On June 25, the Red Army’s Joint Forces Tower in Huining county of Baiyin, Northwest China’s Gansu province, greeted a special tourist. He is Eli, a young Uygur man who retraced the Long March, who has since been nicknamed “Brother Running” by internet spectators.

To usher in the 80th anniversary of the Red Army’s victorious Long March and celebrate the 93rd birthday of the Communist Party of China, Eli set out from Xinjiang on May 12, and arrived at the departure place of the Long March, Ruijin in Jiangxi province, on June 9.

From there he began retracing of the Long March by both taking vehicles and walking. In the end, he successfully reached Huining county, where the three major forces of the Red Army joined, after traveling through the provinces of Jiangxi, Guangdong, Guangxi, Yunnan, Guizhou, Sichuan, Gansu and more.

Eli poses in front of the Joint Forces Tower [Photo/gscn.com.cn]

Eli visited important Red Army sites in Huining, such as the memorial hall for the victory of the Long March; the meeting place of the Red Army; the headquarters of the first, second and fourth route armies; and the generals’ steles.

He also climbed the Join Forces Tower and imagined the grand sight of three major forces joining in Huining county. “After retracing the Long March, I am convinced that our happy lives are hard-earned and need to be cherished,” said Eli.

“Therefore, we need to maintain the harmonious unity of our nation, take a stand against separation movements, and work together to keep our homeland beautiful.”

Eli was born in Yining county, of the Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region, in September 1984. He calls himself a “peasant athlete with dreams.”

This isn’t his first feat—he’s already crossed the Taklimakan Desert, ran from Yecheng county of Xinjiang to Tibet and from Ili to Beijing, and walked 10,000 km around Hainan Island.

Edited by Noelle Mateer and Le Qin