Rewalking
In 1938, as war devastated China, nearly 300 students and 11 professors from Changsha Temporary University formed the Xiangqian-Yunnan Travel Group, trekking over 990 miles (1,600 km) to Kunming in 68 days. This grueling journey launched the legendary Southwest Associated University (SWU), yet it’s often overshadowed by tales of its renowned scholars. More than a wartime evacuation, it was a defiant act of Chinese intellectuals grounding themselves in their land and people—trading lecture halls for muddy trails to rebuild connections amid national crisis. Eight decades later, author Yang Xiao retraces this path, pushing back against our screen-reliant, fragmented understanding of history. Along the way, he explores the wartime social fabric of southwest China, interacts with local communities, and breathes life into the 1938 journey: walking in the scholars’ footsteps, feeling their doubts and resolve, and reexamining his own bond with his country. He also shares the post-war fates of the travel group members, who carried SWU’s spirit of "perseverance and resilience" into their lifelong work. This isn’t just a historical account; it’s a modern quest to find meaning in a fast-paced world, linking past courage to present purpose.