Editing Long March (section)

===Length===
In 2003, controversy arose about the distance covered by Mao's First Front Army in the Long March.<ref>CNN (November 5, 2003): [http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/11/05/china.shortmarch.ap/index.html Mao's long March 'comes up short'] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080317033358/http://edition.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/asiapcf/east/11/05/china.shortmarch.ap/index.html |date=March 17, 2008 }} (Retrieved November 25, 2006)</ref> The figure of 25,000 [[Li (unit)|li]] (12,500 kilometres or about 8,000 miles<ref name="Zhang">Zhang, Chunhou. Vaughan, C. Edwin. [2002] (2002). Mao Zedong as Poet and Revolutionary Leader: Social and Historical Perspectives. Lexington books. {{ISBN|0-7391-0406-3}}. p. 65.</ref>) was Mao's estimate, quoted by his biographer [[Edgar Snow]] in ''[[Red Star Over China]]'', published not long after the end of the Long March in 1938. But in a poem written by Mao in October 1935 at the end of the Long March, ''Mount Liupan'', Mao states their distance as 20,000 [[Li (unit)|li]] (10,000 kilometres or about 6,200 miles).<ref>Marxists.org (2007): [https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/poems/poems17.htm "Selected Works of Mao Tse-Tung - Mount Liupan] (Retrieved October 10, 2023)</ref> In 2003, two British researchers, Ed Jocelyn and Andrew McEwen,<ref name=step/> retraced the route in 384&nbsp;days,<ref name=cd /><ref name=step>Indo-Asian News Service (October 22, 2006): [http://in.news.yahoo.com/061022/43/68om7.html Retracing Mao's Long March]{{Dead link|date=July 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} (Retrieved November 23, 2006)</ref> and in their 2006 book "The Long March" estimated the March actually covered about 6,000&nbsp;km (3,700 miles or 11,154 li).<ref>{{cite book | last = Jocelyn, Ed & McEwen, Andrew| year = 2006 | title = The Long March | publisher = Constable & Robinson | pages = 288  | isbn = 1-84529-255-3}}</ref> Chinese media, Beijing Daily disputed their report: "The 25,000 li of the Red Army's Long March are a historic fact."<ref>Richard Spencer, (April 3, 2006):
[https://web.archive.org/web/20070311102040/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=%2Fnews%2F2006%2F04%2F03%2Fwmao03.xml&sSheet=%2Fnews%2F2006%2F04%2F03%2Fixworld.html British pair under attack for doubts over Mao's march] ''Daily Telegraph'' (Retrieved November 23, 2006)</ref> Beijing Daily proved that even the First Red Army, which had the least walking distance, travelled closer to 18,088 li (9,375&nbsp;km or 6,000 miles), and the two British young men did not follow the route in those years.<ref>Beijing Daily (2006): [http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2006-03-27/15028541072s.shtml "The Long March" of 25,000 is not a rumour] (Retrieved May 08, 2022)</ref> In 2005, Xiaoai Zhang, the daughter of Aiping Zhang and [[David Ben Uziel]], Israeli soldier and photographer, retraced the route again and recorded around 24,000&nbsp;km.<ref>People's Daily (2006): [http://military.people.com.cn/n1/2016/1024/c1011-28801350.html "The Long March" is a road of hope] (Retrieved May 09, 2022)</ref>