Long March
Topic: Paths to Modernisation: Japan, China, Korea · NCERT: Class 11, Ch 7 "Paths to Modernisation"
Meaning
The Long March was a retreat by the Chinese Communists in 1934–35. The Guomindang, the ruling Nationalist party, had blockaded their base, the Jiangxi soviet. The Communists escaped and marched about 6,000 miles to the north-west. The march saved the party and made Mao Zedong its leader.
Example
After the march, the Communists set up a new base at Yanan. From there they worked to end warlordism, carried out land reform and fought imperialism. This won them mass support among peasants, which later helped them defeat the Guomindang.
Don't confuse with
- Jiangxi soviet (1928–34): This was the earlier Communist base that the march started from. It was not the march itself.
Related concepts
- Communist Party of China
- Comintern
- Mao Zedong
- People's Republic of China
- Great Leap Forward
- People's communes
- Cultural Revolution
- Deng Xiaoping
- Four Modernisations
- Socialist market economy