Red Star Over China: The Classic Account Of The Birth Of Chinese Communism (1994) - Plot & Excerpts
Once upon a time, this book was once read by every China watcher and Sinophile and Pacific theorist. It's no longer a bit of 'current events journalism', but it's still of historical value.Edgar Snow, a young naive American journalist, wanders into the Communist Chinese territories in Shaanxi province, and is taken on a guided tour. He takes carefully guided tours around the held territories, takes trips to the front, and conducts lengthy interviews with such eminent and heroic personages as Zhu De, Peng Duhai (later purged, then rehabilitated), Zhou Enlai, and the Great Helmsman himself.Mao's autobiographical narrative dominates several chapters of the book, and contains many details which are under factual dispute today. One of the most celebrated battles of the Long March, The Luding Bridge, for example, was admitted by Deng Xiaoping to be exaggerated for propaganda purposes. These chapters again are still useful, because they provide insight into how the Great Helmsman saw himself, and how he wanted to craft his own personal narrative and tie it to the destiny of the nation.However, the book itself is not without value. One of the main reasons for the Communist Party's early successes were how well they had treated the population compared to the local bullies and warlords, and how easily they attracted new followers. They appealed on nationalist grounds, placing themselves as the one true unifying force, but also on social/economic grounds, as a means of fighting the warlords and extractive gentry. I also thought a new historical analysis could be done on how the book itself was a massive propaganda coup in the West for Mao, and he later admitted as such.A book of historical value, but not what it for what it was originally famous.3.5 stars.
Though its perspective could be much more critical, Snow’s account of his visit to Red Shaanxi in 1937, just after the Long March, still makes for engaging reading and provides an invaluable and detailed account of the Red leadership and army at one fascinating moment. The long biographical sections on key leaders—Mao, Zhou, Zhu De, among others—are mostly records of those men’s own accounts, but are still better than most of Snow’s own reporting. Not quite John Reed Lite, but Snow does get a fascinating end of the story, and makes you want to believe in the voting, the theater troupes, the colorful personalities, and all the rest.
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The Book Report of Red Star Over China I started reading this book since the 9th September, and yesterday I finished this book at the time of 18:00, so basically, I spent over a month reading this, I have to confess that I actually didn’t start reading this book seriously until I applied for postponing my deadline for another week. In the first day of this week, I started skimming from page 200th, and each day I read 100 pages till I ended this. During these extra days, I suddenly grasped the tr
—Everest
Wow. Captivating, informative, and exciting, Edgar Snow's "Red Star Over China" is rightly among the classics of investigative reporting. The premise of the book is unassuming enough: Snow, an American journalist with a command of Chinese, ventures into Communist occupied territory during the bizarre diplomatic kaleidoscope that was 1930's China. Yet the characters that Snow introduces to us along the way are what make this work a delight. The opium addicted Nanking bureaucrats who cut cold turkey and joined the poor man's struggle. The decorated German military strategist who offered his services to the anti-Japanese partisans. And certainly not the least of them all, a librarian turned revolutionary by the name of Mao Tse-tung. The Chinese revolutionaries overcome their challenges with as much fortitutde and success as the fictitious (propagandized) characterized portrayed in "Atlas Shrugged." Yet these were real, breathing humans who were united by a common purpose. Snow articulates the idealism that drove and kept teenagers and white-bearded gentlemen to the frontlines. I bet the FARC read this book for inspiration. All of Snow's characters had either sacrificed a life of guaranteed comfort or realized they had nothing left to lose. As such, the nuances and personal stories behind their heroism keep the reader firmly affixed to the narrative. Snow juxtaposes the personal side of a very dehumanizing struggle with the political and international realities that faced this strange conglomeration of Chinese society. Nor can a contemporary reader escape a profound sense of pity that the romantic zeal Snow so effectively portrays would go on to contain the germ for the excesses of the Cultural Revolution. A real page-turner indeed!
—Kenghis Khan
