The Red Army school in Sangzhi county, Hunan province. (Photo by Liu Jing/chinadaily.com.cn)
For many Chinese people, the story of the Golden fishing hook is one of the most vivid and touching memories of the Long March.
Based on a true story during this Chinese Communist Party's historic undertaking, the article has been taught to countless students in the country's primary schools.
In the story, a squad leader was asked to look after three ill younger soldiers who were behind the main marching troops. Due to lack of food, the squad leader made a fishing hook with a needle and caught fishes to make soup. To help them recover, he saved the fish for the young soldiers and secretly ate grassroots and left-over fish bones. At the end, the squad leader died from hunger during his way to fishing and the fishing hook was carefully kept by the young soldiers and sent to a memorial after the revolution succeeded.
This is the favorite story of He Shan, a sixth grade student from Sangzhi county, Hunan province. Compared with most of her counterparts in China, the 11-year-old girl has a deeper understanding of the story.
Her school is one of the 228 Red Army primary schools in China. Located in the Hongjiaguan village, it is dedicated to Marshal He Long, who used to attend a private school at the same location and started the Long March of the Second Front Army of the Red Army from the county.
The Red Army Primary School Project, initiated in 2007 by Li Ruihuan, former chairman of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and relatives of the old generation of revolutionists.
Providing funds for the schools, the aim of the project is to pay tribute to the old revolutionary base areas, improve the backward education conditions in these areas and pass on the spirit of the Red Army.
"As a Red Army School, we are trying various ways to teach the children the Long March spirit," said Zhu Zeyi, the school headmaster.
Zhu introduced that his school is just meters away from the former residence of He Long and a nursing home which accommodates many Red Army veterans. Many of He Long's relatives still lives in the village.
Therefore, students from the school have more opportunities to learn about the Long March. For example, the school often brings the students to visit the tombs of martyrs during the tomb-sweeping festival and to help out in the nursing home.
The school is the second of its kind in Sangzhi county. It now has 770 students and 59 teachers. About 70 percent of the students here are stay-at-home children, who were left in the village while both of their parents working in big cities. However, many of them are encouraged by the Long March and have a strong will to study.
"I love school because I like reading and writing," said Gu Mengchen, a new first grade student on her first day in school.
In a recent composition contest, He Shan wrote an article titled "one good deed a day". "Those who sacrifice themselves for others are really great," she said.
