Long March Attractions & Activities - The Best Holiday Destinations for 2020
-
This article is an itinerary.
The Long March has been described as "the founding myth of Communist China." It was a retreat by Communist forces from Kuomintang (Nationalist) armies in 1934 and 1935. From the 1949 Communist victory in the civil war until the 1980s, Long March veterans ? Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, Lin Biao, Deng Xiao Ping and others ? were some of the most influential people in China.
The March came about because Chiang Kai Shek and his German advisers decided to wipe out Communists strongholds in Jiangxi and Fujian. Their strategy was to encircle and crush, moving slowly and building fortifications. The Reds broke out of the encirclement and set off west. Eventually they settled in a new base at Yan'an in Shaanxi.
Exact numbers in various sources differ, but all say the journey took more than a year, covered several thousand kilometers mainly on foot, and crossed eight provinces. Over 80,000 men set out and not many over 10,000 completed the journey. Whatever else it is, the Long March is quite a tale of persistence in the face of adversity ? climate, terrain and enemies.
There were several Communist armies which took different routes.
The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Long March
