Moving mountains

[Song Chen/China Daily]

The Long March provides enduring inspiration for China's long-termist political philosophy

Since the Red Army's Long March ended in victory 90 years ago, this once historical and geographical concept has acquired political and cultural significance. Even before the People's Republic of China was founded on Oct 1, 1949, then Communist Party of China leader Mao Zedong used the term "Long March" to describe China's democratic revolution — turning it into a synonym for the Party's prolonged struggle to fulfill its mission.

In recent years, as China's development has drawn increasing global attention — especially as China has formulated and implemented its 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-30) for economic and social development — "long-termism" has become a buzzword for interpreting the "China miracle". As a concept generally rooted in economics and finance, long-termism champions a mindset oriented toward long-range goals, emphasizing sustainable value creation over short-term gains. In the Chinese context, however, it has evolved into a political philosophy in its own right.

The Long March and China's  journey of progress

"To win countrywide victory is only the first step in a long march of 10,000 li. If this step has given rise to pride, that is rather petty and unworthy; what will be more worthy of pride is yet to come. After another few decades, looking back on the victory of the Chinese people's democratic revolution, people will feel that it was only a brief prologue to a long drama."

Mao used the metaphors "the first step in a long march" and "a brief prologue to a long drama" in March 1949, at the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh CPC Central Committee in Xibaipo, North China's Hebei province. The session was the Central Committee's last plenum before it moved to Beijing, then called Beiping. The metaphors have acquired enduring resonance during nearly 80 years of development in New China and continue to symbolize the nation's journey of progress.

A marvel of military history, between 1934 and 1936 the Red Army led by the CPC trekked more than 12,500 kilometers across snow mountains and marshes, fighting more than 600 battles along the way. This strategic operation marked a major turning point for the CPC — from setbacks to victory — and was an epic of rebirth through fire. Since then, virtually all top Chinese leaders have used the Long March as a metaphor for the journey toward specific goals, thus forming a discursive chain of Long March rhetoric that runs through the history of the Party.

In December 1978, at a work conference preceding the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee — which radically altered the trajectory of modern Chinese history — late leader Deng Xiaoping used the term "new Long March" to encapsulate the Party's strategic shift to achieving the "Four Modernizations".

In May 2019, during a visit to a memorial hall at the departure site of the Central Red Army in Yudu county, East China's Jiangxi province, Xi Jinping, general secretary of the CPC Central Committee, Chinese president and chairman of the Central Military Commission, said: "We are now undertaking a new Long March toward the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation."

Over the decades, the Long March concept has been elevated within the CPC's discursive system — from a specific military and historical term to a political metaphor, taking on refreshed contemporary connotations in different eras. Simultaneously, it has evolved from a spiritual totem into the core concept of a political philosophy.

If modern political governance can be divided into two paradigms, one can be characterized as short-term utilitarian and the other as long-term goal-orientation. The reason why China has been able to accomplish in just a few decades what developed countries took centuries to achieve lies in its distinctive long-termism: setting a goal, running the relay race leg after leg, and turning the seemingly impossible into reality. This is a simple principle of political-philosophical practice, but an extraordinarily difficult one to sustain.

Protracted warfare and China's  strategic outlook

In 1938, at one of the most difficult moments in the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), Mao wrote On Protracted War, a work regarded as a classic of strategic thought. It analyzed the global anti-fascist situation, the relative strengths and weaknesses of China and Japan, refuted both the "national subjugation" and "quick victory" theories, and argued that China would surely win — but only through a protracted war. Indeed, about seven years later, victory was achieved, the first complete victory in China's modern history against foreign invasion.

From that point on, the military-strategic concept of "protracted war" developed into a political-philosophical mindset and a governing methodology for the CPC, used to denote complex, major tasks with clear goals yet long cycles and great difficulty, requiring sustained, painstaking effort.

For example, Xi has called ecological construction "a protracted battle", an endeavor to be carried on from generation to generation. In July 2020, a political bureau meeting of the CPC Central Committee convened to study the economic situation noted that "many problems we face are medium- and long-term, and must be understood from the perspective of protracted warfare", stressing the need to "nurture new opportunities amid crises and open new horizons amid change".

In 2015, Xi applied this strategic thinking to the effort to deepen reforms, saying "strategically we should stick to protracted warfare, while tactically we should fight decisive battles". Waging a protracted war is a long-termist strategy that requires patience. One must fully assess the balance of forces and the complexity of difficulties, replace impetuous advance with stage-by-stage progress, accumulate quantitative changes through persistent effort to achieve qualitative transformation. This has become a long-held tradition of the CPC's strategic approach in addressing major challenges.

