An excerpt of a China Media Group (CMG) documentary tells how three copper coins from the late Chinese leader Mao Zedong have become a powerful witness to the Red Army observing in a strict code of discipline and cherishing people.
Ninety years ago, the Red Army troops set out from Yudu in east China's Jiangxi Province to begin the epic Long March. They passed through 14 provinces and regions across the country over the years.
The Central Red Army spent their first Spring Festival during the Long March in Shixiangzi Yi ethnic town, Xuyong County of southwest China's Sichuan Province.
Before the troops left the town after a short period of stay in the houses of local residents, Xiao Youen, a house owner, received three copper coins from an officer, who persisted in doing so for bothering him.
It was only after the War of Liberation that Xiao learned the officer was Chairman Mao Zedong, and the three copper coins were not found by Xiao's descendants until 2014.
"The three copper coins were hidden in the wall in fear of robbery by thieves. Then no one knew who exactly left the coins. After liberation, every household hung Chairman Mao's picture, and it was known that the three copper coins were left by the chairman," said Xiao Weiqin, a descendant.
From October 1934 to October 1936, the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army troops left their bases and marched through raging rivers, frigid mountains and arid grassland to break the siege of the Kuomintang forces and continued to fight the Japanese invaders.
The ten-episode documentary scheduled to be aired on the CMG military channel from Oct. 17 to 26 is in commemoration of the 90th anniversary of the starting of the Chinese Red Army's Long March.
The CMG documentary follows the route of the Long March, with the crew dedicating three months to revisiting the 14 provinces and regions.
With aerial photography as a key component of the production, this is the first time that a drone has been used to record the entire journey.