| Submit your comments on this article |
| Central Asia |
| Mao’s "Long March" not so long.... |
| 2003-11-05 |
| SHANGHAI, China (AP) - [Red China’s army] slogged across rugged terrain for a year, fleeing Nationalist forces and forming the cornerstone of Chinese communist legend - the "Long March" that turned Mao Zedong’s guerrillas into folk heroes of the masses they would soon command. Now, seven decades after the grueling trek, two Britons who retraced the march’s route on foot are committing political heresy. Their conclusion: The journey was more than a third shorter than the Communist Party says - by at least 2,500 miles. Ed Jocelyn and Andy McEwan said their findings showed the journey - during which Mao cemented his rule over the party that took control of China in 1949 - was 3,700 miles long. "It was still a remarkable achievement in endurance and courage," Jocelyn told The Associated Press on Wednesday. "The fact that it’s shorter than originally believed doesn’t diminish that in any way." Not a chance, say communist traditionalists. "How could they possibly know the exact route and distance well enough to revise the figure?" said retired party historian Liu Binyan. "What kind of exact map could they have had?" Jocelyn, 35, and McEwan, 37, completed their journey Monday after 384 days; the original march reportedly took 370 days. The two, who have worked as editors for English publications in Beijing, are neither geographers nor historians; they based their estimate on timed walks, maps and distance markers. History books often say the 1934-35 Long March covered 6,200 miles; some accounts say it was as long as 8,000 miles. "Some will get upset at what they see as an attack on a central myth of the revolution," McEwan acknowledged by mobile telephone from near Yan’an, where Mao’s forces settled in western China following the march. Fleeing the forces of Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek, Mao and his Red Army followers trudged through some of China’s poorest, most remote areas, from Jiangxi province in the southeast to Shanxi in the north. Conditions were harsh. Of the roughly 80,000 men - and 35 women - who began, only between 8,000 and 9,000 survived. "The Long March is the first of its kind," Mao wrote in late 1935. "It is a manifesto, a propaganda force, a seeding machine." (big snip, read the rest at the link) Gao Zhiyin, a spokesman for the Yan’an Foreign Affairs Department, dismissed their findings and wants to argue the matter face to face. "Can they change history?" Gao said. "The whole world acknowledges these facts." |
| Posted by:Seafarious |
| #7 Bulldog, are those Flat Earth guys just a put on? Did they meet in some pub and come up with this too pass the time waiting for the next football season? |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-11-6 4:42:52 AM |
| #6 Maybe Bulldog can arrange an honorary membership to the FlatEarth Society for Gao. Don't know enough about him yet, SH, though he's welcome to apply. I should warn that we do screen out communists with some vigour - they can be a little crazy... |
| Posted by: Bulldog 2003-11-6 4:08:55 AM |
| #5 3,700 miles or 6,200 miles? Who gives a shit. Farther then I'd ever want to walk w/80,000 other guys and 35 women...... |
| Posted by: Jarhead 2003-11-5 9:32:42 PM |
| #4 Gao Zhiyin, a spokesman for the Yan’an Foreign Affairs Department, dismissed their findings and wants to argue the matter face to face. "Can they change history?" Gao said. "The whole world acknowledges these facts." Maybe Bulldog can arrange an honorary membership to the FlatEarth Society for Gao. |
| Posted by: Super Hose 2003-11-5 8:21:59 PM |
| #3 I suspect those 35 women were really, really tired. And bow legged. |
| Posted by: Chuck Simmins 2003-11-5 4:46:33 PM |
| #2 It was still a hell of a walk. But Fleeing the forces of Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek frankly this could have been done at Michael Moore speed. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2003-11-5 4:45:43 PM |
| #1 Can they retrace the famous Kim Il Sung "Arduous March"? I think that was as long as it took to get from The Wacko House to the Pyongyang 7-11 to buy smokes. |
| Posted by: tu3031 2003-11-5 4:42:44 PM |