1936年7月，红四方面军31军93师274团8连（今该旅4连）和兄弟部队开始第3次穿越草地。刚进入草地没多久，战士们就陷入了断粮的困境，只好挖野菜、嚼草根，有的战士想到了吃牛皮腰带。

In July 1936, soldiers in the 8th Company, the 274 Regiment,the 93rd Division, the 31st Army of the Red Fourth Front Army (now the 4th Company of this Brigade) and their fraternal forces began to cross the marshy grassland for the third time. However, not long after entering the grassland, the soldiers fell into the predicament of running out of food, and thus they had to dig wild vegetables and chew grass roots. Some soldiers even thought of eating cowhide belts to tackle this problem.

当班里其他6名战友的皮带都吃完后，年仅14岁的战士周广才不得不把自己的皮带拿出来。看着心爱的皮带被割掉一段，切成一根根皮带丝漂在稀溜溜的汤水里，周广才攥紧剩下的半截皮带，眼含热泪对战友说：“我不吃了！同志们，我们把它留作纪念吧，带着它去延安见毛主席！”就这样，大家怀着对革命胜利的憧憬，忍饥挨饿，将这剩下的半截皮带保留下来。

After the belts of the other six soldiers in the class were all eaten, Zhou Guangcai, a 14-year-old soldier, had to take out his belt. Seeing a section of his beloved belt being cut off into pieces and floating in the watery soup, Zhou Guangcai clenched the remaining half of the belt tightly and said to his comrades with tears: "I'm not going to eat it! Comrades, let's save it as a commemoration, and take it to Yan'an to meet Chairman Mao!" In this way, with the longing for the victory of the revolution, everyone endured hunger and kept the remaining half of the belt.

在随后的长征路上，周广才的6位同班战友相继牺牲，只有他随红四方面军到达了延安。周广才在皮带的背面烫上“长征记”3个字，并用红绸子包裹起来，纪念那段峥嵘岁月。

On the ensuing Long March, Zhou Guangcai's six fellow comrades in the same class died one after another, and only he arrived in Yan'an with the Red Fourth Front Army. He burnt these words "Long March" on the back of the remaining belt and wrapped it in red silk to commemorate the memorable years.