Song of the Long March

I have only recently gotten into historical mangas, and this one blew me out of the water.
It's hard to believe the author is so young- the art is beautiful, the plot is perfectly complex, and the characters are intelligent, powerful, and flawed. This manga will go down as one of my all time favorites and I encourage anyone looking for a new heart-stopping read to pick this up immediately!

Chang Ge Xing / Choukakou / The Song of the Long March is a beautiful and sweeping manhua set in China during the Tang dynasty. It follows the life and movement of Li Chang Ge -- formerly Princess Yongning of the Tang dynasty -- in the wake of a coup de etat staged by her uncle that sees her family dead and results in a (failed) attempt on her own life.

Without spoiling too much, I will say that the manhua is a must-read for anyone with even a passing interest in history, and anyone who appreciates a well-written, strong female character. Li Chang Ge is highly intelligent, extremely cunning, but also scrupled and, in many cases, exceedingly loyal. She is not without flaws, of course; her "path" is a sad and lonely one of vengeance, and even for all that, she struggles to banish the emotions that path carries with it. And yes, romance fans -- although this is primarily a historical/political drama, there are romantic undertones that promise to play out a bit more in the future.

The art in this story is breathtaking and does an amazing job portraying a wide variety of characters and settings; conveying tone and feeling without having to be explicit about it. You will laugh, cry, and find yourself philosophizing as you read along. My only hang up with this story is that it's currenly on hiatus; I can only hope it gets picked back up soon.

Truly truly truly worth every second spent reading. It is a feast for the mind and the heart and the eyes.

Female lead gave me big Mulan-esque vibes and really elevated the manhua for me. She's quietly shrewd, cunning, and breaks alot of female tropes.

Male lead is masculine, straightforward and perhaps not as fleshed out as his female counterpart but he is completely likeable. His character arc (from baddie to goodie) is really endearing, believable and well-paced.

Art 10/10
Beautiful. It's incredibly clean.

Story 8/10
The ruling family is killed, this includes our main character's family. She manages to flee (because, as a girl, what threat can she pose to the throne...right?). She swears revenge but for now she's on the run and this means she's got to adapt to a whole range of new lives and new identities. Part of the charm is following her journey as she meets new characters that each play their bit the maturation of her character and progression towards her goal. There's also a lot of war/tactics-type dialogue that doesn't overpower the plot and is easy to follow.

Romance 10/10
The romance here is slow to develop and quite subtle - might leave many readers wondering if there are any feelings at all but by the last few chapters I think the love interest is pretty canon. Also no love triangles or any drama here.

NOTE: The manga is on hiatus (because of legal issues between publisher v mangaka) so the frustrating part is: just where the romance is finally blossoming the chapters have stopped.


Recommendations
If you like this you'll DEFINITELY like Feng Nong's light novel which you can read here: http://moonbunnycafe.com/a-lonesome-fragrance-waiting-to-be-appreciated/.
Characters & story are extremely similar - but light novel is more dramatic and, most importantly, completed.

I love this manhua so much for so many reasons!

First: I love the historical genre! You learn so much about Chinese history and the ancient Chinese culture which I find so fascinating!

Second: I love the plot! It grabs you and pulls you in at the very beginning, and leaves you at the edge of your seat through out the story with very little to no boring stretches.

Third: Out of all the manga/manhwa/manhua I have read I think that this one probably has the most beautiful art in my opinion. Each character is unique, and the author puts so much detail into the characters, the buildings, the background, everything!

I could go on and on about Song of the Long March, but I'll just comment on one more thing, my favorite thing about it. The characters. They are realistic. Each and every one of them have unique personalities. Chang Ge is so strong in many ways, but she has her weaknesses too. She struggles and has to fight her way through both outside and inner challenges. Like every human being out there, she makes mistakes. She is not a perfect person with no flaws. I absolutely love how she slowly grows up and matures over time as she begins to understand, bit by tiny bit, what life is really all about and what is truly important. She is indeed and amazing character!

As I said, I could go on and on about this manhua. I love it so much! It is definitely in my top three! 10/10

Finally, a manga (manhua, technically) with an actually strong woman protagonist. Not just an undercover reverse harem where the heroine's main power is to stumble into powerful soon-to-be allies that are coincidentally mostly of the bishounen type. No, this main character can fend for herself, both with her wits and in combat. Well, regrettably the direct combat ability is only used at the start and only the cunning genius and stragegic mind get the full attention instead, but point is, the heroine is charismatic and capable, not a self-insert to build an army around.

The art is pretty and clean, pleasant to the eye. It depicts the historical setting faithfully and is well used to emphasize both the action and the drama.

The story itself is engaging with mixture of various characters and places that keep you not bored. All the actions and relationships are slowly being woven together to create the continuation of the story that builds on itself and pays off to the reader. Sadly, this format of storytelling is also currently the biggest "weaknes" of Song of the Long March.

