Young footsteps echo the Long March

Carrying memory forward

Those encounters did more than make the past feel real. They prompted the students to consider what their own generation should do with that history.

For Zeng, the answer begins in the classroom. After graduation, she hopes to become a politics teacher and introduce students to the Long March through the lives of real people and their individual stories.

"I want to bring these stories into the classroom in a warmer and more personal way, so students can understand how history continues to unfold through time," she said.

For others, the answer lies in protecting the physical traces that allow such stories to be told.

One of He's most memorable moments came at a memorial hall in Ningdu, where the deputy director explained how memories of the Long March had been preserved across generations.

The woman's father began collecting historical materials related to the Red Army in 1969. She has continued his work by visiting villages across Ningdu, collecting objects from descendants of Red Army soldiers and preserving them in archives.

The conversation helped He understand that without people collecting letters, protecting former sites and recording family memories, many individual stories could disappear.

Preserving these materials, she realized, allows young people to examine the choices made by those who came before them and reflect on their own responsibilities.

Similar efforts can be seen in Danxi village in Shicheng, where residents have preserved former Red Army sites and maintained slogans painted on village walls more than 90 years ago.

"The person who wrote those words left no name, but his spirit has endured," Zeng said. "History lives through a wall, a stroke of writing and the people who protect it."

After returning to campus, the students began exploring their own ways of carrying those memories forward.

They drew a replica of the Young Communist International Division's armband by hand and created digital maps, magnets and badges inspired by the relics, documents and stories they encountered during the journey.

Through these creative forms, they hope to make the history of the Long March more accessible to young people who may never have the opportunity to visit the sites themselves.

He also plans to draw on what she learned in her future academic research.

"Ninety years ago, young people defended their homeland with their lives," she said. "Today, young people are using their knowledge to build the country. Times have changed, but the courage and determination of youth remain unchanged."