Some 40 experts proposed over the weekend that foreign experts and leaders be invited to retrace the historic Long March, in an effort to promote the 12,500-kilometer-long route's listing as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Foreign experts and leaders can help reevaluate the route according to international standards, Li Houqiang, professor with the Sichuan Academy of Social Sciences, said during a seminar, the Chengdu-based newssc.org reported Monday.

Yang Xiannong, a professor from the academy, argued that letting foreigners walk the route is the best way to make them know how hard the Communist Party and its leadership worked to survive and develop.

Yang used this argument to counter charges that the plan is impractical and meaningless.

After the Long March between 1934 and 1936, the Party's Red Army escaped from Kuomintang forces.

It was when Mao's leadership in the Party was consolidated.

"Its history is significant, and Mao's thoughts that emerged from the march are still a treasure worth learning," Yang told the Global Times.