Sun Hua: History will never forget

Webinar in Commemoration of Agnes Smedley Speech Ⅶ
2022 marks the 130th birthday of Agnes Smedley, an old friend of Chinese people. On November 8, the Webinar in Commemoration of Agnes Smedley’s 130th Birthday was held to highlight Smedley’s contribution to Chinese Revolution and promote people-to-people friendship between China and U.S.A., by Beijing People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, China Society for People’s Friendship Studies and other organizations. Today's post is director of China Center for Edgar Snow Studies, Mr. Sun Hua's speech on the webinar.

In Memory of Agnes Smedley, a Friend of the Chinese People

Dear Friends,

First of all, I would like to extend, on behalf of the China Center for Edgar Snow Studies of Peking University, hearty congratulations on the convening of the Webinar in Commemoration of the 130th Anniversary of the Birthday of Agnes Smedley. Also, I would like to extend my gratitude to Beijing People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, China Society for People’s Friendship Studies, China Center for Edgar Snow Studies of Peking University, the Edgar Snow Newsroom by China Daily, and Arizona State University in the US for co-holding this event. As Mr. He just said, it is of unusual significance for us to commemorate the 130th Anniversary of the Birthday of Agnes Smedley when the 20th National Congress of the CPC was just successfully held, because Ms. Smedley was so deeply connected both historically and emotionally with the CPC and many revolutionary figures then.

Documentary writing on the revolutions in China by Agnes Smedley received huge responses in the Western World, offering a western angle of the Chinese Revolution comprehensively and in-depth. In the troubled years amidst the flames of war, a group of western journalists, with representations of Edgar Snow, Agnes Smedley, and Anna Louise Strong, either closely connected themselves with CPC members and the Chinese people or witnessed critical moments in the Chinese revolutions themselves. In a fine and realistic manner, they recorded heroic undertakings and touching history of the revolutions with great passion and their unique points of view. In five related English works published lately in Shanghai, we can see how these Western journalists who experienced the growth of Chinese communism corrected the misunderstandings and prejudices of the rest of the world on China with their real, personal experiences. Also, by showing the world the unknown side of socialist China, they helped to change the global climate of opinion for the Chinese Revolution. Like Agnes Smedley, many US journalists witnessed or experienced many of the historic moments in the Chinese Revolution, including the Northern Expedition (1926 – 1928), the Long March (1934 – 1935), the Xi’an Incident (1936), and the years when CPC Central Committee was in Yan’an. Passionately and keenly, they wrote in pursuit of the truth and with unrestrained and exquisite language. Their works conveyed the arduous efforts in the Chinese Revolution and depicted romantic leading figures and various plain and honest soldiers and people vividly and unforgettably. Through these works, the journalists reported precisely and realistically both the legendary feats and true everyday stories during the Revolution to the outside world, breaking biased ideas in the Western World and telling the epic deeds of CPC members. Their efforts won sympathy and support from the world, which was essential for CPC’s final success and had profound and long-lasting historical influence.

From the address by Chairman Mr. Liu Jian, we can feel deeply that Smedley’s words, like an unrolling scroll of magnificence, narrated Zhu De’s life, depicted his graphical image, and revived the immersive scenes honestly, vividly, and touchingly. We are thus able to know Zhu De with comprehensive details through stories with ups and downs. Even in her last moments, Smedley was concerned with the development in China. Her friendship with Commander Zhu is a manifestation of her love for the Chinese people and her pursuit of the progress of mankind.

Chairman Mr. Michael Crook also talked about Smedley’s relationship with “Gung Ho”. In a letter to the International Committee for the Promotion of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives and Beijing Bailie University, General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed that the ICCIC, initiated and founded by Rewi Alley, Soong Ching-ling, Edgar Snow, et al., had made great contributions to the Chinese Revolution and the cause of socialism. Today, through this Webinar and Exhibition by friendly institutions and colleges in China and the US, we are implementing what General Secretary Xi Jinping stressed in the letter: to promote and carry on the “Gung Ho” spirit of “working hard and working together” defined by Rewi Alley in international exchanges between cultures and new chapters of international friendships so that new contributions can be made to facilitate universal peace and development as well as the building of a community of mankind with shared future. From the address by Vice Curator Ms. Jiang Yixin of Beijing Luxun Museum, we can also have this feeling: the friendship between Lu Xun and Smedley was built on the basis of a shared objective, which is to fight shoulder to shoulder for the liberation of the Chinese nation and the national awareness of the public. Their friendship is vital proof of China-foreign cultural communication and the strives of all pioneers, both at home and abroad, for the liberation of mankind.

The names that we all remember have always been pivotal to the platform of people-to-people and cultural exchanges because history will never forget those who contribute to the peace and friendship of mankind. This is also why we need inheritance and innovation in the events. Here, we need to express our special gratitude to Professor Stephen R. MacKinnon from Arizona State University and University Librarian & Professor James Joseph O'Donnell. The exhibition, focused on Agnes Smedley’s life and planned by Arizona State University, tells the world about that special period in Chinese history and informs more people in Shanghai, Xi’an, Chengdu, and Beijing about Smedley. It thus strengthens the mutual understanding and friendship between our two peoples. The audience is encouraged by the informative exhibition to review the eventful years, reflect on the past in the light of the present, and commemorate the glorious achievements made by numerous martyrs with their blood and lives. Just like the comment made by Erik Nilsson, one of the founding members of the Edgar Snow Newsroom of China Daily, the stories of peace and prosperity in China that he covers are a result of the strives by the predecessors in the age of poverty and wars. Today, Erik Nilsson places his emphasis on covering how the visions of Ms. Smedley and the CPC have become the reality. Ms. Smedley’s legacy will be passed on and serve as a beacon light from the past for the present and our shared future.

As the future belongs to the youth, the pioneer in the liberation of mind, their values will navigate the development of the future society. When guiding us in “A Revolutionary Life: Agnes Smedley”, Liu Yizhou and other students from the School of Foreign Languages North West University integrated the shared memories and spirits of people with different identities, professions, and nationalities and formed a great force that moves people in the present time and links up the world with power from the past. Faced with great changes across the world, we are to revive the glory days of the Chinese Revolution. In another word, we should take history as a mirror and draw lessons for the future. By learning from the struggles of the CPC during the past century, we need to understand how we made it and how we can remain to be successful. Only with the socialist gene in our blood and the flag of belief raised high in the air can we talk and communicate in the international arena with full confidence.

Edgar Snow, Agnes Smedley, and Anna Louise Strong, among many of their peer journalists, arrived at Northern Shaanxi in China over 80 years ago and reported what they saw, heard, and thought honestly to the whole world. They displayed respectable professional spirit and ethics and devoted themselves to enhancing the mutual understanding between the Chinese and American peoples. Even today, they are memorized by the Chinese people. Telling the stories of China-US friendship well and displaying the real China on all fronts are historic contributions by international friends like Smedley and also our responsibility. Today, China needs a more thorough understanding of the world, while the world needs to know China better. In the end, I would like to appreciate again the efforts of the Beijing People’s Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries that brought us together through this event. This exhibition is expected to fortify the bridge for cultural communication between China and the US. Let’s write a new chapter of international friendship together with concerted efforts.