Long March

The Long March was a year-long 6000-mile retreat by the armed forces of the Chinese Communist Party from their country's southeastern Jiangxi Province to Yan'an in the north of China's interior. This followed a disastrous defeat of the People's Liberation Army at the hands of Kuomintang forces under Chiang Kai-Shek in 1934. 130,000 people began the march, 86,000 of them soldiers; only 7000 of those soldiers reached Yan'an in 1935.

During the march, Mao Tse-Tung emerged as the leader of the Communist Party. On reaching Yan'an, Mao spent several years consolidating his power and rebuilding Communist forces. By World War II, the communists were once again a force to be reckoned with in China; by the time of the Race's Conquest Fleet's arrival and occupation of China, Mao's forces had eclipsed the Kuomintang as the largest Chinese resistance faction.