Israel Epstein
Encyclopedia
Israel Epstein was a naturalized Chinese
journalist
and author
. He was one of the few foreign-born Chinese citizens of non-Chinese origin to become a member of the Communist Party of China
.
). His father had been imprisoned by the authorities of czarist Russia
for leading a labor
uprising
and his mother had been exile
d to Siberia
. Epstein's father was sent by his company to Japan after the outbreak of the World War I
; when the German Army
approached Warsaw, his mother and Epstein fled and joined him in Asia. After having experienced anti-Jewish sentiment in several places, in 1917, Epstein came to China with his parents at the age of two and they settled in Tianjin
(formerly Tientsin) in 1920.
at age 15, when he wrote for the Peking and Tientsin Times, an English-language newspaper based in Tianjin. He also covered the Japanese Invasion of China
for the United Press and other Western news agencies
. In the autumn of 1938, he joined the China Defense League, which had been established by Soong Ching-ling
, Sun Yat-sen
's widow, for the purpose of publicizing and enlisting international support for the Chinese cause. In 1941, he faked news about his own death as a decoy for the Japanese who were trying to arrest him. The misinformation even found its way into a short item printed in the New York Times.
After being assigned to review one of the books of Edgar Snow
, Israel Epstein and Snow came to know each other personally and Snow showed him his classic work Red Star Over China
before it was published.
In 1934, Epstein married Edith Bihovsky Epstein, later Ballin, from whom he was divorced in the early 1940s. In 1944, Epstein first visited Britain
and afterwards went to live in the United States
with his second wife Elsie Fairfax-Cholmeley for five years. During this time, he worked for Allied Labor News and published his book The Unfinished Revolution in China in 1947. His book was enthusiastically reviewed in The New York Times by the influential U.S. State Department adviser, Professor Owen Lattimore
of Johns Hopkins University. In 1951 Communist defector Elizabeth Bentley
testified to the U.S. Senate Internal Security Subcommittee that "Israel Epstein had been a member of the Russian secret police for many years in China." Many years later, his wife, Ms. Cholmeley, would become known to a generation of Chinese language students in China and around the world as a contributor to one of the most widely used Chinese-English dictionaries published in the PRC. After Ms. Cholmeley's death in 1984, Israel Epstein married his third wife, Wan Bi.
. He remained editor-in-chief of China Today until his retirement at age 70, and then editor emeritus
. During his tenure at China Today, he became a Chinese citizen in 1957 and a member of the Communist Party of China in 1964. In 1955, 1965 and 1976 visited Tibet
, and based on these 3 visits, he published in 1983 the book "Tibet Transformed".
, on charges of plotting against Zhou Enlai
, he was imprisoned in 1968 in the north of Beijing in Qincheng Prison
, where he was subjected to solitary confinement. In 1973, he was released. Zhou merely apologized. His privileges were restored. Despite of his 5 years imprisonment, he remained loyal to the ideals of Communism until his death. Israel Epstein was elected as a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
, an advisory body, in 1983.
, Mao Zedong
, Deng Xiaoping
, Jiang Zemin
, and current Chinese President Hu Jintao
. His funeral was held at the Babaoshan Cemetery for Revolutionaries, in Shijingshan District
, Beijing
on June 3, 2005 at 9:30 A.M. The ceremony was attended by many officials, among them President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao
, as well as Politburo Standing Committee
members Jia Qinglin
and Li Changchun
. After the service, his body was cremated
.
People's Republic of China
China , officially the People's Republic of China , is the most populous country in the world, with over 1.3 billion citizens. Located in East Asia, the country covers approximately 9.6 million square kilometres...
journalist
Journalist
A journalist collects and distributes news and other information. A journalist's work is referred to as journalism.A reporter is a type of journalist who researchs, writes, and reports on information to be presented in mass media, including print media , electronic media , and digital media A...
and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
. He was one of the few foreign-born Chinese citizens of non-Chinese origin to become a member of the Communist Party of China
Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
.
