Helen Foster Snow
Encyclopedia
Helen Foster Snow was an American journalist who reported from China in the 1930s under the name "Nym Wales" on the developing revolution in China and the Korean independence movement
. While, like her husband, Edgar Snow
, she was never a member of the Chinese or American Communist Party, she was sympathetic to the revolutionaries in China, whom she compared favorably to the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek
. In the late 1940s, critics grouped her with the China Hands
as one of those responsible for the "loss of China" who went beyond sympathy to active support of Mao's revolution.
for a short time, her father, an influential Utah attorney, arranged a job for her in the American Consulate in Shanghai. Almost immediately after arriving in 1931, she met Edgar Snow
, who had arrived in China in 1929. They married in 1932. At a time when many Chinese were impatient with the Nationalist government for not opposing Japanese more actively, the couple moved to Beiping, as Beijing
was then called, and took up residence in a small house near Yenching University
, where they both taught. They were just in time to report on the 1935 anti-Japanese December 9th Movement
. The Snows got to know idealistic and patriotic students, a number of whom were in their journalism classes, and some of whom were members of the Communist underground. Helen struck those who met her at this time as excitable and "talking like a machine gun." She urged one of the demonstration leaders to give laggard students "the devil for their inactivity and sleepiness," and asked "why be a vegetable?"
Edgar Snow was the first to go to the "Red Areas" and came back with the material for his Red Star Over China
. "Peg," as she was known to her friends, was not to be outdone, and soon followed, returning with the material for her book Inside Red China (Doubleday, 1939) and the later Red Dust (Stanford University Press, 1952). She also drew upon her interviews with a Korean independence leader she met in Yan'an
, which she used to write the book The Song of Arirang
. The subject of the book was murdered by Mao shortly thereafter. The couple joined anti-Japanese friends, such as Ida Pruitt
, Israel Epstein
,and Rewi Alley
in organizing Chinese Industrial Cooperatives
Gung Ho industrial worker's cooperatives) after 1937.
The couple's marriage was strained and the Japanese occupation of much of China made life difficult. Helen returned to the States in 1940. The couple formally divorced in 1949. She spent the rest of her life in Connecticut, developing an interest in family genealogy, drafting a novel, and writing short pieces on her experiences in China. She published her autobiography in 1984.
After her death in 1997, Helen's family donated her manuscripts, documents and photographs to the Brigham Young University library. On October 26-27, 2000, BYU held a Helen Foster Snow Symposium to celebrate this donation and gather scholars.
In 2011, students and faculty from Southern Utah University
began a collaborative project with Chinese musicians, dancers and artists to create a dance drama based on Helen Foster Snow's life.
Korean independence movement
The Korean independence movement grew out of the Japanese colonial rule of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945. After the Japanese surrendered, Korea became independent; that day is now an annual holiday called Gwangbokjeol in South Korea, and Chogukhaebangŭi nal in North Korea.-Background:In...
. While, like her husband, Edgar Snow
Edgar Snow
Edgar P. Snow was an American journalist known for his books and articles on Communism in China and the Chinese Communist revolution...
, she was never a member of the Chinese or American Communist Party, she was sympathetic to the revolutionaries in China, whom she compared favorably to the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Kai-shek was a political and military leader of 20th century China. He is known as Jiǎng Jièshí or Jiǎng Zhōngzhèng in Mandarin....
. In the late 1940s, critics grouped her with the China Hands
China Hands
The term China Hand originally referred to 19th-century merchants in the treaty ports of China, but evolved to reflect anyone with expert knowledge of the language, culture, and people of China...
as one of those responsible for the "loss of China" who went beyond sympathy to active support of Mao's revolution.
Biography
Helen Foster was born in Cedar City, Utah and raised as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from which she later became disaffected. After she attended the University of UtahUniversity of Utah
The University of Utah, also known as the U or the U of U, is a public, coeducational research university in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States. The university was established in 1850 as the University of Deseret by the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret, making it Utah's oldest...
for a short time, her father, an influential Utah attorney, arranged a job for her in the American Consulate in Shanghai. Almost immediately after arriving in 1931, she met Edgar Snow
Edgar Snow
Edgar P. Snow was an American journalist known for his books and articles on Communism in China and the Chinese Communist revolution...
, who had arrived in China in 1929. They married in 1932. At a time when many Chinese were impatient with the Nationalist government for not opposing Japanese more actively, the couple moved to Beiping, as Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
was then called, and took up residence in a small house near Yenching University
Yenching University
Yenching University was a university in Beijing, China. It integrated three Christian colleges in the city in 1919. Yenching is an alternative name of Beijing - derived from its status as capital of Yan state, one of the seven Warring States from 5th century BC to 3rd century BC.The university...
, where they both taught. They were just in time to report on the 1935 anti-Japanese December 9th Movement
December 9th Movement
The December 9th Movement refers to a mass protest led by students in Beiping on December 9, 1935 that demands the Kuomintang government to actively resist potential Japanese aggression.-Background:...
. The Snows got to know idealistic and patriotic students, a number of whom were in their journalism classes, and some of whom were members of the Communist underground. Helen struck those who met her at this time as excitable and "talking like a machine gun." She urged one of the demonstration leaders to give laggard students "the devil for their inactivity and sleepiness," and asked "why be a vegetable?"
