Edgar Snow’s Bond with Peking University
Guangming Daily  ( May 20, 2018, 12th page )


Red Star Over China [US] By Edgar Snow Translated by Dong Leshan, People’s Literature Publishing House


Edgar Snow with Mao Zedong (file photo)


Edgar Snow and his wife (file photo)


Edgar Snow (file photo)

[Reader’s words]

2018 marks the 80th anniversary of the publishing of the book Red Star Over China by American journalist Edgar Snow. 3 million copies of Dong Leshan’s translation version had been sold after it was published by People’s Literature Publishing House over a year ago. Such a good result is the best memory of Edgar Snow.

Snow was devoted to promoting Chinese culture and improving China-US relations all his life, forging an indissoluble bond with Peking University. In early 1934, Snow was invited to be a lecturer in the Department of Journalism, Yenching University (today’s PKU campus). His journalism course was very popular among students. As he started to work at Yenching University, he asked Xiao Qian, who was studying at the Department of Journalism at that time, to join him in translating and editing a collection of modern Chinese short stories Living China. They told stories about what was going on in China to the West through these novels. Snow cared very much about China’s well-being, and supported and protected with enthusiasm the patriotism of the students. His home was also frequented by many patriotic and progressive students. Following Snow’s suggestion, Student Self-Government Association of Yenching University held a press conference for foreign journalists, in which the students demonstrated the great significance of the December 9th Movement to the West. At the end of October 1936, after returning to Peiping from the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region, Snow enthusiastically shared his experience in northern Shaanxi with the young students of Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Yenching University. In Lin Hu Xuan at Peking University, he played the footages and slides he took that reflected the life in the Soviet area, and showed photos. Thanks to him, youngsters in the Kuomintang-controlled areas saw the images of the Red Army leaders such as Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai, and Peng Dehuai, knowing “China under the Red Flag”. In Yan Garden, Snow completed the writing of Red Star Over China.

After the founding of the PRC, Snow came to Beijing in June 1960, and came to Peking University to meet teachers, students and old friends. He stayed for 5 months. In his book The Other Side of the River published in 1963, he wrote: “National Peking University used to be the most important, as it cultivated the most important founders of the CPC. Today, Peking University is a place that attracts ambitious students and graduate researchers in art and science.” In 1964, Snow visited China again, returned to Yan Garden to meet professors and the students. Thanks to his special bond with Peking University, he built profound friendship with teachers and students there. On October 19, 1973, some of Edgar Snow’s ashes were buried by the Weiming Lake at Peking University, as he wished during his lifetime: “I love China. I would like a part of me to remain there after death, like it always did during life.”

On March 4, 1993, China Center for Edgar Snow Studies was established at Peking University. It started to systematically organize the symposiums and commemorations for the studies and introduction of Edgar Snow and other international friends, publish papers and books on the studies of them, conduct friendly exchanges and communications with relevant institutions, organizations and people in the United States and other countries. In recent years, the Center has successfully hosted “Communicating Across Cultures: In Commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the birth of the American Journalist Edgar Snow” International Symposium, the International Symposium Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the birth of Helen Foster Snow, the International Symposium Commemorating the 15th Anniversary of the Establishment of China Center for Edgar Snow Studies & 70th Anniversary of the Publishing of Red Star Over China, and the Conference Commemorating the 40th Anniversary of Edgar Snow’s Death. What’s more, the Center has published many high-quality academic papers. The biennial Edgar Snow Symposium is the most influential among all the commemorative activities. It is held alternately in the United States and China. All eight symposiums held in China were organized by Peking University.

In October this year, the 18th Edgar Snow Symposium will be held in Snow’s home city Kansas City. With the story of Snow’s bond with China attracting the participation of more and more American friends, the theme of the symposium has extended from commemorating Snow to many areas such as education, medical care, and enterprise cooperation. For instance, the 15th Biennial Edgar Snow Symposium People-to-People Exchange: Innovation, Friendship, Harmony included four parallel sessions, namely, China-US higher education cooperation and strategic opportunities, innovation and international cooperation of small and medium-sized enterprises, water pollution control and green economy, and value and result-oriented research of TCM. Yan’an City, Shaanxi Province, China and Snow’s home city Kansas City, Missouri, USA announced the establishment of a sister city relation, and Edgar Snow Memorial Foundation launched the Edgar Snow doctor internship program and the implementation of the US-China Music Exchange Program.