National development is not a 100-meter sprint, but a protracted mission that tests endurance and strategy, requiring a consistent long-term mindset. Looking around the world, many countries have fallen into the trap of shortsighted governance. Bound by electoral politics, for instance, they place partisan interests above the nation's long-term development, change course with each election, or even completely overturn predecessors' policies, thus lacking a persistently pursued direction. This inevitably leads to major undertakings that require long-term investment being abandoned halfway when power changes hands.

The spirit of Yu Gong and China's modernization drive

The fable of the "foolish" old man who moved mountains is known to almost every Chinese household. The story, dating back about 2,400 years, tells of Yu Gong, a man nearly 90 years old, who was resolved to lead his descendants in removing the Taihang and Wangwu mountains that blocked their path. Undeterred by mockery, he persevered until the Emperor of Heaven was moved to have the mountains removed. Mao entitled his closing address at the Seventh National Congress of the CPC in 1945 the same as the fable, calling on the Party to overcome all difficulties and strive for final victory.

In November 2014, at the APEC Dialogue on Strengthening Connectivity Partnership in Beijing, Xi used the fable to express China's determination to advance regional connectivity. "The mountains won't grow taller, but our descendants are endless. As long as we persevere, one day we will move them." In 2015, at the National People's Congress and the Central Conference on Poverty Alleviation and Development, he invoked Yu Gong again to convey China's resolve to "win the battle against poverty".

The "Yu Gong spirit" of intergenerational commitment to shared goals has become an honorary title the government bestows for those who carry on a great cause. In the Babusha Forest Farm of Northwest China's Gansu province, the story of "six old men" across three generations combating desertification is praised as "contemporary Yu Gong". At the national level, modernizing a country with a huge population starting from a relatively weak foundation is a great mountain to conquer. China's successive five-year plans best embody the inheritance of the "Yu Gong spirit" of pursuing a distant goal from one generation to the next.

Throughout history, cases of stimulating economic growth, advancing science and education and promoting social prosperity through development strategies are not rare. But few have, like China, continuously formulated and implemented medium- and long-term plans that are deeply integrated with national governance and thereby steadily advance its modernization.

The first Five-Year Plan began on New Year's Day in 1953, when the new term appeared in a People's Daily editorial. Beyond planning itself and the proper combination of market and government roles, continuity is the bedrock of this system. Over more than 70 years, with only a brief interruption, 14 five-year plans have been implemented. Their core function is to anchor the overarching direction of modernization, coordinate long-term goals with phased tasks, make systematic arrangements, avoid deviations and gaps, and continuously upgrade the industrial system. Today, China has built the world's most complete modern industrial system, being the only country with all the industrial categories in the UN industrial classification system. It has ranked first globally in manufacturing value-added for consecutive years, and over the past decade it has contributed about 30 percent of world economic growth.

Behind China's transformation lies a plain truth: National strength is not a one-time explosion but the perseverance of long years, the measuring of every step on the ground. One step every five years, accumulating constantly, contributes to a much larger leap. As Xi has pointed out: "Using medium- and long-term plans to guide economic and social development is an important way of governance for our Party." From an impoverished agricultural country to the world's second-largest economy, Chinese modernization has no "secret key", but just "open cards". Behind the country's development achievements is a "single blueprint" continuously drawn up by successive generations, and the institutional factor condensed within it is a kind of "extra-economic logic".

Constancy in governance is a value esteemed by Chinese political philosophy. The mindset of taking a long view and maintaining strategic resolve runs through the CPC's governance practice. Some other countries do try to pursue long-termism, but often find it hard to see a single blueprint through to the end, as their governance is constrained by capital logic and electoral cycles — vote-oriented, term-limited and short-term gains-focused. This inevitably falls into structural difficulties of policy fragmentation, governance myopia and developmental ruptures. They are unable to tackle cross-cycle challenges, let alone put sustainable development on the policy agenda.

The CPC, having no special interests of its own beyond seeking happiness for the people and rejuvenation for the nation, exists for no other reason than to let the people live ever happier lives and the country grow ever stronger. This dictates that everything must be oriented toward the fundamental and long-term interests of the people and the country, leaving no room for short-term, opportunistic or overdraft-style governance. In a sense, the long-termist governance paradigm is a product of the political system's imperative, for a party in long-term power does not enjoy the luxury of shifting blame to others.

It is in this sense that China plans its goals on a centenary scale. The "Two Centenary Goals" are the timetable: the first — to complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects — was achieved by 2021, the centenary of the Party's founding; the second — to build China into a great modern socialist country in all respects — is set for 2049, the centenary of the founding of the People's Republic.

At a time when global transformations are accelerating and short-termism and populism flood the world's political stage, China's long-termist political philosophy is clearly invaluable as a governance model and as a paradigm for development.

The author is a chief researcher at the China Watch Institute, China Daily, and a senior research fellow at the Academy of Contemporary China and World Studies.

The views don't necessarily reflect those of Qiushi Journal.