Early life and education
Israel Epstein was born on April 20, 1915 in Warsaw, which was at the time under Imperial Russian control (currently part of PolandPoland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
). His father had been imprisoned by the authorities of czarist Russia
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...
for leading a labor
Labor rights
Labor rights or workers' rights are a group of legal rights and claimed human rights having to do with labor relations between workers and their employers, usually obtained under labor and employment law. In general, these rights' debates have to do with negotiating workers' pay, benefits, and safe...
uprising
Rebellion
Rebellion, uprising or insurrection, is a refusal of obedience or order. It may, therefore, be seen as encompassing a range of behaviors aimed at destroying or replacing an established authority such as a government or a head of state...
and his mother had been exile
Exile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...
d to Siberia
Siberia
Siberia is an extensive region constituting almost all of Northern Asia. Comprising the central and eastern portion of the Russian Federation, it was part of the Soviet Union from its beginning, as its predecessor states, the Tsardom of Russia and the Russian Empire, conquered it during the 16th...
. Epstein's father was sent by his company to Japan after the outbreak of the World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
; when the German Army
German Army
The German Army is the land component of the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. Following the disbanding of the Wehrmacht after World War II, it was re-established in 1955 as the Bundesheer, part of the newly formed West German Bundeswehr along with the Navy and the Air Force...
approached Warsaw, his mother and Epstein fled and joined him in Asia. After having experienced anti-Jewish sentiment in several places, in 1917, Epstein came to China with his parents at the age of two and they settled in Tianjin
Tianjin
' is a metropolis in northern China and one of the five national central cities of the People's Republic of China. It is governed as a direct-controlled municipality, one of four such designations, and is, thus, under direct administration of the central government...
(formerly Tientsin) in 1920.
Journalism
Israel Epstein began to work in journalismJournalism
Journalism is the practice of investigation and reporting of events, issues and trends to a broad audience in a timely fashion. Though there are many variations of journalism, the ideal is to inform the intended audience. Along with covering organizations and institutions such as government and...
at age 15, when he wrote for the Peking and Tientsin Times, an English-language newspaper based in Tianjin. He also covered the Japanese Invasion of China
Second Sino-Japanese War
The Second Sino-Japanese War was a military conflict fought primarily between the Republic of China and the Empire of Japan. From 1937 to 1941, China fought Japan with some economic help from Germany , the Soviet Union and the United States...
for the United Press and other Western news agencies
News agency
A news agency is an organization of journalists established to supply news reports to news organizations: newspapers, magazines, and radio and television broadcasters. Such an agency may also be referred to as a wire service, newswire or news service.-History:The oldest news agency is Agence...
. In the autumn of 1938, he joined the China Defense League, which had been established by Soong Ching-ling
Soong Ching-ling
Soong Ching-ling , also known as Madame Sun Yat-sen, was one of the three Soong sisters—who, along with their husbands, were amongst China's most significant political figures of the early 20th century. She was the Vice Chairman of the People's Republic of China...
, Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen
Sun Yat-sen was a Chinese doctor, revolutionary and political leader. As the foremost pioneer of Nationalist China, Sun is frequently referred to as the "Father of the Nation" , a view agreed upon by both the People's Republic of China and the Republic of China...
's widow, for the purpose of publicizing and enlisting international support for the Chinese cause. In 1941, he faked news about his own death as a decoy for the Japanese who were trying to arrest him. The misinformation even found its way into a short item printed in the New York Times.
After being assigned to review one of the books of 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...
, Israel Epstein and Snow came to know each other personally and Snow showed him his classic work 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...
before it was published.
