Long March

The Long March (长征) refers to the series of strategic retreats undertaken by the Red Army of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) between October 1934 and October 1935 to escape encirclement campaigns waged by Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist (Kuomintang) forces during the Chinese Civil War.

The principal march began when roughly 86,000 troops broke out of the Jiangxi Soviet base area in southeastern China. Over roughly a year, the surviving columns traversed mountainous and often hostile terrain across southern and western China before regrouping in Shaanxi province in the northwest, where the CCP established a new base around Yan'an. Estimates of the distance vary, with Chinese official accounts citing roughly 12,500 kilometers (about 8,000 miles), though Western historians such as Sun Shuyun have argued the figure is overstated. Casualties were severe: only a small fraction of those who set out reached Shaanxi.

A pivotal moment occurred at the Zunyi Conference in January 1935, where Mao Zedong consolidated his position within the CCP leadership, displacing the Soviet-influenced "28 Bolsheviks" faction and the military line associated with Otto Braun (Comintern adviser) and Bo Gu. Other commanders who rose to prominence during the march included Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Lin Biao, and Peng Dehuai.

Politically, the Long March became a foundational myth of the People's Republic of China after 1949. The CCP framed it as proof of revolutionary endurance, peasant mobilization, and the correctness of Mao's strategic line. Episodes such as the crossing of the Luding Bridge over the Dadu River and the traversal of the Snowy Mountains and grasslands were elevated into core narratives of Party history.

For researchers, the Long March is significant both as a concrete military-political event and as a touchstone in Chinese political rhetoric — Xi Jinping has repeatedly invoked a "new Long March" to frame contemporary policy challenges.