The Snows and China

An Wei:

The most important part of Red Star over China is Mao's autobiography. That is what Helen calls the spine of this book. Without this part, this book would not have been so influential.

After Snow completed his interviews, Helen decided to go to northern Shaanxi by herself in order to get more news materials. She wanted to see with her own eyes what those so-called "Red Bandits" looked like and what kind of life people in that area were leading. (pause!) At the time Helen arrived in Xi'an in April 1937, Kuomintang troops and secret agents had already controlled the whole city. Despite strict surveillance by Kuomintang soldiers, Helen managed to break out of her residence window, and then set off for northern Shaanxi in secret.

Helen put on the uniform of the Red Army as soon as she got to Yan'an. After interviewing dozens of military leaders, she turned to talk to female soldiers about their experiences in the Long March. Her pictures and manuscripts were later added to Red Star over China.

Red Star over China was published in October 1937. It was the first to break the decade-long news blackout enforced by the Kuomintang by telling the world about the revolutionary base led by the Communist Party of China.

Israel Epstein (Journalist and Writer):

Especially I got my idea of Mao Zedong from Snow's book. He has talked to him so much, and I read the portion of what became Red Star over China. I read it when it was still in the manuscript form.

Prof. Yin Junsheng (Huazhong Normal University):

Comrade Mao wrote a letter to Snow on March 10, 1937, no more than six months after the interview. Mao said in the letter, "Mr. Snow, I have been missing you since your departure. How are you now? We are all thankful to you indeed." Mao later also commented, "Mr. Snow wrote a book that told the truth about us."

An Wei:

Red Star over China was not simply based on the single visit by Edgar Snow from June to October 1936, but on two visits actually. It also concerns the visit of Helen Snow from May to September 1937. Why is that? Obviously, Edgar Snow had never met and interviewed Zhu De by then for Zhu was not there yet. The chapter about Zhu De was in fact based on Helen's interview with him.

Sharon Crane:

When Edgar Snow went off to Yan'an and then he came back with his stories, Helen was a part of helping him to write that book. Then she went to Yan'an and added to that meetings with many people that Edgar Snow wasn't able to meet, because they weren't there yet. So they blended their knowledge, but they also blended their ideas, very much so.

Inside Red China was the result of the visit and interviews of Helen Snow in Yan'an. It was almost as good as its predecessor. As the war intensified, Edgar Snow turned himself into a battlefield journalist travelling between war scenes. This left Helen alone to shoulder a heavy burden. Conflicts and arguments became more frequent between them.

Anna Long (Biographer of Helen Snow):

These were the long-term product of tensions that had existed really from the very beginning, but had become more pronounced in time. I don't think we can underplay the fact that Edgar was really in his glory. By this time, he was enjoying great popular acclaim and success His book, Red Star over China, had just hit at that moment. He was the rising star among the western reporters, and Helen's book, of course, hadn't given her that same sort of secure confident foothold in the endeavours that she was engaging in.

Helen Snow returned to the United States in 1940 due to the further widening of the Second World War. She was joined by Edgar Snow one year later after he had spent 13 years of living as a journalist in China. Filled with regret, Edgar Snow worked hard on their relationship and even bought them a cottage in Connecticut. Unfortunately, their relationship was not getting any better under the current environment.