A pair of shoes, a lantern and a pickle jar: Stories from the Long March

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March. In 1935, the Red Army crossed the Chishui River four times, with Taiping Ferry in Gulin County, southwest China's Sichuan Province, serving as a key crossing point during the second and fourth crossings. Local residents helped the soldiers cross the river, providing wooden doors and boats to build pontoon bridges.

At the Taiping Ferry Exhibition Hall, everyday objects preserve stories of the Red Army and local people. A wounded soldier was cared for by a local family and left his leather shoes with them when he rejoined his unit. Another pair of cloth shoes was given to a poor local family before the soldiers moved on.

A hurricane lantern tells another story. After accidentally losing a spatula while cooking at a local home, Red Army soldiers compensated the family with the lantern, following the army's rules of discipline.

A pickle jar offers another small detail: after eating the pickled vegetables inside, Red Army soldiers found no one at home to receive payment, so they left silver coins in the jar.

Another highlight is a 1933 medical textbook, published in Ruijin for the Red Army medical school. During the Four Crossings of the Chishui River, local doctor Hu Dacheng treated wounded Red Army soldiers. In gratitude, an injured military doctor gave him the book, which his family preserved for decades before donating it.

Nearby, the former residence where Mao Zedong once stayed during the Four Crossings offers another tangible link to the Long March.

Ninety years later, these everyday objects and old sites still preserve stories of the Red Army and the local people they encountered along the way.

(Photo via CGTN)