Campaign still motivates Chinese eight decades on

In summer, tall crops such as sorghum and corn grow densely in northern China, appearing like a green curtain when seen together.

It was in the peak season of the "green curtain" in 1940 that red signal flares from deep within the Taihang Mountains pierced the night sky and Eighth Route Army soldiers charged toward the Zhengding-Taiyuan Railway, marking the launch of the Hundred-Regiment Campaign.

From Aug 20, 1940, to Jan 24,1941, the campaign was the largest and longest strategic offensive launched and led by the Communist Party of China during the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45).