For Yan Tailong, the grasslands recreated at the Military Museum of the Chinese People's Revolution are no simple exhibition, but a passage back to a time when he ate grass and leather belt just to survive another day.

The display is part of "The Glorious Voyage" exhibition, which uses relics and recreations to bring to life the hardships Yan and his comrades in the Red Army endured while trudging across China in the legendary Long March.

"Today's country is built upon this part of history," said Yan, now 92 and in a wheelchair, as he looked at the displays surrounding him.

The exhibition opened on Monday and will last until November 24 in Beijing.

The epic Long March began in 1934, when the Central Red Army was forced to transfer forces from East China's Jiangxi Province to a revolutionary stronghold in Northwest China's Shaanxi Province.

Pursued by the Kuomintang army across brutal terrain that included towering, frosty mountain passes and marshy grasslands that sucked soldiers into the bog, only 10,000 of the 86,000 Central Red Army soldiers who set out on the journey survived the year-long march.

"There are so many stories from the Long March from which we can learn lessons," said curator Yang Jinghua. "Here, I think, you can see the spirit of the Long March."

This spirit, she said, is self-sacrifice.

Yang pointed to a raincoat given to wounded soldier Wang Lifa by an unknown officer while the Red Army was crossing the grasslands. The officer died before Wang learned his name, and Wang later donated the tattered, patchwork coat to the museum.

"The Glorious Voyage," Yang said, portrays many such stories of selflessness, and an entire section of the exhibition showcases the gifts mostly blankets and bowls the Red Army gave to villagers they met along their way.

"Many of them gave their food to the peasants they met, even though they knew that would mean they themselves would starve," Wang said. "There is a lesson to be learned from that."

Yang Guangcai, 70, said the power of the exhibition is that it brings a sense of reality to the March, which is often a mere abstraction in the minds of textbook readers.

"The pictures, photos, PowerPoint presentations and recreations of the mountains, bridges and grasslands bring this remote history closer to us," said Yang Guangcai, who described himself as having been a proud member of the Communist Party of China (CPC) for 45 years. "I've gained a deeper understanding of the journey."

Yang said it is important to remember that the Long March was the takeoff point for China's huge economic rise today. He believes that today's Chinese need to remember what they owe the soldiers who endured terrible strife as they fought to build better lives for their compatriots, present and future.

"The history of the Long March seems to be fading from life today," he said.

This is a shame, he believes, because although the March ended 70 years ago, the story offers lessons that remain pertinent.

He pointed out that although China's gross domestic product ranks fourth in the world, its average per-capita income lags far behind those of developed countries.

"To become a well-off society, the nation has a new Long March to trudge. It means that the Long March spirit must be enduring," he said.

Relics on display include weapons such as bolt-action rifles, grenades and a perfectly preserved cannon as well as binoculars, wireless radios, woven shoes and other daily items used by soldiers.

Besides displaying relics, the museum created several full-scale models that replicate landmark locations during the march. The museum set aside spacious areas to replicate parts of the building in Guizhou Province that hosted the Zunyi Conference, where Mao Zedong was selected as the main leader of Red Army, as well as models of the Luding Bridge, the marshy grasslands and mountain passes.

The mountain pass facsimile features a cluster of seven "snow-dusted" soldier statutes huddled among the faux mountains. The scene portrays the true story of a beleaguered soldier who, in his death throes, symbolically thrust his arm into the air clutching his CPC membership card and a coin to pay his Party dues.

This display was particularly moving for Charles Rycroft, communication chief of the UNICEF Office of China, who visited the exhibition during a special after-hours event for ambassadors.

"It goes to show it was not just a dedication to the country; it was a passion for the country," he said.

Rycroft believes that the detail of the setup, which included electronically projected snowfall and audio of howling winds, deepened the reality.

Li Fuyu, 24, who graduated from the Beijing Language and Culture University this summer and came to the show after seeing it featured on the TV news, agreed.

"The thunder, rain, muddy grasslands and snow are made to be as perfectly authentic as what actually happened in those times and places," Li said. "Only by presenting the real environment can people really come to understand the harshness of the journey."

"I heard a lot about how severe the Long March was, and I wanted to see what it was like. This exhibition does a great job of involving visitors to make them feel what the Red Army went through."

The model of the grasslands depicts a sea of grass checkered with quagmire puddles. The display features five soldier statues, one of which is sinking into the marsh while the others risk sinking themselves as they struggle to extricate him from the bog.

The replica of the Luding Bridge, which the Red Army crossed under fire, is a life-size chain-link suspension bridge set against a painted background. Audio of explosions and gunfire accompany flashes from a strobe light and billowing smoke to simulate the experience of being under fire. Beneath the bridge, several panels show video projections of flowing water to portray the danger soldiers would face if they fell off the plankless bridge.

Adjacent to the replica is a display showcasing a length of chain from the actual Luding Bridge.

For Richard Pryor, an instructor at the China University of Petroleum in Beijing, the replica of the Zunyi office building was particularly impressive. His wife's grandfather, a Long March veteran and resident of Zunyi, had given his family a personal tour of the building last year.

"I came in and recognized the building and said, 'Wait a minute; I've been here before,'" he said.

As a retired weapons expert for the US Navy, Pryor was especially interested in the guns at the exhibition. He went from one display case to the next, identifying each model and giving special attention to those weapons that were handmade.

Pryor said his military background gave him a special affinity for the soldiers of the Long March.

"Being somebody who was enlisted and did the dirty work, I know what they had to go through," he said. "It shows determination, for sure."

Rycroft believes that each culture has its own historical account of determined people overcoming incredible odds. The United States has the Alamo, the British have Dunkirk, and the Chinese have the Long March.

"You do something nobody thinks you have a snowball's chance in hell of doing, but you do it anyway," said Rycroft, who is British. "Adversity unites people as well as things that seem more positive do."

Source: China Daily