1938.05 中国上空的红星

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书籍
中国上空的红星
作者：Walter H. Mallory
1938年5月号
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作者：埃德加-斯诺
[兰登书屋，3.00美元]
偶尔会有一个外国人有幸在某个遥远的国家目睹具有历史意义的事件，并将他对这些事件的解释带回给自己的人民。偶尔，这样的人有足够的智慧来理解这些事件的意义，并有能力准确地描述它们，赋予它们意义。正是在这种情况下，关于外国问题的有趣而重要的书籍才得以诞生。这样的书就是《中国上空的红星》。埃德加-斯诺是第一个深入到共产主义中国的中心并回来讲述故事的记者。他的书，经过精心策划和执行，是我读过的最出色的报道。它是中国共产党人及其与中日战争关系的真实的内部故事，共产党人和战争的关系比大多数人想象的更为密切。

斯诺先生在书的开头描述了他进入中国西北红色禁区的旅程。他描绘了许多你的评论员所熟悉的场景，并唤起了许多回忆。明亮的阳光照在人的眼睛里，灰尘在人的喉咙里，人的腿的疲惫，都回来了。人们回到美国时几乎是一惊一乍的，甚至从回忆中感到疲惫，并为一张舒适的床、清凉的饮用水和一件干净的内衣而高兴。

从历史的角度来看，《中国的红星》很重要，因为它描述了在过去十年中中央政府一直在努力消灭共产主义的沧桑历程；描述了红色地区的生活；以及关于在西方鲜为人知的共产主义领导人的传记材料。这些领导人既不是作为典范，也不是作为恶棍出现。他们只是普通的汉族之子，命运赋予他们一个具有不同寻常意义和危险的角色。由于这种危险，以及南京在他们头上所付出的代价，作者无法避免一种浪漫的色彩。但他甚至没有把中国苏维埃政府主席毛泽东当作一个命运之人。他觉得，无论他有什么非凡的品质，都是由于他综合和表达了数百万中国人民的迫切要求的程度，而不是由于他自己固有的能力。

该书中关于中日战争的部分--顺便说一下，是在敌对行动爆发之前编写的--特别有意义。斯诺先生展示了红军对中国抵抗日本的决定的影响。另外，他还报告了毛泽东对冲突的性质和战略的想法。日本高层将热切地阅读和研究毛先生的预言。
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红色中国的生活被仔细描述。它似乎很像中国任何内陆地区的生活，尽管斯诺先生给人的印象是它有某种不同。你的评论员并没有感觉到这种不同。作者可能以前没有在中国农村生活过，可能把他看到的东西误认为是新东西，而实际上只是对他来说是新东西。

对于一本严肃的书来说，《中国的红鲟》中的戏剧性内容也许有点多。在某些地方，人们觉得自己在阅读小说。但作者为了获得他的故事，冒了很大的风险，这势必会给他的故事增添色彩，甚至让琐碎的事情变得突出。不过，气氛并不重要。重要的是主旨的完整性；关于这一点，不能有任何怀疑。
Walter H. Mallory



BOOKS
Red Star Over China
By Walter H. Mallory
MAY 1938 ISSUE
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by Edgar Snow
[Random House, $3.00]
OCCASIONALLY an alien is privileged to witness events of historic importance in some far country, and to carry back to his own people his explanation of them. Once in a great while such a man has the wisdom to appreciate the significance of those events, and the ability accurately to describe them and to give them meaning. It is in such circumstances that interesting and important books on foreign questions are born. Such a book is Red Star over China. Edgar Snow was the first correspondent to penetrate into the heart of Communist China and to return to tell the tale. His book, planned and executed with meticulous care, is the most superb piece of reporting that I have ever read. It is the authentic, inside story of the Chinese Communists and of their relation to the SinoJapanese War, The Communists and the war are more intimately connected than most people suppose.

Mr. Snow starts his book with a description of his journey into the forbidden Red territory of China’s Northwest. He paints many scenes which are familiar to your reviewer, and calls up many memories. The bright sun in one’s eyes, the dust in one’s throat, the tiredness of one’s legs, come back. One returns to America almost with a start, weary even from the remembrances, and glad of a comfortable bed, cool drinking water, and a clean undershirt.

From the historical point of view, Red Star over China is important for its account of the vicissitudes of Communism in China during the past ten years in which the Central Government has been endeavoring to stamp it out; for the description of life in the Red area; and for the biographical material concerning the Communist leaders who are so little known in the West. These leaders are not presented either as paragons or as villains. They are just ordinary Sons of Han to whom fate has given a rôle of unusual significance and danger. Because of the danger, and the price which Nanking had put on their heads, the author could not avoid a romantic touch. But he does not treat even Mao Tse-tung, the Chairman of the Chinese Soviet Government, as a man of destiny. He feels that whatever extraordinary qualities he has are due to the degree to which he synthesizes and expresses the urgent demands of millions of the Chinese people, not to his own inherent capacities.

The section of the book dealing with the SinoJapanese War — which, incidentally, was prepared before the outbreak of hostilities — is of particular interest. Mr. Snow has shown the influence of the Reds on the decision of China to resist Japan. Also, he reports Mao Tse-tung’s ideas of the nature and strategy of the conflict. The Japanese high command will eagerly read and study Mr. Mao’s prognostications.
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Life in Red China is carefully described. It seems very much like life in any interior Chinese area, though Mr. Snow gives the impression that it is somehow different. Your reviewer does not sense this difference. The author may not have lived before in rural China and may have mistaken what he saw for something new, when in fact it was only new to him.

Perhaps there is a little too much drama in Red Stur over China for a serious book. One feels in some places that he is reading fiction. But the author took great risks to get his story, and that was bound to lend color and give prominence even to trivialities. The atmosphere, however, does not much matter. It is the integrity of the main theme which counts; and about that there cannot be any doubt.
WALTER H. MALLORY