
Red Star over China is now considered a classic work as it was the first account the world had of the Red bandits of China and details of their then unknown leader, Mao Tse Tung.
It was published in 1937 and revised in 1968. The author was an American, Edgar Snow, who was a mere journalist aged 30 at the time of publication of the book. But he had spent the prior 7 years in China and had made many useful friends among the Chinese.
He was intrigued by the following questions:
Why were thousands willing to sacrifice their lives to fight Chiang, the then-dominant power?
What were their hopes and aspirations that drove them to scale mountains, walk through snow, and fight against overwhelming odds on a 6,000-mile trek to escape Chiang, later immortalised as the Long March?
Who was Mao? Who were his fellow Kungchantang (Share Production Party), a term used in our local dialect, Cantonese, to refer to the CCP?
Snow managed to cross Chiang’s lines to reach the Reds’ base in Northwest China. In this, he was aided by the Xian Incident, where Manchurian army forces (friendly to the Reds) in Xian allowed him to cross the lines, as well as a letter of introduction to Mao, written in invisible ink. (P 419)
In the introduction to the revised edition by Dr. John K. Fairbank, he states that the letter was written by Madam Sun Yat Sen. (p. 13). However, in the notes, Snow said it was given to him on the authority of Liu Shao Chi.
LWH, Mid Autumn festival, 6 October 2025