Edward Stourton opened his three-part examination (26 February-12 March) of the most significant event in modern Chinese history poised halfway between the old China and the new. In fact, his account of the Red Army’s 8,000-mile escape from the avenging forces of Chiang Kai-shek – now about to ­celebrate its eightieth anniversary – began on the steps of the landing stage from which Mao’s troops had disembarked: one bank of the river offered a skyline full of half-completed skyscrapers; the other a more conventional vista of foliage and distant blue horizons.Although a small matter of 86,000 men had followed the Chinese Communist Party’s flag, it was clear from the outset that what had happened in the course of the journey was much less important than the