NAIROBI, Oct. 12 (Xinhua) -- Ninety years after the victory of the Long March, the historic journey continues to resonate beyond China because the perseverance, sacrifice, solidarity and hope it embodied remain relevant to societies confronting development challenges and an uncertain world, said Paul Ilado, editorial director of Kenya's Radio Africa Group.
This year marks the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March by the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.
In a recent interview with Xinhua, Ilado described the Long March as a decisive political and historical turning point. The Red Army was under severe pressure when the march began in 1934, and its survival was crucial to the continuation of the Communist movement, he said.
Yet what struck him most was not the historical outcome alone but the human qualities the march revealed, Ilado said.
"There is courage, because people continued despite extraordinary danger. There is sacrifice, because the journey demanded an enormous human cost. There is hope, because people endure hardship differently when they believe that the future can be better than the present," he said, adding that solidarity was also essential "because survival depended not only on individual strength but on people carrying one another through difficult circumstances."
Coming from Kenya, where stories of resistance, sacrifice and liberation also occupy an important place in national memory, Ilado said the Long March resonated with Kenya's own historical memory.
China's Long March and Kenya's anti-colonial struggle took place under different historical circumstances and should not be treated as identical, he stressed. What they share, he said, is the experience of people enduring enormous pressure because they believe a different future is possible. "That is a story people can understand across cultures."
For Ilado, the significance of the Long March spirit also lies in its continuity. Though the historic march ended, the value system and sense of purpose behind it have been carried forward in China's efforts to develop the country and improve people's lives, he said.
His understanding of the Long March spirit deepened during a visit to northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region. Having grown up on a farm, Ilado said he was struck by how sustained poverty alleviation and development efforts helped transform once-impoverished areas.
In his view, the changes he witnessed offered a contemporary expression of the perseverance, collective purpose and commitment to a better future embodied in the Long March spirit.
The experience led him to view the Long March not simply as a historical event, but also as a much longer national journey "from survival to poverty alleviation to development."
Asked about Kenya's own challenges, Ilado said governance was the most pressing. He said China's development experience highlights the importance of visionary and disciplined leadership, continuity in national direction and priorities, and putting people at the center of development.
The Long March spirit also remains relevant to a world facing growing competition and shared challenges. What remains important, Ilado said, is the belief that lasting progress requires collective effort rather than isolated action.
"If you want to succeed, walk with other people. Do not walk alone," he said. "After all, the world has become a small village."
He also noted that each generation faces different circumstances, but the values that sustained the Long March can continue to inform how societies pursue long-term development.
For today's generation, the task is "to maintain continuity and to ensure that the technology that drives us today, which wasn't there in the days of the Long March, is used positively to affect the lives of many people," he said. ■
