80 years on, foreigners on the Long March remembered

(China.org.cn) | Updated: 2016-09-01 09:19

Four score years ago, the Chinese Red Army clinched the victory of the 25,000-li (7767 miles) Long March from 1934 to 1936. Here are some foreign participants we will never forget.

80 years on, foreigners on the Long March remembered

Hong Shui, a general of two countries

Hong Shui (known as Nguyen Son in Vietnam), inspired by late Vietnamese President Ho Chi Minh, took part in the Chinese revolution and went on the Long March undertaken by the Red Army.

He was the only foreigner who went through from the founding of the Chinese Red Army to the victory of China's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.

Hong was conferred the rank of Major General of the Chinese People's Liberation Army in 1955. He was also a Major General in the Vietnam People's Army. It is rare for someone to be a general of two countries.

Hong was born in 1908 in Hanoi, and came to China in 1925. He entered Whampoa, China's first modern military academy, in 1926, and joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) the next year.

Hong was versatile and was highly appreciated by late Chairman Mao Zedong. During the Long March, he made great contributions to the publicity of the Red Army and the Party, inspiring the Red Army soldiers and winning support from the masses.

After his troops suffered several setbacks and were finally disrupted, Hong set off on the Long March alone. Having gone through all kinds of hardships and difficulties, he managed to walk to Yan'an, Shaanxi Province in early 1936.

In 1945, Hong returned to Vietnam to fight against French colonialists. He came back to China in 1950.

In 1956, a year after he'd been made a major general by the Chinese government, Hong was diagnosed with lung cancer. He returned to Vietnam and passed away in October of that year.

For two times during the Long March, Hong was mistakenly accused as an international spy and was expelled from the Party. He was readmitted to the Party after CPC central committee corrected the accusations in time.

His Chinese name means "flood." It was said that he once likened himself to a torrent of water, charging irresistibly through life's rugged landscape, against all the odds.