Grasslands

The Grasslands, strangest part of The Long March: "Next, they had to cross over the grasslands. It was a five to seven day journey across an inland Sargasso Sea, which lies on the eleven-thousand-foot plateau between the watersheds of the Yangzi and Yellow Rivers. It looks innocent, but it was a deadly trap for the unwary. It was covered with flowers but beneath the flowers lurked bogs that could swallow a man in a minute. Also, there were no people, no food, and no firewood to cook. The temperatures were just above freezing. The grass roots shifted with each step. The muck was not only slippery, it was like glue. Once in it, you sank deeper and deeper. The more you struggled, the faster you went down. Once they found a pig and ate it. The following troops ate the pigskin left by the leading troops. Mao lost more men the in the Grasslands than in the Snowies."
www.paulnoll.com/China/Long-March/Long-March-history-07...

The Long March: During 1934-5 the Chinese Communist Army completed one of the longest and most arduous forced marches in history, 6000 miles. Their path led from southeast China, west to China's most mountainous and rugged regions, then north and east to what became their base near Yenan. Along the way the soldiers continually battled opposing military and difficult conditions. Initially a retreat, the march became a consolidation and training-ground for what was to become the Red Army of modern China.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_March