Long March: An Unheard-of Story

Author: (USA) Salisbury
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-02-01
Features: Every revolution has its own legend. The legend of the American Revolution is Valley Forge. The battle achievements of Valley Forge are etched in the hearts of all American patriots. After enduring that severe test, George Washington and his soldiers embarked on the path to victory. The French Revolution destroyed the Bastille. For the Russian Revolution, it was capturing the Winter Palace in Petrograd. At the time, the Bastille held only seven prisoners, and the Bolsheviks' entry into the Winter Palace was effortless because only young people and women were guarding it. But none of that mattered. They all became symbols of the revolution. The Long March of the Chinese Revolution in 1934 was not a symbol but a magnificent epic that tested the will, courage, and endurance of the male and female soldiers of the Chinese Red Army. This book about the Long March was published in the United States in October 1985 and quickly gained a large readership. It has also been reprinted in major countries in Europe and Asia, as well as many small nations. Those who have never read the glorious epic of the Red Army can now begin to understand, in a sense, the qualities of the men and women who sacrificed for the cause of the Chinese Revolution. They will start to learn about the most inspiring acts of courage in human history since the written word. They will begin to realize the magnitude of the sacrifices made by the Red Army just from the statistics—on October 1934, 86,000 men and women set off from Jiangxi, and by October 1935, when Mao Zedong's army reached northern Shaanxi, only about 6,000 remained. The Long March is an epic. This is not only because of the heroism embodied by the simple soldiers and their commanders but also because the Long March actually became the crucible of the Chinese Revolution. It forged the entire generation that, under Mao Zedong, defeated Chiang Kai-shek and seized all of China, along with their brotherly revolutionary camaraderie. This camaraderie vanished during the mad turmoil of Mao's later years, casting a tragic hue over this heroic epic. However, the survivors have now miraculously regained power. Under Deng Xiaoping, they have led China on what they call a "New Long March." This new Long March is just as arduous as the one decades ago and may become a great social and political experiment of the modern era. But the catastrophe of the Cultural Revolution and the "Gang of Four" belong to another story. What is chronicled here is the story of the Long March—the history of the Long March as I was able to gather with the help of Chinese historians and survivors of the Long March.