Two years after his pioneer trek to retrace the arduous Long March route as the first foreigner, Briton historian Ed Jocelyn, 37, will again hit the road to slog through the tough terrains of China.

On November 13, Jocelyn departed Beijing for Liujiaping, a village in Sangzhi County, Hunan Province, from where he will embark on his second expedition, on foot, with his Chinese partner Yang Xiao of the same age.

Naming their trek the New Long March 2, the pair plan this time to follow the route of the Red Second Front Army, which is different from the route of the Red First Front Army led by Mao Zedong, Jocelyn previously covered. Both are expected to walk about 5,000 kilometers before they finally reach the destination, Jiangtai Xiang, in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region on October 22, 2006, the day which marks the 70th anniversary of the completion of the Long March.

As they claimed before their departure, the purposes of the venturous expedition are to collect the first-hand information about the less researched march by the Red Second Front Army from the aged surviving soldiers, promote "outdoor adventure" lifestyle and environmental protection awareness among hikers and expand Chinese culture and history.

But for Jocelyn, who himself has a PhD in history; the prospect of gathering vivid materials from the trek for his history study is the main fascination. "We found that the Long March most people talked about is the one by the First Front, which overshadows the Second Front's march, which is also a very crucial part of the Long March as a whole," said Jocelyn.

In 2003, Jocelyn and Andrew McEwen surprised the world to become the first foreigners to retrace the Long March route in 384 days. The first expedition began on October 16, 2002 in Yudu, Jiangxi Province and ended at Wuqi County, Shaanxi Province on November 3, 2003.

They estimated that the length is actually shorter than the figure of 12,500 kilometers widely known by the people. The two men talked to 10 veteran soldiers of the Long March. Their experiences throughout the trek were later published in a book named Red Road:384 days on the trail of the Long March.

Having drawn on experiences from the previous trek, both adopted a realistic and confident attitude towards the upcoming expedition. "We have decided to limit the luggage weight to below 25 kilograms each and we'll be flexible with the schedule putting the safety first," said Yang, who teamed up this time with Jocelyn from the previous role as a trainer and equipment consultant.

Meanwhile, they have also prepared themselves with a thorough knowledge about the Second Front's route as they have interviewed eight veterans from the Second Front Army already. "We hope to find veteran soldiers on this trek. Of course, we may not find any either. But we've got to be quick to get there for the first-hand materials," said Jocelyn.

(China Daily November 21, 2005)