CMG gala recreates scenes of people's warm support for the Long March

To mark the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March, China Media Group (CMG) has produced a gala, which recreates the scenes of people's warm support to the red army, through songs, dances and musical dramas.

Among the programs, Ten Farewells to the Red Army, one of the highlights of the gala, vividly portrays the Red Army's deep friendship with the people, through the performance of a weaver of straw sandals.

The Long March took the Red Army soldiers across 14 provinces, over 18 mountain ranges and across 24 major rivers. They slogged through swamplands, traversed snow-covered peaks and covered a distance of roughly 8,000 miles – over 12,000 kilometers – mostly on foot.

During the Long March, the Red Army strictly implemented the Party's ethnic policies by respecting local people's customs and habits, and thus received their support and assistance. They actively joined the Red Army and became the source of strength for the success of the Long March.

For example, in May 1935 when the Red Army passed through the Daliang Mountains inhabited by the Yi ethnic group in southwest China, they won the respect and support of the Yi people by maintaining strict discipline. A division of the Red Army made up of local Yi people was also established. The Red Army's commitment to maintaining strict discipline was also evidenced by a list of loan certificates, notes, coins and other relics. In July 1935, the Red Army left a "wheat harvesting certificate" as a loan note after collecting crops from the local people in Mao'ergai area of Songpan County, Aba Prefecture.