On the historic route of the Red Army

In the footsteps of heroes

Our journey began in Chengdu, Sichuan's provincial capital. A three-hour drive took us to the mountainous area of Baoxing county, Ya'an, through one tunnel after another. It may take minutes to cross a mountain now, but for Red Army soldiers then, it was a difficult threshold.

Baoxing was where the panda was first discovered in 1869. Panda statues decorate the county seat, while Red Army-related sites are another attraction for tourists.

Our first destination was a temple dating to the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), a place made significant by Chen Yun (1905-95), then one of the leaders of the Communist Party of China.

After the Zunyi Conference in Guizhou province in January 1935, which helped steer the revolution away from a wrong direction, the CPC Central Committee needed information on the conference sent confidentially to the Communist International in Moscow.

Leaving this temple in June 1935, Chen disguised himself as a merchant and was escorted by a local primary school principal. He evaded Kuomintang surveillance, left Sichuan via Ya'an and Chengdu, boarded a ship in Chongqing, and arrived in Shanghai before reaching the Soviet Union.

That was the first time that the course of the Long March had been systematically reported to the Communist International, helping expand the march's influence beyond China.

Chen was only 30 then.

Standing in the temple and listening to the guide recount the story in the scorching heat, we sensed the tension of that moment. An ordinary site had witnessed a pivotal event in revolutionary history.

That night, we continued our rugged journey through the mountains to Yaoji, a township inhabited by Tibetans. Close to the snowy mountains, it was also a place where Red Army soldiers once stayed.

Local villagers welcomed us as they had the Red Army during the Long March. We gathered around a bonfire and listened to old stories. A tenor in our group taught us a song about the Long March. Altitude sickness eased for a while.