Retracing the Long March: What has changed, and what still endures

CHENGDU, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- On the vast grasslands of southwest China's Sichuan Province, 25-year-old drone pilot Ngorcog navigates two separate worlds: when not flying unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), the devout Buddhist often visits Banyu Monastery for praying.

The monastery in the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture is both a spiritual sanctuary and a historic landmark. In September 1935, during the Long March, the Communist Party of China (CPC) held the Baxi Meeting here to set out the strategic decision to press onward north.

The plateau used to be inaccessible. Ngorcog recalls that, just two decades ago, local goods were carried only by horses and yaks, before trucks and trains took over. Today, drone deliveries are becoming commonplace across Aba, which lies at an average altitude of 3,500 to 4,000 meters.

Ninety years on from the Long March, landmarks such as Banyu Monastery stand silent witness to the tremendous changes taking place in areas along the old route.

FASTER AND GREENER

Ninety years ago, the CPC-led Red Army trekked roughly 12,500 kilometers across China to complete an epic military maneuver that broke enemy encirclement, which U.S. journalist Edgar Snow called "an odyssey unequaled in modern times."

The contrast between then and now is stark. The Red Army traversed treacherous, swampy, oxygen-deprived grasslands that claimed many lives. The journey from western Sichuan to Gansu, which once took Red Army soldiers months, can now be completed in a day, or even hours, by road or rail.

Yang Youli, chairman of the federation of literary and art circles of Songpan County, has witnessed this transformation firsthand. A science-fiction enthusiast, he is a regular subscriber to Science Fiction World. "Two decades ago, mail was delivered by horse, and a single issue could take six months to arrive," he recalled. Now local newspapers and periodicals can be delivered the next day.

The high mountains the Red Army once crossed are now crisscrossed by highways and tunnels. Petrol stations and electric vehicle charging points are common across the plateau. Thanks to improved infrastructure, global brands, such as Starbucks and Nike, have opened outlets in local counties.

But as the climate warms, they are no longer snow-covered year-round, and new hazards that include mudslides have become more frequent, prompting relocation efforts.

These new challenges prompt heightened protection of the fragile ecosystem, including in the upper reaches of the Yangtze and Yellow rivers. In many areas along the Long March route in western Sichuan, industrial development has been halted in protected zones.

In 1869, French naturalist Armand David discovered the giant panda in Dengchigou, Baoxing. Today, videos of tourists encountering pandas often appear on Chinese social media. Yet exhibition panels at the discovery site tell another story: after the Roosevelt brothers successfully hunted a giant panda in 1929, Western museums launched a race to collect panda specimens.

"At that time, the panda population declined, and the animals would hide whenever they saw people," said Yang Fuliang, a villager of the Garu Village in Baoxing. "This is one reason why there are no records of the Red Army encountering pandas."

Hunting continued until the founding of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. Thanks to strengthened conservation efforts, the wild giant panda population in China has risen from about 1,100 in the 1980s to around 1,900.

Beyond pandas, wildlife across the snow-capped mountains and grasslands once crossed by the Red Army is also under protection. Animal crossing signs can be seen along national highways, and wildlife, including wolves, is occasionally spotted roaming freely.

BUSIER AND WEALTHIER

Once known as the land of death, the snowy mountains and grasslands are now driving tourism with their unique ecology and history.

In addition to panda viewing, "red tourism" is also on the rise. The Memorial Hall of the Red Army Crossing Jiajin Mountain in Baoxing County receives over 300,000 visitors each year, many of whom come to pay tribute to the Red Army's legacy and retrace the Long March.

"Among them are young people eager to learn about the Long March and foreigners. We have also organized competitions to climb the snow-capped mountains," said tourist guide He Mengyu.

Hongyuan County in Aba commemorates the Long March with its name, which literally means "the grasslands the Red Army crossed." Its pristine natural views and improved infrastructure now attract many tourists seeking a respite from urban hustle and bustle.

In 2025, Luo Lan, a young woman from Chengdu, opened a hotel in Xiahalama Village, Hongyuan. Built as relocatable wooden cabins to limit environmental harm, it now employs 21 local villagers. Nearby herders earn an extra 3,000 yuan (about 446 U.S. dollars) each month by selling handicrafts and offering tourist services, and the lodge brings roughly 400,000 yuan in annual revenue to the village.

"Today, many young people long to immerse themselves in nature," Luo said. "Here they can feel the vastness and tranquility of the Hongyuan grassland, enjoy the wind, the sunset and the starry sky."

In Tangke, a small town with only 7,000 permanent residents, more than 200 hotels and guesthouses offer over 6,000 beds.

Near Banyu Monastery, Yanong Village has invested more than 48 million yuan in road improvements, the renovation of Zhou Enlai's former residence and the construction of a tourist reception center. It has also opened a Red Army-themed restaurant, recruiting staff from a household in the village that had faced financial difficulties. Zhou Enlai was a key commander during the Long March and later served as the first premier of the PRC.

Tsedrucog, 34, the first Party secretary stationed in the village, began developing cultural tourism two years ago to lift villagers' incomes. First Party secretaries are designated officials sent by higher-level governments to live in villages and guide local development. Tsedrucog previously worked in county-level media convergence.

Last year, the village's per capita income reached 11,000 yuan, rising from 8,000 yuan when Tsedrucog first took up her post.

"When my posting here ended, villagers asked me not to leave," she said. Feeling that two years was too short to nurture cultural tourism, she decided to extend her stay.

Official statistics show the Tibetan population in the prefecture grew from 378,200 in 1991 to 542,700 in 2024. Established in the 1950s, the prefecture had a gross domestic product (GDP) of 100 million yuan in 1962. The figure surpassed 1 billion yuan in 1989, 10 billion yuan in 2007 and 40 billion yuan in 2020.

THE SPIRIT THAT ENDURES

For all the modern trappings, memories of the Red Army have not eluded Aba.

Tsedrucog still tells visitors the story of the Red Army's discipline: how they paid silver coins for barley.

He Mengyu, the guide, noted that many artifacts on display in the memorial hall were left by Red Army soldiers as payment for using local resources. The soldiers often hid these items in corners of villagers' homes, worried residents would turn down their payment.

In Xiaojin County where two Red Army forces met, Tibetan women still wear star-shaped ornaments for their traditional costumes, a symbol of local residents' bond with the army.

Dai Dejun, secretary of the Aba Prefectural Party Committee, believes the Long March spirit persists in three core principles: keeping the faith, braving setback after setback, and putting the people first.

Tsedrucog said this is exactly what she did today. "Walking the paths once taken by the Red Army moved me to tears."

As China pushes forward its pursuit of socialist modernization to fulfill people's aspirations for better lives, it unveiled its new five-year plan for 2026-2030 in March. The 15th Five-Year Plan aims to lay the groundwork for doubling per capita GDP from its 2020 level by 2035 to more than 20,000 U.S. dollars, a benchmark for a moderately developed nation.

Acknowledging that the region still lags behind developed regions in infrastructure, education and other areas, Dai framed today's obstacles as a new mission.

"Our goal is high-quality development and common prosperity, as we pursue modernization alongside the rest of the country," he said. "This is our new Long March."