In August 1935, the Red Army entered Hongyuan, over 3,500 meters above sea level. It was the rainy season. In thin clothes and straw shoes, the soldiers ate wild plants and grass, even boiling their belts when food ran out. They covered more than 250 kilometers in seven days.

Ninety years later, CGTN's Yang Xinmeng arrived in Hongyuan County. Once called a dead grassland, it is now green and seemingly endless, home to wildlife, with roads running through it. Through dams, fences and controlled grazing, local herders protect the grassland and the route the Red Army took. The landscape has changed, but the traces remain – and so does the route.