Surviving the Long March
Witness History

Surviving the Long March

B2Upper-intermediateSeptember 7, 20269 min
  • Documentary
  • History

In 1935, tens of thousands who had followed Mao Zedong on the Long March across China struggled to survive. They were fleeing Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalist forces during the country's civil war. Zhong Ming was one of them. In 2014, a year before his death, he spoke to the late Edward Stourton about his experience. Witness History is a short BBC World Service podcast about history that takes you inside big moments from the past through first-hand testimony and archive. Each weekday, in around nine minutes, we revisit one moment that helped shape the world and hear it...

Play episode

Opens the player: the full transcript, every word clickable, with translation and flashcards.

Try it: tap any word

Real sentences from the start of this episode. Every word is marked with its level.

Sentence 7 of 12 · 1:01

We look at a moment in history told by the people who were there.

.

New 9 minute episodes drop every weekday, so if that sounds like your thing, hit subscribe

Hear this sentence

Tap a word to see its meaning in your language.

Do you know these words?

8 harder words from this episode. Tap one to see what it means, then mark it.

  • B21:01

    Tap for the meaning

  • B21:23

    Tap for the meaning

  • C13:11

    Tap for the meaning

  • B24:55

    Tap for the meaning

  • C15:28

    Tap for the meaning

  • C17:32

    Tap for the meaning

  • B28:17

    Tap for the meaning

  • B29:51

    Tap for the meaning

Mark a few words and we'll tell you how this episode fits your level.

Is this episode right for you?

B2

B2 · Upper-intermediate

Comfortable if you already follow TV news

A1 34%A2 47%B1 14%B2 5%C1 0%
  • 95% of the words are B1 or easier.
  • 145 words a minute: a natural pace.
  • 50 harder words (B2 and up) in the whole episode.

Transcript

The opening of the episode. The whole transcript is in the player.

0:00

This BBC podcast is supported by ads outside the UK. Hello, welcome to Witness History. Now if this is one of your favorite podcasts already, you can skip ahead a little bit. But if you're listening for the very first time, welcome.

0:55

I want to tell you a bit more about us. We look at a moment in history told by the people who were there. We use incredible archive and hear amazing stories. New 9 minute episodes drop every weekday, so if that sounds like your thing, hit subscribe

1:10

wherever you get your BBC podcasts and turn on your notifications so you never miss an episode. But for now, let's get to the story. Today we take you back more than 9 decades to the Chinese Civil War, when Mao Zedong

That was the opening. The rest of the episode (8 min) is in the player: every word clickable, with translation, saved words and flashcards.

Continue in the player

Automatically generated from the audio. May contain errors. Audio belongs to its publisher and is played from their feed. Rights holders can request removal — copyright & takedown policy