NPR profiles the daughter of a Red Army officer, who traced his steps on the Long March to understand his experience:

It wasn’t until she went on her own long march, where she talked to people and farmers along the trail, that she could understand the commitment of her father, who came from a rich family and dropped out of college to join the revolution.

“It was shocking to me,” Zhang says. “It’s sort of like finding yourself, [your] identity.”

Through her father’s diaries and letters over the last few years, Zhang has pieced together his journey in order to retrace his footsteps.

But her own march hasn’t been easy.