128 China in World History
women)—on what has become known as the Long March, one of the
most impressive feats of endurance in the history of warfare. Losing
80–90 percent of their troops along the way—to injury, frostbite, deser-
tion, death, disease, or capture—the Long Marchers traversed, mostly
on foot, over 6,000 miles in 368 days, enduring frequent harassment or
attack. They crossed twenty-four rivers, moved through twelve prov-
inces, and crossed over eighteen mountain ranges. Though pursued
by an army that was much better equipped, the Red Army survived
through ingeniously daring tactics and sheer force of will. In the middle
of the Long March, Mao was recognized for his strategic brilliance and
made head of the Chinese Communist Party.
Zigzagging their way through southwestern and western provinces,
the Communists arrived in October 1935 in northwest China, one of
the poorest regions of the country, where they made their headquar-
ters in peasant-built caves in Yan’an in Shaanxi Province. This area
was chosen in part because it was far removed from Chiang Kai-shek’s
base in south central China and in part because it was much closer
than Jinggang Mountain to Chinese areas now occupied by Japan.
Japanese aggression in China accelerated in the early 1930s, in part
because Japan feared a truly unifi ed Republic of China. The Japanese
had seized control of Manchuria, the original homeland of the Man-
chus, in 1931–32. This large area north and east of Beiping was rich in
forests and coal and oil deposits and, unlike most of China, it was not
heavily populated.
Preoccupied with the growing worldwide economic depression, the
United States and European countries paid little attention to Japan’s take-
over of Manchuria. The League of Nations sent an investigating team
that pronounced Japan the aggressor, but beyond verbally condemning
Japan, the League did nothing to contest Japan’s fait accompli, and Japan
protested the League’s censure by withdrawing from the League.
Throughout the early 1930s, Chiang Kai-shek repeatedly complied
with Japanese demands and shied away from any military confronta-
tion. Japan set up a puppet state, Manchukuo, in Manchuria, under the
nominal leadership of the last Manchu emperor, Henry Puyi. Japan also
seized territory in Inner Mongolia and made ever more demands on the
Nationalist government for rights and privileges. Comparing Japanese
aggression to a disease of the skin and Chinese communism to a disease
of the heart, Chiang argued that he must fi rst wipe out the Communists
before he could confront Japan. This policy made Chiang begin to look
to his own people like an appeaser, ready to sell out part of his country
to maintain his own power.