Chapter 17 Appendix 1 The Spectacles of the West: 70 Years of Western Writings on the Red Army’s Long March

American Edgar Snow, the author of "Red Star Shines on China", came to Yan'an after a while—it was more difficult than going to Tibet at the time. Here, he seems to have found a utopian place without opium smoking, prostitution, and corruption. , child drowning, child abuse, etc., and there are no unemployed and beggars. These phenomena are all evils that Westerners think can be found everywhere in China. There is no tense battlefield. life of hope.Snow's "discovery" caused a moderate shock in the West.Westerners read his "Red Star Shines Over China" like a utopian novel.What moves people is not only the "miracle" of that unknown area, but also the person who created the miracle.Snow's Mao Zedong is reminiscent of Bai Jin's Kangxi (Bai Jin is a French missionary, Kangxi's teacher, who once wrote "The Biography of Emperor Kangxi"), perfect, not only a scholar, a philosopher, but also a political and military leader. leader.

Edgar Snow's trip was the beginning of a series of Westerners' "pilgrimage" to Red China.These "pilgrims", ranging from journalists and writers to soldiers and politicians, visited the Red Revolutionary Areas of China from 1936 to 1945.In their writings, the revolutionary zone in northern Shaanxi has almost a common feature, like a political utopia, as Holdo Hansen (the Associated Press correspondent in China in the 1930s) said, "a Plato Replica of Utopia". 1. "The Hand of the Gods" [English] R.A. Busart Written by a Red Army prisoner and published in England with a religiously titled book, it was the first to introduce the Chinese Long March to the Western world.As the unique Long March writing written by foreigners who directly witnessed the Long March, it is of great value.It truly records the story of the Red Army.It is an important original material for the study of the history of the Red Army's Long March, and it provides supporting evidence for some major activities and specific times of the Red Sixth Army and the Red Second Front Army from October 1934 to April 1936.

2. "Red Star Shines on China" (Chinese translation of "Westward Journey") [US] Edgar Snow In June 1936, Snow came to northern Shaanxi just after the Red Army's Long March. He conducted extensive first-hand interviews with revolutionary leaders and Red Army generals, and ordinary Red Army commanders and fighters. The Long March of the Red Army of Workers and Peasants.Snow hailed the Long March as "an epic expedition unparalleled in our time."After the publication of this book, it has had a wide and sensational influence in the world. It has been translated into more than ten languages ​​and has become one of the best-selling books in the world. In February 1938, the translated version of the book was renamed "Westward Journey" and published, which caused a sensation.Mao Zedong once commented that "A Journey to the West" was one of the most successful works by foreigners reporting on the Chinese revolution.

3. "The Great Road" [USA] Agnes Smedley In 1937, the author came to northern Shaanxi in person and interviewed Mao Zedong, Zhu De and many other leaders of the Communist Party of China and other Red Army generals.In the chapter "Long March" in the book, it describes the story of the Red Army on the Long March in detail, and also describes the lives of Mao Zedong, Zhu De and other leaders in detail, and finally believes that "the Long March is a great epic in the history of revolutionary wars." 4. "The Long March - Stories Unheard Before" [USA] Harrison Salisbury

The author conducted interviews with survivors who participated in the Long March, ranging from important leaders and senior generals of the party, down to Red Army soldiers, and some ordinary people who knew about it.In order to understand this period of history more objectively and in detail, we also interviewed relevant experts in the study of the history of the Communist Party of China and the military, and carefully consulted the archives, documents and relevant books and periodicals of the Red Army's Long March.The American also spent more than two months conducting interviews along the route of the Red Army's Long March.Among the many authors who wrote about the Long March, he is one of the few who can retrace the route of the Long March.

5. "The Long March of 1935: The Epic of Chinese Communism's Struggle for Survival" [English] Dick Wilson Published in 1971, the world's first English monograph on the study of the Long March.The researchers tried to conduct an "encyclopedic" study of the Long March from three aspects: historical, legendary, and symbolic, and strengthened the theme that the Long March is an "epic of survival." The story of the Long March is a representative of the "revolutionary spirit" school. "The Long March is an important spiritual wealth of the Chinese people." He also commented from the perspective of a model of human spirit, "The Long March has become a symbol on all continents. Human beings can achieve their goals as long as they have determination and perseverance."

6. "From Revolution to Politics: The Long March and the Rise of Mao Zedong" [US] Yang Bingzhang This academic monograph studies the "Long March" as a system, trying to establish a research model: using "revolutionary idealism" and "political realism" to explain the Communist Party's "critical geographical and strategic changes" during the Long March. 7. "Mao Zedong's Long March: An Epic of Human Fearlessness" [US] I·G·Edmonds 8. "The Long March to Freedom" [English] Holder 9. "The Long March Led by Mao Zedong" [France] Dupuy

10. "Chinese Red Army - Difficult and Precipitous Twenty-five Thousand Miles" [Japanese] Binhu Kuan 11. "The Long March of Two People" [English] Li Aide, Ma Puan With the spirit of demonstration, two young men from the UK retook the route taken by the Red Army.This is a diary-style book, which vividly records the status quo after decades on the Long March.Two foreign youths got their enlightenment on the Long March in the form of seeking and asking questions. 12. "China - The Long March" Album In 1990, photographers from more than a dozen countries including Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, and New Zealand came to China to take photos of the scenery along the mysterious route of the Red Army’s Long March. The British critic Anthony believed in his book that "the Long March is the most important event in modern history" and "is the melting pot for Chinese leaders after tempering."