The Long March

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While in Beijing I picked up a book titled "The Long March" by Sun Yunshan (I may have the name wrong, the book is not with me). I have always been interested in the Long March since studying Chinese modern history and reading Edgar Snow's account of his interviews with Mao Ze Dong and other top ranking communist party leaders after the Long March was completed. I made plans to follow the Long March in reverse, starting from their base in Shaanxi. From Datong I planned to go to Yan'an in Shaanxi.
Having completed reading the book in Datong, I've given up this plan. I had always been impressed by the commitment of the early communists and bought into the official version of the Long March. But Sun's book questions the official version through interviews with the surviving rank and file members of the Red Army that were on the Long March. Sun's book is fairly critical of Mao and reveals that the Red Army embarked on the Long March as a retreat from Chiang Ki Shek's advancing army. The Red Army was only slightly different than the private armies of surrounding warlords in that they claimed a marxist message, otherwise they behaved in the same way as any other marauding gang.
I was surprised by how critical Sun's book was of Mao. She protrays him as a meglomaniac, a devious politician and possibly an outright murder of all contenders for power. My friend Stan also read a book recently that was highly critical of Mao. I have been out of touch with the Chinese political climate - I didn't realize that his contributions to China were being re-considered.
Sun ends her book by stating that it was fortunate that leaders like Zhou Enlia, Deng Xiaoping, and others survived Mao's machinations. So it is still taboo to examine their role - even though they were also leaders during the Long March and in power during the Great Leap Forward and the Cultural Revolution.

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