To better familiarize the college students with the contribution of international friends to China’s revolution and development, Peking University offered a selective course for students majoring in Journalism Seminars by Veteran Journalists based on the Edgar Snow studies, inviting the children and grandchildren of international friends to host lectures on the historical role of well-known international friends. These lectures helped students learn to use the theory of journalism to conduct observation and analysis, develop their interest in the study of international friends, and improve their journalistic attainment. The students interviewed well-known international friends and their children, and edited and published the Chinese and English versions of Fulfilling Dream in China: Record of China-U.S. People-to-People Exchange, showing that Americans can realize their dreams in China by telling the stories of 20 Americans. When interviewed by the students, William Brown said: “I never thought that I could live such a happy life in China.” Jeffrey Lehman said: “Working in China feels like home.” John Thornton said: “I have spent more and more time in China in the past 10 years. If I can have a positive impact on both sides, it will constitute an ideal cause.” Mark Levine said: “Don’t think the Chinese dream is only a matter for the Chinese people. I have a Chinese heart, and of course I have a Chinese dream.”

“Amity between the people holds the key to state-to-state relations.” To tell the stories of China, it is important to promote personnel exchanges among different civilizations, youth exchanges in particular. Peking University has cooperated with American universities in hosting commemorative events and academic activities in memory of international friends with greater participation of university students. These events and activities have enabled youngsters to play a major role in non-governmental diplomacy and people-to-people exchanges. In 2011, a student art troupe from Southern Utah University at Helen Foster Snow’s hometown performed a massive song and dance drama The Dream of Helen Foster Snow in Wuhan. In 2014, the China-West Exchange Concert was held in the Peking University Hall. An outstanding performance was presented by the Orchestra of Southern Utah from Helen Foster Snow’s home state, and Peking University’s Yuanpei College, School of Arts, and Chinese Music Institute, displaying Chinese and western musical elements.

The People’s Literature Publishing House also launched a youth edition of Red Star Over China. It is a remarkable move, because the values of young people represent the future of social development. It is hoped that the book Red Star Over China can still play an important role in shaping the values of young people in the future. Back then, countless enthusiastic young people rushed to Yan’an after reading this book. American historian David Lattimore said: “Only those who were in China could reflect on the impact of Snow’s Red Star Over China. At a time when people feel politically depressed, Edgar Snow’s Red Star Over China is like a flame shooting to the sky, breaking the dark night…”

Snow’s Red Star Over China not only affected a generation of Chinese people, prompting a large number of patriotic youths to go to Yan’an and embark on the revolutionary path, but also attracted Henry Norman Bethune, Dwarkanath S. Kotnis among other anti-fascist warriors who came all the way to China to support the Chinese people in their fight against the Japanese invaders. Bethune once wrote to his friends: “If you ask me why I went to China, please read Edgar Snow’s Red Star Over China, then you’d share what I think.”

80 years ago, American journalist Edgar Snow rose above the cultural and ideological differences and told the story of the real situation in China to the world. In particular, his book Red Star Over China told the truth to the rest of the world about the revolutionary base led by the CPC. In 1938, Mao Zedong expressed his comments and appreciation of Snow in an interview with a German journalist: “When we were forgotten by the whole world, Snow was the only one to come here, get to know us and tell the outside what was going on here. So we will always remember his great help to China.”

Eighty years ago Edgar Snow explained to the world what was really happening in China and focused the world’s attention on the country, and there is an event greater need to do this again now, in order to explain China’s goal of peaceful development to the world and turn even more friendly attention toward it. Different countries and different people have held different view of China at different times. Today’s China should be more open-minded and strive to create an objective and rational view of China’s development and its international role. More and more foreigners are arriving in China all the time, and they view socialist China from their own perspective, which is totally normal. As long as people-to-people exchanges are carried out in a spirit of inclusiveness, promote peaceful coexistence and mutual respect for different cultures, enhance friendships between the peoples of different countries via cultural exchanges to social progress, and safeguard world peace, then relations between cultures will be harmonious and mutually reinforcing.

( Sun Hua, Director of China Center for Edgar Snow Studies, Secretary of the CPC Committee of Yuanpei College, Peking University )