Long March

Long March, historic 9,600 km (6,000 mi) journey by the Chinese Communists and the Red Army, undertaken in 1934, after the liquidation campaign of the Guomindang (Kuomintang) leader Chiang Kai-shek dislodged them from their bases in Jiangxi (Kiangsi) Province. The march began in October 1934, when some 100,000 soldiers, officials, and followers left Jiangxi. By January 1935 they had reached northern Guizhou (Kweichow). There the march halted for the conference at Zunyi (Tsun-i) that acknowledged Mao Zedong (Mao Tse-tung) as the dominant party leader. Traversing difficult terrain and continually fighting for survival against Guomindang forces as well as hunger and disease, the 8,000-strong remnant of the marchers reached Shaanxi (Shensi) in October 1935 and established headquarters at Yanan (Yenan). The ranks were later swelled by other units of the Red Army.

Turning what was actually a forced retreat into a moral victory, the Communist leadership shaped an effective fighting force out of the survivors and later reinforcements; by 1949 it had conquered all of China. Among the participants in the Long March, besides Mao, were Lin Biao (Lin Piao), Zhu De (Chu Teh), Zhou Enlai (Chou En-lai), and Deng Xiaoping (Teng Hsiao-p'ing)—leaders destined to shape Chinese history for a long time to come.