The price some paid for the life we are enjoying today

On the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March, it is worth recalling how 90 years ago, the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, led by the Communist Party of China, overcame countless hardships and dangers, and made immense sacrifices, to reach their destinations in October 1936.

During the two-year expedition, Red Army officers and soldiers displayed extraordinary wisdom and dauntless heroism, laying the political and military foundation for China's resistance against Japanese aggression.

On Tuesday, an exhibition commemorating the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March opened at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution in Beijing, recounting the moving stories of countless Red Army officers and soldiers who sacrificed themselves for their revolutionary ideals.

The memoirs of Wang Ping, then political commissar of the 11th Regiment of the 3rd Red Army, are among the exhibits.

In August 1935, when the Red Army crossed the swampy grasslands in Sichuan province and reached Banyou village, many young soldiers — most of them in their teens or early twenties — were physically exhausted and starving. Wang was ordered to reach them with reinforcements and food. What he saw when he reached them would haunt him for the rest of his life: “When we reached the riverbank, I used a telescope to observe the opposite side. There were at least seven or eight hundred soldiers sitting on the riverbank over there. I took the communicator and scouts across the river to check on them. When I got there — oh my goodness — they were all sitting quietly back to back, motionless. I checked each one of them, and they had all breathed their last. I stood there silently looking at this tragic scene, tears streaming down my face. What fine comrades they were. They had struggled step by step out of the grasslands, yet could not make it across the Banyou River. They took with them their wounds, illness and hunger, but left behind dawn and victory..."

Wang's daughter Wang Keli recalled: “What my father remembered most deeply in his old age were those hundreds of Red Army soldiers who had walked out of the grasslands but would never live to see the victory of the Long March. They became eternal statues in my father's heart. My father was a very tough man — but every time he told this story, he could not hold back his tears."

Throughout the two-year Long March, everyone from newly recruited soldiers to senior commanders fought valiantly and selflessly. Wu Huanxian, political commissar of the 25th Red Army, died heroically while leading a charge in 1935 at the age of 28. Wang Youjun, commander of the 10th Division of the 4th Front Red Army, fell in battle in 1935 at the age of 24. Wu Zhengqing, commander of the 17th Division of the 6th Red Army, sacrificed his life on the march in 1936, also aged 24.

There are many songs about the Long March. One of my favorites is Crossing Snowy Mountains and Grasslands from The Suite of Songs on the Long March, with lyrics by General Xiao Hua who personally took part in the Long March. It reads: “Wind and rain pierce through clothes, yet our bones grow harder; wild herbs fill our stomachs, yet our will grows stronger. Officers and soldiers share weal and woe alike; revolutionary ideals stand higher than the sky."

These young officers and soldiers traded their lives for victory at the end of the Long March, gradually awakening the Chinese people and lifting a poor and weak nation to its feet. Just over a decade later, an independent and strong People's Republic of China was founded.

Nine decades on, the Long March spirit remains a source of enduring inspiration, especially for the younger generation. Everyone, particularly young people, should visit this exhibition to understand the true price of the life we enjoy today.