BEIJING – Two British adventurers who retraced the steps of Chairman Mao’s Long March have come under attack for claiming the Red Army’s trek was not nearly as long as previously thought.

Ed Jocelyn and Andy McEwen hiked across China’s most remote places in a tribute to those whose escape from their nationalist enemies in China’s civil war in 1935 is the founding legend of the Communist Party.

Their year-long trip was originally met with enthusiasm by local press, which has since responded following the publication of their book last month.

“The length of the Long March may mean nothing to two young foreigners, but not to Chinese people,” wrote the Beijing Daily.

“The 25,000 li of the Red Army’s Long March are a historic fact, and not open to doubt.”

The figure of 25,000 li (about 8,000 miles) was Mao’s verdict, given to his sympathetic American biographer Edgar Snow.

Messrs. Jocelyn and McEwen, a historian and a journalist who both live in China, took note of the original route, measuring out the distances they covered daily.

“I knew from the start the Long March wasn’t 25,000 li,” Mr. McEwen wrote. “By Mao’s own maths every single one of the 267 days the Reds were on the march they walked an average of 29 miles. I knew that was impossible.”

The “official version” says the marchers did not move in a straight line but had to double back to fight battles and escape their attackers.