Red Army’s Long March at 90: A Monumental Feat in War History

The year 2026 marks the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army's Long March led by the Communist Party of China (CPC), completing a 12500-km maneuver that laid a foundation for the Communist victory in the civil war and this epic military campaign that shaped modern Chinese history. In 1934, the Central Red Army departed from the Central Soviet Area centered in Ruijin, East China's Jiangxi province, to embark on that legendary journey. The heroics of the Red Army remain fresh in Chinese minds even after nine decades since an unimaginable event.

The military expedition, from October 1934 to October 1936, known as the Long March, helped the Red Army, the forerunner of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), to escape encirclement by the Nationalist Kuomintang (KMT) forces led by Chiang Kai-shek. A pivotal moment of this trek occurred in January 1935, when the CPC convened the Zunyi Meeting in Guizhou Province, a conference widely regarded as a turning point that saved the Communist Party and the Red Army from disaster.

The Long March was a heroic saga of endurance, commitment, and determination, as it marched eluding pursuit and breaking through blockades by large numbers of KMT troops, overcoming the natural barriers of snow-capped mountains, rivers, and grasslands, suffering cold, hunger, wounds, sickness, and surmounting inner-party crisis. Red Army marched with a steadfast faith in the victory of the revolution and completed the Long March under conditions of extreme hardship. It had traversed 12500 km and lasted for 370 days. Thousands of comrades perished in this tough task, but it succeeded in breaking through the encirclement and culminated in Shaanxi province in 1935, where the Communists had a stronghold.

90 years later, China has worked to narrow the divide between regions. Through poverty alleviation, rural revitalization, and new paths of innovation, communities across the country have seen profound change. Today, the spirit of the Long March reaches beyond time and borders. It speaks to a shared human aspiration, the pursuit of a better future. China, for its part, has long made peace and development a cornerstone of its foreign policy. From the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), a China-proposed initiative to boost connectivity along and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes, the concept of building a community with a shared future for humanity, the Global Development Initiative (GDI), the Global Security Initiative (GSI), the Global Civilization Initiative (GCI), and the Global Governance Initiative (GGI), China has consistently sought to translate its vision of a new type of international relations which one grounded in mutual respect, fairness, and justice and win-win cooperation into concrete action.


President Xi Jinping has called for carrying forth the spirit of the Chinese Red Army on the Long March and striving fearlessly to realize China's dream of national rejuvenation. President Xi Jinping also called on the CPC Party members to develop a deeper understanding of the Party's original aspiration and founding mission from the spirit of the Long March and the spirit of the Zunyi Meeting, consider people's improved lives as their greatest accomplishment, and resolutely fight undesirable conduct and corruption to continuously purify the political ecosystem.

The legacy of the Long March has seamlessly developed into the nation's enduring cultural DNA, anchoring China's unwavering pursuit of a balanced and peaceful world. Modern consensus regarding the Long March asserts that the Red Army's military efforts were fundamentally defensive, motivated by survival, independence, and liberation, rather than aggression. This intrinsic 'defensive' DNA directly outlines China's current military policy of 'active defense'. Recently, external actors have routinely expressed anxiety over China's military modernization. Those familiar with China's historical narrative, however, recognize that the modernization of its armed forces and strategic deterrents is not aimed at disrupting the international order. Instead, it is driven by the collective trauma that a weak and unmodernized state is vulnerable to foreign subjugation.

China's modern military advancements serve essentially as national defense rather than a threat to other nations. In April, 2022, China put forward the Global Security Initiative (GSI). The GSI is committed to the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative, and sustainable security, advocating for peacefully resolving differences and disputes between countries through dialogue. China has continued to promote dialogue, working to safeguard regional stability and global peace.

China’s Blue Helmets have become a key force in UN Peacekeeping Operations. China has been the second-largest contributor to both peacekeeping assessments and UN membership fees, and the largest troop-contributing country to the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations (UNPOs) among the permanent members of the UN Security Council. Currently, Chinese peacekeeping troops have expanded their composition from a single service to multiple military branches. Standing between conflict and hope, the Chinese peacekeepers have been providing security, undertaking infrastructure construction, and offering assistance to the conflict zones for decades. China’s peaceful development and philosophy is deeply rooted in its civilizational continuity and Confucian tradition of co-existence, rejecting confrontational competition. It differs from Western capitalist expansion which was achieved by destroying the assets of the competitors through financial and military means.

The Long March is more than just a pivotal event in China's early revolutionary history. It has become a cornerstone of China's national identity and philosophy of governance. Today’s China enjoys peace, while the prospect of national rejuvenation is clearly visible on the horizon. Celebrating the 90th anniversary of the Long March is both a tribute to history and a global promise of peace. It proves to the world that a modern, capable China is not a threat, but a vital anchor of stability in today’s turbulent landscape.

China's historical Long March offers a huge lesson in resilience, grassroots mobilization, and ideological adaptability for the Global South Countries, including Bangladesh. For Bangladesh, navigating economic transitions and sociopolitical challenges, the Long March could serve as a profound historical symbol for achieving national goals despite immense hardship.