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Why do foreigners ponder much about the Long March?

Editor: Li Kun 丨CCTV.com

04-14-2016 16:03 BJT

By Hu Yifeng, special commentator with Panview.

This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Red Army's Long March, the epic story that has fascinated many people regardless of nationality.

As early as 1936, a British protestant Christian missionary named Bosshardt wrote his memoirs, "The Restraining Hand", which is the first book, which had introduced China's Red Army's long march to the West.

Then came the "Red Star over China" written by American reporter Edgar Snow during his interviews with Mao Zedong and other China's communist party leaders in northern Shann’xi, and "The Great Road" by Agnes Smedley who was also an American reporter.

In March 1984, American writer Harrison E. Salisbury wrote the book "The Long March, The Untold Story". In 1990, photographers from Australia, United States, United Kingdom, France, Italy, German, Switzerland and New Zealand went on route of the Long March to shoot magnificent views and published a picture album, "China – Long March".

In 2002, two British young men, Ed Jocelyn and Andrew Mc. Ewan started their journey from Yudu in Jiangxi Province, and after a year they made it to Wuqi in Shann’xi Province to experience the Long March.

In January 2013, Mark MacKinnon and John Lehmann, Canadian journalist and photographer with The Globe and Mail, began their journey with their laptop and camera and to retrace the steps.

Why are foreigners so intrigued by the Long March? There are perhaps some aspects to consider.

For foreigners believe that to understand the Long March is to decipher the revitalization of China.

The Long March stands as a turning point for modern and contemporary Chinese history, which saved the most vigorous forces to lead China from darkness to dawn, without which China may have turned out to completely different.

When the 24 episodes of "The Long March" were broadcast on the South Korean TV channel, ZHTV in 2005, it had aroused an enthusiastic response. The Korean media commented that if they didn't understand the "Long March Spirit", they wouldn't understand China or could not communicate with China sufficiently.

Additionally, the Long March carries a lofty meaning and a spiritual fortune for the Chinese people.

The Red Army trudged through 11 provinces, climbing 18 mountains and crossing 24 rivers. During the 25,000 li (a Chinese unit of length) or 12,500 kilometers march, the Red Army walked through deserted grasslands and climbed over undulate snow mountains.

The tough journey had left a spiritual legacy not only to the Chinese people but to other people around the world.

In 2012, the movie "Cross the Snow Mountains and Grasslands" won the best picture and best screenplay prizes on the 8th Chinese-American Film Festival hosted in Los Angeles, which stands as a good case in point to exhibit its universal resonance.

Meanwhile, writing down the Long March is about recording humanity. Samuel Griffith, American military historian, spoke highly of the Long March, calling it more magnificent than the 10,000 Greeks' Retreat from Persia to the Black Sea in 400 BC.

Great stories are based on glorious humanity. Literature such as "The Long March of the Red Army" recorded how soldiers in the Red Army fought against rigid natural conditions and hardships to help each other while enduring hunger and cold.

The stories contained the beauty of human nature that can surpass social systematic and ideological barriers, which have contributed very much to its universal influence.

The Long March is an important symbol of China, and a window for foreigners to know about the nation, which makes it an inevitable part of the Chinese story, engraved on a memorial pillar that will be remembered by generations of people across the globe to come.

 

( The opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Panview or CCTV.com. )

 

 

Panview offers a new window of understanding the world as well as China through the views, opinions, and analysis of experts. We also welcome outside submissions, so feel free to send in your own editorials to "globalopinion@vip.cntv.cn" for consideration.

Panview offers an alternative angle on China and the rest of the world through the analyses and opinions of experts. We also welcome outside submissions, so feel free to send in your own editorials to "globalopinion@vip.cntv.cn" for consideration.

 

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