Painting History: China’s Revolution in a Global Context By Jiawe ...

lucky because back then Mao had not yet been able to assert his authority as dictator, and many of the revolutionaries had not yet surrendered their sense of individual autonomy. In addition, the CPC had not yet implemented a closely monitored surveillance system. In 1960 when Snow revisited China, he could not meet many of his old friends and he certainly was not allowed to interview even ordinary soldiers. But in his 1936 interviews, he captured an essential quality that helped him to reach to the heart of the truth: the relationship between people in a new society. This included the relationship between officials and soldiers in the Red Army, the relationship between party leaders and ordinary members and between the leaders themselves, as well as the relationship between the CPC and the people. He captured the confidence, optimism, self-respect, and love that could be seen in the faces of the people around him. He did not encounter these kinds of relationships in other parts of China. If he had gone to Yan’an in 1942, he would have detected the widespread fear and unease that was prevalent. But in 1936, what he captured in his portrayal was positive, something that he felt was a kind of Boy Scout idealism, which he reported on truthfully and accurately. The year 1936 counts as the best year in CPC history.

What Snow captured in his reports that greatly moved readers was a creation of the CPC leadership, which included Mao Zedong. It was a vivid portrayal of the Red Army, an army that was substantially different from any other in China at the time. Working under orders from the CPC, the Red Army killed countless innocent compatriots in the bloody process of overthrowing the KMT government, and in its own internal purges also killed many thousands of its own members. Yet it was an army rarely seen in Chinese history. The Red Army was characterized by very strict discipline, as well as a fraternalism resulting from the equality between officers and soldiers. Every soldier understood the aim of the revolutionary struggle. This was a major reason for the survival of the revolution that attracted and continued to attract many young people who longed for a democratic society. Snow’s observations were accurate, and they were substantiated by the changes that took place in China up