Edgar Snow was the first to go to the "Red Areas" and came back with the material for his Red Star Over China
Red Star Over China
Red Star Over China, a book by Edgar Snow, is an account of the Communist Party of China written when they were a guerrilla army still obscure to Westerners. Along with Pearl Buck's The Good Earth, it was the most influential book on Western understanding and sympathy for China in the 1930s...
. "Peg," as she was known to her friends, was not to be outdone, and soon followed, returning with the material for her book Inside Red China (Doubleday, 1939) and the later Red Dust (Stanford University Press, 1952). She also drew upon her interviews with a Korean independence leader she met in Yan'an
Yan'an
Yan'an , is a prefecture-level city in the Shanbei region of Shaanxi province in China, administering several counties, including Zhidan County , which served as the Chinese communist capital before the city of Yan'an proper took that role....
, which she used to write the book The Song of Arirang
The Song of Ariran (book)
The Song of Arirang is a book of reportage by an American journalist, Helen Foster Snow under the name Nym Wales. Snow traveled to Yan'an, the wartime capital of the Chinese Communist Party, which welcomed and supported many Koreans in the fight for independence from Japan...
. The subject of the book was murdered by Mao shortly thereafter. The couple joined anti-Japanese friends, such as Ida Pruitt
Ida Pruitt
Ida Pruitt , bi-cultural social worker, author, speaker, interpreter and 20th century contributor to Sino-American understanding.-Early life:...
, Israel Epstein
Israel Epstein
Israel Epstein was a naturalized Chinese journalist and author...
,and Rewi Alley
Rewi Alley
Rewi Alley, 路易•艾黎, Lùyì Àilí, QSO, , was a New Zealand-born writer, educator, social reformer, potter, and member of the Communist Party of China....
in organizing Chinese Industrial Cooperatives
Chinese Industrial Cooperatives
Chinese Industrial Cooperative Association "gōngyè hézuòshè , that is, the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives, known as INDUSCO, was formally established in August,1938 in Hankow, then the wartime capital of China...
Gung Ho industrial worker's cooperatives) after 1937.
The couple's marriage was strained and the Japanese occupation of much of China made life difficult. Helen returned to the States in 1940. The couple formally divorced in 1949. She spent the rest of her life in Connecticut, developing an interest in family genealogy, drafting a novel, and writing short pieces on her experiences in China. She published her autobiography in 1984.
After her death in 1997, Helen's family donated her manuscripts, documents and photographs to the Brigham Young University library. On October 26-27, 2000, BYU held a Helen Foster Snow Symposium to celebrate this donation and gather scholars.
In 2011, students and faculty from Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University
Southern Utah University, or SUU, is located in Cedar City, Utah. It was founded in 1897 as an extension of the Agricultural College of Utah, by the citizens of Cedar City.During its history, the school has been known as:...
began a collaborative project with Chinese musicians, dancers and artists to create a dance drama based on Helen Foster Snow's life.
Works
- Helen Foster Snow, Inside Red China (New York,: Doubleday, Doran, 1939). Reprinted: New York: DaCapo 1977, 1979.
- Nym Wales, China Builds for Democracy; a Story of Cooperative Industry (New York,: Modern Age Books, 1941). Reprinted: St. Clair Shores, MI: *Scholarly Press, 1972.
- Nym Wales, The Chinese Labor Movement (New York: John Day, 1945). Reprinted: Freeport, NY: Books for Libraries, 1970.
- Nym Wales, Red Dust; Autobiographies of Chinese Communists (Stanford, Calif.,: Stanford University Press, 1952).
- Nym Wales, Fables and Parables for the Mid-Century (New York,: Philosophical Library, 1952).
- Nym Wales, Notes on the Left-Wing Painters and Modern Art in China ([Madison, Conn.,, 1961).
- Nym Wales, Women in Modern China (The Hague, Paris,: Mouton, 1967).
- Helen Foster Snow, My China Years: A Memoir (New York: Morrow, 1984).
Further reading
- Kelly Ann Long, Helen Foster Snow: An American Woman in Revolutionary China (Boulder: University Press of Colorado, 2006). ISBN 0-87081-847-3.
- S. Bernard Thomas, Season of High Adventure: Edgar Snow in China (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996).
- "Helen Foster Snow: Witness to Revolution" (2000) 56:46 minute documentary produced by Combat Films and Research.
See also
- The Song of Ariran (book)The Song of Ariran (book)The Song of Arirang is a book of reportage by an American journalist, Helen Foster Snow under the name Nym Wales. Snow traveled to Yan'an, the wartime capital of the Chinese Communist Party, which welcomed and supported many Koreans in the fight for independence from Japan...
- Edgar SnowEdgar SnowEdgar P. Snow was an American journalist known for his books and articles on Communism in China and the Chinese Communist revolution...
- Korean independence movementKorean independence movementThe Korean independence movement grew out of the Japanese colonial rule of the Korean peninsula from 1910 to 1945. After the Japanese surrendered, Korea became independent; that day is now an annual holiday called Gwangbokjeol in South Korea, and Chogukhaebangŭi nal in North Korea.-Background:In...