In 1934, Epstein married Edith Bihovsky Epstein, later Ballin, from whom he was divorced in the early 1940s. In 1944, Epstein first visited Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
and afterwards went to live in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with his second wife Elsie Fairfax-Cholmeley for five years. During this time, he worked for Allied Labor News and published his book The Unfinished Revolution in China in 1947. His book was enthusiastically reviewed in The New York Times by the influential U.S. State Department adviser, Professor Owen Lattimore
Owen Lattimore
Owen Lattimore was an American author, educator, and influential scholar of Central Asia, especially Mongolia. In the 1930s he was editor of Pacific Affairs, a journal published by the Institute of Pacific Relations, and then taught at Johns Hopkins University from 1938 to 1963...
of Johns Hopkins University. In 1951 Communist defector Elizabeth Bentley
Elizabeth Bentley
Elizabeth Terrill Bentley was an American spy for the Soviet Union from 1938 until 1945. In 1945 she defected from the Communist Party and Soviet intelligence and became an informer for the U.S. She exposed two networks of spies, ultimately naming over 80 Americans who had engaged in espionage for...
testified to the U.S. Senate Internal Security Subcommittee that "Israel Epstein had been a member of the Russian secret police for many years in China." Many years later, his wife, Ms. Cholmeley, would become known to a generation of Chinese language students in China and around the world as a contributor to one of the most widely used Chinese-English dictionaries published in the PRC. After Ms. Cholmeley's death in 1984, Israel Epstein married his third wife, Wan Bi.
China Today magazine
In 1951, Soong Ching-ling invited him to return to China to edit the magazine China Reconstructs, which was later renamed China TodayChina Today
China Today , formerly titled China Reconstructs , is a monthly magazine founded in 1949 by Soong Ching-ling in association with Israel Epstein. It is published in Chinese, English, Spanish, French, Arabic, German and Turkish, and is intended to promote a positive view of the People's Republic of...
. He remained editor-in-chief of China Today until his retirement at age 70, and then editor emeritus
Emeritus
Emeritus is a post-positive adjective that is used to designate a retired professor, bishop, or other professional or as a title. The female equivalent emerita is also sometimes used.-History:...
. During his tenure at China Today, he became a Chinese citizen in 1957 and a member of the Communist Party of China in 1964. In 1955, 1965 and 1976 visited Tibet
Tibet
Tibet is a plateau region in Asia, north-east of the Himalayas. It is the traditional homeland of the Tibetan people as well as some other ethnic groups such as Monpas, Qiang, and Lhobas, and is now also inhabited by considerable numbers of Han and Hui people...
, and based on these 3 visits, he published in 1983 the book "Tibet Transformed".
Imprisonment
During the Cultural RevolutionCultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
, on charges of plotting against Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976...
, he was imprisoned in 1968 in the north of Beijing in Qincheng Prison
Qincheng Prison
Qincheng Prison is a maximum-security prison located in the Changping District, Beijing in the People's Republic of China, near Xiaotangshan...
, where he was subjected to solitary confinement. In 1973, he was released. Zhou merely apologized. His privileges were restored. Despite of his 5 years imprisonment, he remained loyal to the ideals of Communism until his death. Israel Epstein was elected as a member of the Standing Committee of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference
The Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference [], shortened as 人民政协, Rénmín Zhèngxié, i.e. "People's PCC"; or just 政协, Zhèngxié, i.e. "The PCC"), abbreviated CPPCC, is a political advisory body in the People's Republic of China...
, an advisory body, in 1983.
Honours
During his life, Israel Epstein was honored by Zhou EnlaiZhou Enlai
Zhou Enlai was the first Premier of the People's Republic of China, serving from October 1949 until his death in January 1976...
, Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong
Mao Zedong, also transliterated as Mao Tse-tung , and commonly referred to as Chairman Mao , was a Chinese Communist revolutionary, guerrilla warfare strategist, Marxist political philosopher, and leader of the Chinese Revolution...
, Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping
Deng Xiaoping was a Chinese politician, statesman, and diplomat. As leader of the Communist Party of China, Deng was a reformer who led China towards a market economy...
