Dancers of the National Ballet of China rehearse at Pagoda Hill, Yan'an, Shaanxi province. PHOTO BY LIU YANG

This year is the 80th anniversary of the end of the Long March. In October 1934, the Red Army started in East China's Jiangxi province, a march that covered more than 12,000 kilometers through the country's interior provinces. The march by Communist soldiers lasted two years. In October 1936, after escaping Kuomintang offensive; crossing the Jinsha River and the Dadu River; climbing snow-capped mountains; and walking across grasslands filled with swamps, the Red Army finally arrived in Yan'an, in Northwest China's Shaanxi province.

The end of the Long March marked a milestone for the Communist Party of China on its way to build a new country.