Xi Jinping's new Long March

On the banks of the Yudu River in east China, a choir sang of soldiers leaving home more than nine decades ago. Beside the singers, eight large red Chinese characters proclaimed: "May the spirit of the Long March shine forever."

In October 1934, some 86,000 Red Army soldiers crossed the river, little knowing that they were embarking on a grueling 12,500-kilometer journey, which American journalist Edgar Snow hailed as "an odyssey unequaled in modern times." In October 1936, three main Red Army forces converged in northwestern China, marking the end of the Long March.