Long March Origin choir carries forward Red Army spirit
Zou Weimin (1st L), the director of the Long March Origin choir, conducts a performance at a middle school in Yudu County, east China’s Jiangxi Province, Sept. 3, 2026. This year marks the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March. As one of its important starting points, Yudu County in east China’s Jiangxi Province, a place best known as the starting point of the Long March by the Central Red Army, the historic military maneuver in modern Chinese history, has become more than a place of remembrance.
It was from Yudu that more than 80,000 Red Army soldiers crossed the Yudu River and began the Long March in 1934, the roughly 12,500-kilometer trek later described by American journalist Harrison Salisbury as “a great human epic.”
On the stone tablet in front of the memorial museum of the Central Red Army’s departure for the Long March here in Yudu, three Chinese characters meaning “Long March Origin” are engraved. The “Long March Origin” not only indicates that this place was the starting point of the important strategic transfer of the Red Army at that time, but also carries the profound understanding of the Long March spirit by the people of Yudu to this day.
You can see the words “Long March Origin” frequently in Yudu, and the Long March Origin choir is a prominent presence.
In this red revolutionary land of Yudu, almost everyone can share family stories connected to the Red Army’s Long March. The Long March Origin choir, established in 2010, is composed of over 100 descendants of Red Army soldiers from all walks of life in the county. Over these years, they have not only performed the “Suite of Songs on the Long March” in Yudu and across Jiangxi in their spare time, but also carried forward the spirit of the Long March along the Long March route with their songs.
The choir’s first performance was staged on June 30, 2011, which was dedicated to the 90th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China. So far the choir has performed over 730 charity performances. “We hope that the choir will complete 1,000 performances by the 100th anniversary of the victory of the Long March,” said Zou Weimin, the director of the choir. (Xinhua/Wang Jingqiang)
The Long March Origin choir perform at a middle school in Yudu County, east China’s Jiangxi Province, Sept. 3, 2026. (Xinhua/Zhou Mi)
Zou Weimin, the director of the Long March Origin choir, conducts a performance at a middle school in Yudu County, east China’s Jiangxi Province, Sept. 3, 2026. (Xinhua/Zhou Mi)
Lai Feihong (1st L), vocal artistic director of the Long March Origin choir, stages a performance at a middle school in Yudu County, east China’s Jiangxi Province, Sept. 3, 2026. (Xinhua/Wang Jingqiang)
A staff member introduces the story of the Yudu people and the Red Army at the memorial museum of the Central Red Army’s departure for the Long March in Yudu County, east China’s Jiangxi Province, Sept. 2, 2026. (Xinhua/Wang Jingqiang)
A short performance, titled “Farewell,” is staged before the Long March Origin choir’s performance at a middle school in Yudu County, east China’s Jiangxi Province, Sept. 3, 2026. (Xinhua/Zhou Mi)
The Long March Origin choir perform at a middle school in Yudu County, east China’s Jiangxi Province, Sept. 3, 2026. (Xinhua/Wang Jingqiang)
The Long March Origin choir perform at a middle school in Yudu County, east China’s Jiangxi Province, Sept. 3, 2026. (Xinhua/Zhou Mi)
The Long March Origin choir rehearse at the cultural center in Yudu County, east China’s Jiangxi Province, July 28, 2026. (Xinhua/Liu Jinhai)
The Long March Origin choir perform at a middle school in Yudu County, east China’s Jiangxi Province, Sept. 3, 2026. (Xinhua/Wang Jingqiang)
The Long March Origin choir rehearse at the cultural center in Yudu County, east China’s Jiangxi Province, July 28, 2026. (Xinhua/Liu Jinhai)
Liu Ying, a descendant of a Red Army soldier, also a member of the Long March Origin choir, displays her Long March-themed paper-cut work at home in Yudu County, east China’s Jiangxi Province, Sept. 4, 2026. (Xinhua/Wang Jingqiang)
Yi Kemei, a descendant of a Red Army soldier, also a member of the Long March Origin choir, shows a letter her granduncle Yi Guanmei wrote to her family in wartime, at her home in Yudu County, east China’s Jiangxi Province, Sept. 4, 2026. (Xinhua/Wang Jingqiang)
Reference Link:- https://english.news.cn/20261012/3bc278f044b844be926d4947984c6edf/c.html
Zamir Ahmed Awan is the founder and Chair of the Global Silk Route Research Alliance, a think tank in Islamabad. He studied engineering at Shanghai University in the 1980s, and years later he went back to China as Pakistan's science counsellor in Beijing, from 2010 until 2016, working on science and higher education cooperation between the two countries.…
