Retracing the Long March and standing before the cave dwellings ("Yaodong" in Chinese) in Yan'an, Shaanxi Province, I felt the air thick with history.

In 1935, the Central Red Army arrived in northern Shaanxi after the Long March, and Yan'an became the headquarters of the revolution. To escape Japanese bombings and Kuomintang (KMT) harassment, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China moved between several locations, living and working in cave dwellings at Fenghuangshan (Phoenix Mountain), Yangjialing and Zaoyuan.

Carved from loess cliffs, these unique traditional homes came in three forms: earthen, brick and stone. Furnishings inside were simple – a bed, a table, a chair and the bare necessities.

By the faint light of an oil lamp, Mao Zedong authored On Protracted War, illuminating the path for China's nationwide resistance against Japan. During his discussions with American journalist Anna Louise Strong at Yangjialing, he uttered the famous words: "All reactionaries are paper tigers."

Though now silent, the caves bear witness to unshakable faith. Rooted among local people, revolutionaries led the Chinese nation toward a bright future with firm ideals.

(All photos were taken on September 17, 2026, by CGTN's Wu Yan.)