Photo: Courtesy of New World Press

A new book about the history of the Long March was released at the 21st Beijing International Book Festival (BIBF), which kicked off on Thursday. 

The book, Ode to the Long March, published by New World Press, is based on the documentary series produced by director Yan Dong for China Media Group. It follows the story of Red Army soldiers leaving their bases and marching to break the siege of Kuomintang forces from 1934 to 1936.

The new book marks an in-depth cooperation between the China International Communications Group (CICG) and director Yan Dong’s team, according to a speech by Lu Cairong, vice president of CICG which owns New World Press. Ode to the Long March will allow Chinese and foreign readers to better understand Chinese history, the Communist Party of China, and contemporary China.

Director Yan Dong, who is also the book’s editor-in-chief said in a speech that to understand the Long March is to understand China. 

“Anyone who wants to study the development of new China and Chinese Communists cannot ignore this period of history,” he said, adding that he hoped more overseas readers could also learn about it through the book’s international versions. 

New World Press also signed a cooperative publishing contract with the South Korean publishing house, KYUNGJi Pressing for the Korean version of Ode to the Long March.

According to Li Chunkai, president of New World Press, Ode to the Long March takes inspiration from the construction of the Long March National Cultural Park, which focuses on the history, culture, major events, major achievements and touching stories along the Long March. This book takes the Long March as a cultural symbol, and uses this symbol to connect historical memory, poverty alleviation, ecological and cultural construction, literary and artistic inheritance, and exchanges between China and the West, showing the vitality of contemporary China.

Global Times