The Snows and China

Sharon Crane:

She always talked to me about Edgar Snow and her as one. She never had any bad feelings about Edgar Snow. She never had any regret about her marriage.

To credit her achievements in literature, China Writers' Association and China Literature Foundation awarded Helen Foster with the International Literature Prize of Understanding and Friendship.

Zhang Qie ( Secretary Secretariat of China's Writers' Association)

My first American trip was to present the award to Helen Snow on behalf of China Writers' Association and China Literature Foundation. I was quite surprised by her love of China. Before we went, Madame Kang Keqing wrote a letter of congratulation especially for her. She still kept that picture of Kang and her in the uniform of the Eighth Route Army in 1937. Her affection for China was not only in her mind, but also in her bones and blood. It is really very unusual for a foreigner to retain such a love of China for 60 years.

On October 1, 1970, Mao Zedong invited Edgar Snow, an American, to join him on the top of the rostrum of Tian'anmen Square.

Ji Chaozhu (Former interpreter for Mao Zedong) :

But this one picture of the two standing side by side on top of the Tian'anmen Rostrum told the whole world and all Chinese people that we are friendly to the American people, and if the American administration has the similar idea as the Americans would have got of China, we are also ready to establish good relationship, and working relationship with them.

On February 1, 1972, President Nixon flew over the Pacific to visit China. The ice began to break between the two great nations that had been hostile to each other for two decades. This was just what Edgar and Helen had been dreaming about.

Sharon Crane:

It was in 1979 when America and China signed diplomatic relationship, and

Deng Xiaoping came to America to celebrate. Obviously she was invited to this dinner in Washington D.C. Because she had been with Mao in 1936 in Yan'an, Mao had given her a letter to give to Deng Xiaoping in 1936. By the time she left Yan'an, Deng Xiaoping had left the front. It was a dangerous time, and the troops had to move on. So she was never able to personally deliver this message for Deng Xiaoping. So at the dinner in Washington D.C., all these years later, she met with Deng Xiaoping, and said, "Here's the letter for you."

In the very week that 'changed the world' as President Nixon said in 1972 when he visited China, the physical condition of Edgar Snow began to deteriorate. On February 15, 1972, he passed away in Switzerland. In his final days, Edgar Snow wrote shakily in his notebook with the pen he had used for decades that, "I love China." He wished that part of himself could remain in China always. In respect, his Chinese friends buried his ashes at Peking University where he used to teach, and held a solemn funeral in tribute to the author of Red Star over China.

An Wei:

When I met with her, she was skinny and bony, very thin and very weak. She held my hand in hers and kept talking, asking me to tape…to record all our conversations.

[Voice of Helen Snow]

Edgar Snow wrote from the outside, and Lu Xun wrote from the inside. Lu Xun was the critique of the bad condition. Edgar Snow wrote from the outside, and wrote back as they were. They described as they explored. Lu Xun's works' credit was his exploration… He explored a new country, a new thinking. Mao was a new thinker in the world. He explored the picture of the communist army since the time of especially…Mao.

In 1997, at the age of 90, Helen Snow left the world, and the cottage she had been staying in for decades. She had successfully achieved her literary dream by publishing tens of books on the Chinese revolution. She forever cherished her most unforgettable memories of her ten years in China.

Editor:Xiang Jing  Source:CCTV.com