The manga is currently on the hiatus - and it doesn't seem to be getting back in business anywhere soon. And well, most of the chapters released to the date are pretty much "just" a prelude. The first shot on the billiard table of a storytelling that sends the characters on their first adventures, to find one's feet, make contacts and prepare for the first major boogaloo. The thing is - the boogaloo started to unfolt in it's full glory only in the recent chapters. What we currently have is not bad as any mean, but it critically lacks the continuation of the story that we might never get. It's as if The Lord of The Rings ended up after first 20 minutes of The Two Towers. And regretfully, I have to rate this for what it is, not for what this could be. So while this has the potential to deserve all those 10/10 ratings, it hasn't gotten to that point yet.

If you are searching for your next favorite try Song of the Long March, it is an intelligent tale of revenge and survival after a political coup set in historical China.

Song of the Long March ( aka Chouka kou) is Not your average manga or rather manhua.

Li Change is the daughter of the emperor and is raised in a way to cultivate her intelligence rather than her beauty. When her family is assassinated in a political coup by another family member, she escapes and disappears while allowing her death to be faked so that she can plan revenge. This is a gender bender and she lives as a boy. This is the story of Change's journey.

The art is first rate. The female mc is very smart and strong but she is real and not superhuman, she sometimes fails. That also leads to another great thing about this story, a great plot with a story that you really are excited to read the next chapter, a plot done with realism where you don't know exactly what will happen next. The characters do not fall into stereotypes of either reverse harems or buxom chicks, they have good and bad sides to them and personalities. There are no purely evil or good characters in this but multifaceted human beings.

This is well translated, and unlike many manhuas is not confusing and you can actually even pronounce the names and remember them. A great selling point of this is that the Military strategy comes alive and is not boring in this too.

There are lots of historical groups featured that are vying for power and land in tribal conflicts to spice things up.

Yes this manhua is a 10 and you will not be disappointed.

It is not yet completed or completed in translation so I cannot review the ending.

I really hope that more people will notice this and read it as right now it is not getting the attention it deserves.
Male and female readers alike will enjoy this seinen.

reviewed by inzaratha for reviews for the unreviewed.

I would recommend this manhua to anyone who is looking for a story with a non-traditional “strong” female protagonist, evolving characters, a realistic plot, and a slow-burn romance that isn’t just shoved in your face.

Currently my favourite manhua which is surprising as I have a tendency to steer away from stories with female protagonists due to the way that they are often treated in these types of stories.

Song of the Long March is a story about a young princess, Yongning, whose family has been killed during a coup. The princess disguises herself through crossdressing to escape notice. Unlike in many series, the crossdressing becomes an important feature in the story, rather than just being used for comedic purposes.

Yongning is never treated as being lesser than men by the author and is often seen as being superior in both strategy and strength (even after her gender is revealed). Despite this, the author does not do what many crossdressing series do and treat the character as if she were merely another male character. The author often touches on themes such as princess Yongning going through puberty.

The manhua isn’t very romance oriented, but when it does appear, it is very natural and is entwined with the plot rather than just being an add-on.
Further, unlike many stories, princess Yongning is given the chance to form relationships with other strong female characters, rather than being limited to only interacting with male characters, or only having surface-level relationships.

Regarding the plot, the story is largely realistic, dealing with many themes such as revenge, friendship, romance, and death. This is not the type of story where the protagonist always succeeds in their endeavours, although it might seem like this at first glance. It is also not a typical story where all the protagonist’s problems can be solved with “friendship” and “loyalty.” Yongning faces her share of failures throughout the story and learns from them.

Truly a great manhua and, unlike many that I have read, I can truly say that I’m glad I decided to pick this one up.

When i first read that this comic is similar to akatsuki no yona i was a bit afraid but later i realized that my fear was unfounded.
The premise is indeed the same.
The king is killed from a family memeber who then takes the throne while the princess runs away and gets on an interessting journey.
This really showed me how irrelevant the premise is.
Yona is a pice of garbage while this one is one of the best adventures i know.
Its like you have two writers, a smart one and a retard and you tell both of them to write a story about a strong female princess who flees and perhaps will take her country back.
In AnY the princess is a dumb spoiled brat who is described as strong but in reality is just the "choosen" one and so on.
In Song of the long march we actually have a strong female lead who isnt only described as such but really acts in this manner.

The artstyle is also great, it is mellow and elegant.
The beautiful artstyle was really the reason i started SotlM

of course its not perfect, for example the speed in which li gets the trust of new people is really unrealistic
its also not believable that noone notices that shes not a guy
only because she wears her hair different


but i like that we see what she does in warfare
in other anime or manga its often not shown, only statet
take code geass, we dont see a real military decision by lelouch we are just beeing told that he is a genius and won and that he is got in chess

Song of the Long March contains:
-A strong female lead who does things her way. She is smart and has not even a bit of weakness making herself strong, making it enjoyable to watch her journey running away from those after her.
-The side character does not pale against the main character either with each side character with their own characteristics and goal as they cross paths with the female lead.
- The story takes place in the historical era of China and is a twist of the runway princess that is wanted dead. Have the female rather than, in hiding, make her own path. A story that keep you at the edge of your seat every time she finds herself in a predicament.
-Artwork is breathtaking with detail not forgotten in each panel of the Manhua and an art style that fit the era the story takes place.

-This Manhua does not disappoint -