Editing Long March (section)

===Use as propaganda===
The writer Sun Shuyun writes that generations of Chinese have been taught a glorious account of the Long March in order to justify Mao's Revolution: "If you find it hard," they were told:

<blockquote>think of the Long March; if you feel tired, think of our revolutionary forebears. The message has been drilled into us so that we can accomplish any goal set before us by the party because nothing compares in difficulty with what they did. Decades after the historical one, we have been spurred on to ever more Long Marches – to industrialize China, to feed the largest population in the world, to catch up with the West, to reform the socialist economy, to send men into space, to engage with the 21st century.<ref>Adams, Martin. [https://web.archive.org/web/20061106235646/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/HJ24Ad01.html "Long March to mythology".] ''Asia Times'' October 24, 2006.</ref> <!-- 
"Use as propaganda ... As a propaganda theme, many facts about the Long March have been altered from historical truth. For example, the battle at Xiang River 'which the official history of the Long March identifies as the longest and most heroic battle of the entire campaign, was in fact a major defeat for the Communists, with casualties and desertions reducing the First Army from 86,000 to 30,000 people.'[45]" --></blockquote>

October 2006 marked the 70th anniversary of the end of the Long March. Dozens of newly released, government approved books were displayed in bookstores, with the intention of showing the heroic actions and drama of the Long March. [[Chinese television]] presented "a feast of Long March-themed entertainment, including a 20-part drama series, documentaries, and even a song-and-dance extravaganza".<ref>Adams, Martin. (Oct 24, 2006). [https://web.archive.org/web/20061106235646/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/HJ24Ad01.html "Long March to mythology"] ''Asia Times''</ref>

Western scholars, when examining the Long March, sometimes choose to focus on aspects of the Long March rarely portrayed by Chinese propaganda. Negative aspects of the Long March include instances of the Red Army desperately recruiting local people through kidnapping, blackmail, and sex.<ref name="Adams">Adams, Martin. (October 24, 2006). [https://web.archive.org/web/20061106235646/http://www.atimes.com/atimes/China/HJ24Ad01.html "Long March to Mythology".] ''Asia Times''</ref> Sun Shuyun interviewed a man who said he was barely into his teens when he was forced to join the Red Army. This veteran only joined the Red Army because his father was arrested by the Communists and would not be released until the man agreed to join the army. The man later thought of deserting, but stayed on because he feared being caught and executed.<ref name="project-syndicate.org"/> In order to escape starvation, the Red Army often stole food from villagers in the remote locations it traveled through.<ref name="Adams" /> Driven by desperation and hunger, communist armies during the Long March sometimes took hostages for ransom.