Hong Shui: The only foreign general to have taken part in the Chinese Red Army's Long March

In the "Generals' Grove" at Beijing's Chaoyang Park stands a memorial tree dedicated to the only foreign general. General Hong Shui was also the only Vietnamese to have completed the entire 25,000-li Long March.

Why did a young man from a wealthy Vietnamese family leave his comfortable life behind to join the Chinese revolution?

As a young Vietnamese man from a well-to-do family, why did he choose to leave his comfortable life behind and travel to China to join the revolution? Enemy leaflets portrayed the Red Army as a "raging flood and a ferocious beast". He wanted to become part of a revolutionary torrent that would sweep away the forces opposing it! In 1955, Hongshui was awarded military ranks by both China and Vietnam, becoming one of the world's few "generals of two countries".