Ode to the Long March | The Lamp Glows

This is a real story in the Long March.

In October 1934, a mother who had ten sons sent eight of her sons to join the Red Army on the Long March. From then on, the mother lit a kerosene lamp every night, waiting for her sons to return.

The camphor tree at the village entrance witnessed her 26 years of waiting until she passed away. She never saw her sons again, but she witnessed the founding of New China that her sons had fought for.

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March. Let us go back to the side of that camphor tree and recall the legendary story.

Ode to the Long March | The Road Knows

It was the arduous and perilous expedition that forged the great Long March spirit. Back then, some "Little Red Army Soldiers" also embarked on the hard journey. Following the Red Army ranks, they crossed snow-capped mountains and trekked across boundless grasslands, overcoming severe hardships and countless life-or-death trials. Going through the flames of war, they finally grew into resolute and faithful Red Army fighters with indomitable courage and will of steel.

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March. Let us follow the footsteps of those young Red Army soldiers and look back on their legendary stories.

Ode to the Long March | The Journey Witnesses

This is a story of a Western missionary travelling with the Sixth Army Corps of the Chinese Worker's and Peasant's Red Army on the Long March.

A British missionary of Swiss descent, Rudolf Alfred Bosshardt or in Chinese name Bo Fuli, came to China in 1922. In October 1934, he was detained by the Sixth Army Corps of the Chinese Red Army by mistake, and traveled with them until April 1936, crossing China's Hunan, Guizhou and Yunnan provinces.

During the 18-month journey with the Red Army, he was impressed by their strict discipline and firm conviction. He then recorded what he saw in an autobiographical memoir, The Restraining Hand, which was published in December 1936 in London, marking the first book in the West to introduce the Long March of the Red Army, one year earlier than Edgar Snow's Red Star Over China.

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March. Let us step into the memory of Rudolf Alfred Bosshardt and experience the epic Long March.

Ode to the Long March | The Spark Ignites

In 1934, in China, a group of soldiers, barely 20 years old on average, were forced onto an epic expedition.

Behind them were tens of thousands of enemy troops, and in front of them were continuous blockades. They had no idea where their destination was, nor did they know if they would survive until tomorrow.

They fought their way across half of China, The longest journey they took covered a distance of 25,000 li (12,500 kilometers). On average, they fought a battle every three days. For every 300 meters they marched, one soldier would die. Out of every 12 soldiers, only one managed to reach the northern Shaanxi.

This was the Red Army's Long March. Most of them never lived to see the victory they had sown. Yet it was these very people who, with their own feet, carved out a path through desperation, and left behind a truth: as long as you never stop moving, there is no destination you cannot reach.

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March. Let us follow the footsteps of the Red Army soldiers, and see how they forged a path from the brink of destruction, and how a spark ignited an entire nation.

Supervisors: Li Donghang, Dong Zhaohui

Coordinators: Li Wei, Wang Xinjuan

Producers:

The Lamp Glows: Li Jiayao, Cheng Sihao, Yang Xueqing

The Road Knows: Huang Panyue, Zhang Yajie, Li Weichao

The Journey Witnesses: Lin Congyi, Liu Sen

The Spark Ignites: Zhang Jinwen, Yang Xueqing, Cheng Sihao

Proofreader: Sheng Yu