Turning Point | Breaking Through, Episode 2

At the Xiangjiang River in China's southwest, the Red Army suffered a devastating defeat. Facing 300,000 strong enemy troops, under the command of the Comintern military adviser, the tired Red Army rigidly applied Soviet conventional tactics to launch one bloody frontal assault after another. From the 86,000 who had embarked on the Long March, their numbers were reduced to little more than 30,000.

In the wake of this disaster, survival demanded more than just courage; it demanded a change of direction. The Zunyi Meeting became a crucial turning point. Then The army was saved from complete annihilation by Mao Zedong's military genius.

American reporter Mike Walter and Spanish journalist Javier García continue their journey, retracing the route taken by the Red Army; while Mike meets a retired journalist helping families reconnect with their fallen relatives, Javier discovers some unexpected echoes of history in a village football league built on repeated setbacks and an automotive industry racing to reinvent itself.

What happens when failure forces you to rethink everything? Tune in to CGTN's Long March documentary Breaking Through to find out.