This Week in China's History: The Long March Begins

October 18, 1934

Thanks for your patience! You can listen to the audio version narrated by me (Kaiser) in the embedded player below:

Earlier this month, the People’s Republic of China celebrated the 75th anniversary of its founding. Two years ago, the Communist Party of China celebrated its centennial. And while both of these are vital milestones in the political history of modern China, one that ought not to be ignored took place 90 years ago this week, when the Communist Red Army broke through a KMT encirclement to begin a yearlong strategic retreat that would become a powerful origin story for China’s Communist revolution: The Long March.

I have earlier in this column written about elements of the Long March, including the mythologized Battle of Luding Bridge high in the mountains of Sichuan and the Zunyi Conference, where Mao Zedong solidified his power over the party. But before these events could take place, the Communists had first to make an unlikely escape from a years-long series of campaigns designed to exterminate them.