, Jiang Zemin
Jiang Zemin
Jiang Zemin is a former Chinese politician, who served as General Secretary of the Communist Party of China from 1989 to 2002, as President of the People's Republic of China from 1993 to 2003, and as Chairman of the Central Military Commission from 1989 to 2005...
, and current Chinese President Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao
Hu Jintao is the current Paramount Leader of the People's Republic of China. He has held the titles of General Secretary of the Communist Party of China since 2002, President of the People's Republic of China since 2003, and Chairman of the Central Military Commission since 2004, succeeding Jiang...
. His funeral was held at the Babaoshan Cemetery for Revolutionaries, in Shijingshan District
Shijingshan District
Shijingshan District is an urban district of the municipality of Beijing. It lies to the west of the urban core of Beijing, and is part of the Western Hills area...
, 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...
on June 3, 2005 at 9:30 A.M. The ceremony was attended by many officials, among them President Hu Jintao, Premier Wen Jiabao
Wen Jiabao
Wen Jiabao is the sixth and current Premier and Party secretary of the State Council of the People's Republic of China, serving as China's head of government and leading its cabinet. In his capacity as Premier, Wen is regarded as the leading figure behind China's economic policy...
, as well as Politburo Standing Committee
Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China
The Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China is a committee consisting of the top leadership of the Communist Party of China, whose membership varies between 5 and 9 people. The inner workings of the PSC are not well known, although it is believed that decisions of the PSC are...
members Jia Qinglin
Jia Qinglin
Jia Qinglin is a senior leader of the People's Republic of China. He is the fourth ranking member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China, the Chairman and Party secretary of the National Committee of the People's Political Consultative Conference. Jia's functions as...
and Li Changchun
Li Changchun
Li Changchun is the Propaganda chief of the Communist Party of China. He is the 5th ranked member of the Politburo Standing Committee of the Communist Party of China, China's de facto top power organ, and has been a member since 2002...
. After the service, his body was cremated
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
.
Published works
- The People's War, 1939
- A Memoir of More than 80 Years in China
- My China Eye: Memoirs of a Jew and a Journalist, Long River Press, 2005
First published in English
- The Unfinished Revolution in China, Little Brown and Company (1947), hardcover, 442 pp.
Published in Chinese, translated into English
- From Opium War to Liberation, New World Press (BeijingBeijingBeijing , 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...
, 1956), hardcover, 146 pp. - Tibet Transformed, New World Press (Beijing, 1983), trade paperback, 563 pp, ISBN 0-8351-1087-7
- Woman in World History: Soong Ching Ling" New World Press (Beijing, 1993), hardcover, ISBN 7-80005-161-7
Sources and external links
- New York Times Obituary by Douglas Martin
- Obituary People's Daily Online
- Retrospective, China Today
- Biography by China Tibet Information Center
- Xinhua Newsitem on funeral
- Views of a life in China, China.org.cn
See also
- Rewi AlleyRewi AlleyRewi 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....
- Sidney RittenbergSidney RittenbergSidney Rittenberg is an American journalist, interpreter and scholar who lived in China from 1944 to 1979. He worked closely with People's Republic of China founder Mao Zedong, military leader Zhu De, statesman Zhou Enlai, and other leaders of the Chinese Communist Party during the war, and was...
- Sidney ShapiroSidney ShapiroSidney Shapiro is an American-born author and translator who has lived in China since 1947. Born in Brooklyn, New York, he is of Jewish ethnicity. He resides in Beijing, and is a member of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Council...
- Jews in China
- Round Eyes in the Middle KingdomRound Eyes in the Middle KingdomRound Eyes in the Middle Kingdom is a 1995 documentary directed by Ronald Levaco, an American filmmaker who journeyed back to China, the nation of his boyhood days, to discover what became of an old friend of his family, Israel Epstein.-Summary:...
--a documentary about Israel Epstein