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Running for Their Lives: The Retreat from the Jinggangshan (January to February 1929)

People's History of Ideas Podcast

English - October 12, 2023 15:00 - 22 minutes - 15.2 MB - ★★★★★ - 110 ratings
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Mao and the Fourth Red Army break the encirclement of the Jinggangshan and retreat across southern Jiangxi with the Guomindang in hot pursuit.

Link to map of Jiangxi province: https://www.chinamaps.org/china/provincemaps/jiangxi-province-map.html

Further reading/watching on the difficulties of finding good maps of China:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Restrictions_on_geographic_data_in_China
https://www.reddit.com/r/Maps/comments/b6qnvc/just_blew_my_mind_every_map_of_china_is/
https://www.reddit.com/r/China/comments/7pju2c/why_is_google_maps_coverage_of_china_slightly_off/

Further reading:
Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 3: From the Jinggangshan to the Establishment of the Jiangxi Soviets, July 1927-December 1930
Pang Xianzhi and Jin Chongji, Mao Zedong: A Biography, vol. 1: 1893-1949
Agnes Smedley, The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh [Zhu De]
Stuart Schram, ed., Mao’s Road to Power, vol. 4: The Rise and Fall of the Chinese Soviet Republic, 1931-1934

Some names from this episode:
Chen Yi, Political commissar for the 28th regiment of the Fourth Red Army
Lin Biao, Battalion commander in the 28th regiment
Wu Ruolan, Communist cadre and Zhu De’s wife

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