Primary school students in Baiyin experience a 400-meter obstacle course under the guidance of Armed Police officers on Aug 25. XU WEI/FOR CHINA DAILY

Journey continues

The same sense of responsibility can also be seen when emergencies strike.

During the 2023 Jishishan earthquake, Armed Police soldiers joined rescue and relief efforts in the freezing conditions. In Huining, soldiers have also rushed to help people in danger, including saving a woman who was hanging from a bridge.

Such moments rarely make history books.

But they reveal the same instinct that has been passed down for generations: when people need help, step forward.

Ninety years ago, local people in Huining gave the Red Army their food, clothing and even sent their children to join the Red Army. The soldiers, in turn, treated the people as family.

Today, that relationship continues in different forms.

Villagers bring watermelons to the unit during hot summer days. Local cultural workers perform stories about the Long March for soldiers. Intangible cultural heritage practitioners share shadow puppetry and paper-cutting. Residents cheer when soldiers pass by on training routes.

The exchanges may seem ordinary. That is precisely what makes them meaningful.

The Long March reached its victorious conclusion in Huining in 1936. Ninety years later, its stories remain part of daily life for the soldiers stationed here, in training, in service and in the way they pass them on to others.

The Long March belongs to history. How its legacy is carried forward, however, is being decided in the everyday lives of a new generation.

Hu Yumeng contributed to this story.