A Chinese farmer walked alone for 219 days across 10,000 kilometers, scaling mountains and streams, to experience the hardships of the Chinese Red Army in the Long March from 1934 to 1936.
Shi Guoli, a 52-year-old farmer from Northeast China's Jilin Province, started his trip in Jiangxi Province's Ruijin on July 1 and arrived in Shaanxi Province's Wuqi County on February 4.
Shi, who learned about the Chinese Red Army's Long March from textbooks for primary school, said he had dreamed of such a trip for many years.
"When I was a kid, I always wanted to see for myself the high mountains they climbed and the vast grasslands they traveled through," he said.
After the journey, what impressed Shi most was not the snow mountains or the grasslands, but the marchers' undauntedness in facing the challenges, he said.
Recalling the large stones rolling down the mountain road along the Jinsha River, Shi said: "I've got no choice but to march forward and forward for life."
Along the route of the Red Army, Shi visited many old revolutionary bases and took more than 900 photographs, collected 276 messages and wrote a 60,000-word travelogue.
On his journey, he wore through six pairs of rubber overshoes and two pairs of cotton-padded shoes.
By traveling through 100 counties and cities in 10 provinces, he quickly learned to overcome difficulties like different diets and dialects. He said his adventure cost 16,000 yuan (US$1,925).
(China Daily May 14, 2002)
