Lianda and the Long March

In 1938, three elite Chinese universities merged into Lianda and marched 1,000 miles from Changsha to Kunming to escape Japanese invasion, with students walking through mountains and rivers while collecting folk songs and memorizing dictionaries. The journey, undertaken by hundreds of students and faculty over 70 days, became a significant intellectual and patriotic endeavor that helped establish Lianda as a renowned center for Chinese scientists and scholars, including future Nobel Prize winners. The march was enabled by emerging transportation technology like trucks and buses, which distinguished it from later mass movements like Mao's Long March.