zunyi, where top officials met in what became known as the Zunyi Conference, and acknowledged Mao as the dominant leader. From there the March continued northward through Sichuan, eastern Tibet, and Gansu. They hiked on foot across torrential rivers, snow-covered mountains, and vast swamps. Having inadequate supplies and pursued by 110 regiments of KMT troops, many Communists died from disease and battle wounds. Along the way their ranks swelled with other Communist forces, but only 8000 of the original 80,000 marchers reached Shaanxi Province, where the Long March ended in October 1935. In 1936 they established a new Communist base at Yan’an, a small town in Shaanxi.
Turning what was actually a forced retreat into a moral victory, the Communists shaped the Red Army into an effective fighting force, and by 1949 they had conquered all of China. Some of the participants of the Long March, including Mao, Lin Biao, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai, and Deng Xiaoping, became dominant figures in 20th-century Chinese history.
Contributed By:
Ruth Rogaski