Historic Sites along the Long March Routes

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Two children play in the Yudu Long March Park in east China's Jiangxi Province. In October 1934, the First Army Corps of the Red Army, consisting of 86,000 soldiers, crossed the Yudu River from eight different ferries
The Monument Park for the Battle Over Xiangjiang River is located in Xing'an County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. In mid-November 1934, Chiang Kai-shek, the then chief of the KMT, mobilized an army of 300,000 to set up four tiers of blockage lines on both shores of the Xiangjiang River to corner the Red Army. On November 25, the Red Army crossed the river after a bloody battle, crashing the KMT's encirclement attempt. The battle had been the deadliest since the Long March began, resulting in an enormous loss of nearly 50,000 Red Army soldiers
Members of the CPC, with torches, cross the Laoshanjie Mountain to experience the Long March on the evening of May 11, 2011. The Laoshanjie Mountain located in Xing'an County, south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, was described as the march's "first hard to cross mountain" by Lu Dingyi (1906-96), former Vice Premier and a renowned war correspondent at the time
The Memorial Hall for the Liping Meeting is opened on December 18, 2009. At the Liping Meeting held in 1934, CPC leaders discarded a series of wrong tactics. The meeting was a prelude to the enlarged Zunyi Meeting held in southwest China's Guizhou Province
A former Red Army soldier tells stories of the Long March to children at the Zunyi Meeting Memorial Museum in southwest China's Guizhou Province. At the meeting, Mao Zedong regained his authority over the Party and the military. The meeting was seen as a critical turning point in the history of the CPC and the Red Army
The Luding Bridge stretches over the Dadu River in Luding County, southwest China's Sichuan Province. It witnessed a critical fight between the Red Army and the KMT in 1935
A statue of Red Army soldiers scaling the snow-capped Jiajin Mountain is erected at the entrance of Jiajin Village, in Xiaojin County of southwest China's Sichuan Province. The Jiajin Mountain was the first snowy mountain crossed by the Red Army
Students lay a wreath and pay their respects to revolutionary martyrs killed in the Zhongbao Battle at a monument in Xianfeng County of central China's Hubei Province. The battle broke out in June 1935. Led by He Long (1896-1969), who later became one of China's 10 marshals, the Red Army defeated the KMT troops despite having an inferior number of troops
A bird's eye view of the Liupanshan Mountain Long March Memorial Museum in Guyuan County of northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. The Liupanshan Mountain was the last mountain crossed by the Red Army
A team of students pass a tower built to commemorate the joining of the three main forces of the Red Army in October 1936 in Huining City of northwest China's Gansu Province. The joining marked the end of the Long March

Edited by Li Nan, photos by Xinhua

From October 1934 to October 1936, the Red Army led by the Communist Party of China (CPC), the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army, carried out the Long March. It was a daring military maneuver designed to break an encirclement from the Kuomintang (KMT)--the then ruling party of China.

The Red Army soldiers marched through raging rivers and crossed snowy mountains and dangerous marshes. Some marched as far as 12,500 km from central and east China to their new base area in the northwest. The epic journey not only disseminated Communist ideals, but also sowed the seeds of revolution, laying the foundation for the CPC's victory against the KMT.

Eighty years later, a number of museums, parks and monuments have been erected along the Long March routes. They represent the joys and sorrows of the maneuver as well as the spirit of the Long March.

Copyedited by Bryan Michael Galvan

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